Conference misery::feline

    Deb,
    
    A friend of mine's cat had this and it was a broken blood vessel!!  He
    went to go the bathroom and (in her words) "a cup of blood came out!!" 
    She rushed him to the vet who told her it was a blood vessel.
    
    I have also heard of the pumpkin pie filling as a remedy, believe it
    or not.

    This happened with Gino last year.  I found several drops of blood
    outside the litter box and his anus looked sort of distended from a
    distance.  Sure enough it was and looked quite pouchy and there was
    some blood on it. Had him checked and was told that he had been
    straining - he never gets constipated but as I recall it was the
    beginning of winter and we were out of greens (oats/wheat) so this may
    have affected his digestion.
    
    Giudi

    Pumpkin pie filling and metamucil would add fiber to the diet.  Some of
    the reduced calorie cat foods use squash or pumpkin as filler to
    increase fiber intake and decrease caloric intake.
    
    Jo

    Wow!  you guys are great!  I feel so much better.  I was starting
    to think that I was on a wild goose chase.  It was very scary seeing
    so much blood come out (1/2 a tsp. or so).  That's interesting
    about the pumpkin pie - I never knew that about it.  I'll read up
    on colitis too.  Thanks!!
    
    deb

    Moderator - if this question is here somewhere I've missed it, if so
    could you please point me to it...
    
    I have four cats, actually 1 cat, (2) 6 month old kittens and (1) 13 or 14
    week old kitten.  Sunday one of them pooped right outside the litter
    box and there was blood in it!
    
    Everybody is acting normally, no lethargy (sp?), no vomitting or
    anything like that.  They all eat Iams wet and dry.  Only the cat
    goes outside (and I think she suppliments her diet outside as well as
    uses the bathroom out there).
    
    The two 6 month olds I aquired from an animal shelter, the little
    kitten is a purebred that I bought.
    
    Anybody know what this could be?  And how can I tell who's doing it
    without dragging them all to the vets?  
    
    Thanks,
    Sharon
    

    I get this with one of my cats when her diet isn't properly controlled.
    She has chronic colitis.  I feed her a food a bit higher in fiber and
    it is controlled fairly well.  She's eating Science Diet Light
    Maintenance.
    
    To figure out who is doing it you may try isolating them with a small
    litter box to see who leaves the funky samples.  I am usually well
    aware who does it 'cause Carrie is the only one of my cats who leaves
    her stool samples right on the carpet for me to retrieve when she is
    either having a problem with her colitis or when she feels the box 
    just isn't quite clean enough.
    
    Jan

    Try the litter box - it'll work.
    
    Also - one of my cats had the same thing and it was some type of
    infection...it was easily cured with amoxicillin.,  Best to get her
    to the vet right away as it probably hurts her.
    
    

    Thanks for the info.  I feel a little relieved to know that it could be
    an infection or colitis or something easily curable.  I have a tendancy
    to think the worst when something is wrong with one of my kitties.
    I'm isolating them one at a time to try and find the culprit.  But,
    yesterday I didn't see any blood.  I have my hunches about who it was
    but I'm not positive, so hopefully I can figure it out soon and get her
    to the vets.
    
    Sharon
    

    Check the keywords for more information about colitis.  You can do this
    by typing "show key/full colitis".
    
    Jo