cat feces has small amt of blood

Question
Our female spayed cat is 7 yrs old and has a detetcted heart murmur, as of 2 years ago. She is a healthy, indoor/outdoor cat in Southern Calif. She has been passing a very small amount of blood in her stools recently. She doesn't act any differently, her stools look normal, but the blood in the stools worries me. I know I should take her in. My husband is starting a business and we have very little income from me. Can you tell me what tests they might run and how much it will cost, so I can prepare for it. She is a wonderful cat who showed up at our door when she was 6 months old. Could it be cancer?
I would appreciate a reply.
Thank you for taking the time to answer this question.
Waiting in CA  

Answer
She may have inflammatory bowel disease or colitis.  Cancer is always a possibility but usually they will lose weight and be unthrifty looking.

You can try a diet change to an all-natural diet such as Prairie by Nature's Variety www.naturesvariety.com to see if that helps.  In addition, I would try to get her to eat plain yogurt on a daily basis and adding digestive enzymes to her diet such as Dancing Paws Shake 'NZyme www.dancingpaws.com may be of great benefit.

As far as testing, I would recommend a stool sample and some basic blood tests such as CBC, Chem and T4 be run.  I can't really give you cost as prices vary greatly from vet to vet.  At our hospital, those tests and an exam would be about $160.  Obviously is something is found on exam, she may need x-rays or additional testing.