kitten with bloody stool

Question
QUESTION: i have a kitten here, about 2-3 months or so, and today i noticed lose watery bloody stools. she eats normally, there aren't any changes in her diet, or behavior. she acts normal but her gums are almost white and i was wondering what could cause this or if i need to take her to the vet? there doesn't seem to be any sign of worms, and the blood is watery as well but still bright red.

ANSWER: Just because you don't see worms doesn't mean that she doesn't have any. The fact that her gums are white is a very bad sign.

She is bleeding from somewhere and it's a good chance she has a LOT of worms, usually round worms. She could have hook or whip worms as well.

Get her into the vet tomorrow! Little kittens do NOT have a huge reserve or a lot of blood to be losing this way.

She needs medical care now. Please call your vet and get her in there first thing in the morning.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: i made an appointment but the soonest they could get me in was Thursday at 5:30 pm...is this soon enough? are there any safety measure i can do to help make sure she doesn't get worse? we have two Scotty dogs and the cat and dogs play and wrestle about a lot like normal, should i keep her separate until she's seen?

Answer

7 day transition chart   Make sure she is getting plenty of fluids. Did you tell them that her gums were white? That is pretty serious. Maybe you can find another vet that will see her just for this.

I would keep her a bit separated if they start to play rough. Another thing is if she has something like coccidia the whole bunch will get contaminated with it.

It is a protozoan infection that can cause bloody stools and is hard to kill. So keep the litter boxes spotless!

Be sure she is tested for that as well as the major worms and leukemia if she hasn't been already.

Sometimes the food alone will irritate the colon enough to make it bleed. Commercial foods from grocery stores are notorious for this so get her on some HIGH quality kitten food such as Science Diet Kitten growth. It will really help with her stool as well. It won't get rid of parasites but it will make her a stronger and healthier cat.

So switch her over slowly (7 day transition) and she will do much better on that.

She can probably wait until Thursday. If she is playing then she isn't on deaths door!!