Cat diagnosed with colitis, blood in stool for months.

Question
Hi and thank you for reading my question!
I have two cats, both males (neutered), one is a year old (I've had him since he was 3 months), the other is 5-6 months (also had since he was 3 months). Both have been tested for feline Aids/Leukemia and are up to date on all their shots. Soon after second kitty came to live with us, my older kitty developed a diarreah problem accompanied with blood (no other symptoms). This was about two months ago. The first step was bringing a fecal sample, which as negative. Then I brought him in for an examination. The vet examined said he was otherwise healthy, but prescribe metronidazole 5 days and Precription Diet for his food . Diahreah did not improve, so I took him back in, he diagnoised my kitty with colitis, prescribe 3 weeks of metronidazole and more Prescription Diet. Things improved after a few weeks and now he has been eating Purina One for Sensitve Systems. It has been about a month now since he's had any treatment, his stools have hardened for the most part, but they go back and forth, but my concern is there is still blood present in his stools everytime he goes.I plan on bringing him to the vet this week but I'm trying to get some insight from an outside source on what could be causing this because I am so worried! I feel so bad for my baby because I'm sure it can't be comfortable for him. My first thought was maybe the bringing home of the new kitty was causing him stress, therefore diahrreah or that it was an infection brought in by the other cat, but has he and the other cat are now buds, and he's been treated with metronidazole, so I don't think the other kitty is the problem. I'm sorry this is so long, I just wanted to make sure you had all the information!!! Thanks again.


Answer
Cherri:

Intestinal parasites, including worms, can lead to bloody stools in cats.  Tapeworms will not show up in a fecal examination, but egg cases are passed and look like small grains of rice when they dry and can usually be found in the pet's fur. Hookworms and roundworms will show up in a fecal exam. Roundworms can encyst in body tissues and reinfect a cat throughout its lifetime, so they may be present even if they aren't found in a fecal exam. De-worm according to your vet's advice or the prescribed dose on the product.

There are types of colitis in the cat that seem to be spontaneous and often require specialized techniques for an accurate diagnosis to be made.

I am including a link to a website that has a 6 page article about blood in the stool (melena). You may find this an interesting article. Cut and paste or type the whole link into your address bar:

http://www.petplace.com/cats/melena-blood-in-stool-in-cats/page1.aspx

And when you have a serious problem like this I would go to another vet and get a 2nd opinion. All vets are not alike and do not test alike. It's always good see what a 2nd vet says about your cat.

Hope some of this info helps.