Blake the cat...again!

Hi Cat,

It´s me again! It´s about Blake my cat and his diarrhea. I found a vet with great reviews local to me and I took him on Tuesday because on Monday evening I found blood in his poo. I imediately thought the worst, with him being elderly and what blood in poo can sometimes mean in older cats.

When I first adopted Blake he apparently had a flea allergy, but once I´d treated him he was fine. He got some hive type lumps on him during the summer but my vet had said he may be allergic to pollen or grass, etc., but don´t worry about the lumps, just treat him with flea treatment. Anyway, we´ve recently moved from the beautiful countryside to some temporary accomodation in a city so Blake is now a house cat. He´s been indoor for 3 weeks and his hives have gone scabby, but haven´t cleared up.

ANYWAY, my new vet thinks the scabs are caused by him overgrooming! He´s a DLH and spends a lot of time grooming, but I had never thought him cleaning would have caused those scabs. He got an injection of mendrome (I think?) as conviently, that helps both his scabs and his diarrhea.

I was so pleased to hear it wasn´t anything terminal I forgot to ask the vet is he overly grooming because he´s irratated by something? Is there anything I can do to stop this reaction? It can´t be fleas, I would have seen them I´m sure. I know he´s had the injection now I´d like to help if I can. The vet also didn´t ask about Blake´s diet or anything, as I would have thought maybe this could be the cause of his poorly tummy? He´s on James Wellbeloved senior, andhe also gets whiskers wet food pouches, 1/4 of a packet at breakfast and teatime.

I do like to ramble, I´m sorry! I just get very concerned about my ´ancient´ cat as the receptionist said on Tuesday!! Poor Blake...I know cats older than him!

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14 Feb 2010 22:19

Cally

Thanks for all your advice Cat, and sorry I haven´t written on here sooner! I took all of your advice on board; he gets treated for worms and fleas regularly, and now that the weather is getter slightly warmer me and Blake have been venturing out in the garden in the hope this would eliviate his stress. All he wants to do is roll around on the ground and lie in the sun - if it´s ever sunny! His scabs are healing and I´ve been watching him groom, he is still paying a lot of attention to where his scabs are but once they´ve gone I imagine he´ll be ok. His poos aren´t as ´normal´ as I´d like, but there is no blood anymore.

This past week, he is a changed cat! I mean, I thought he was happy before, but now, he´s like a kitten again! I´ve never seen him like this, he is always happy and pleased to see us and runs around all over the place causing mischief!

Thanks for all your advice, I really value having two vets´ opinions!

Cally

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29 Jan 2010 16:37

Cat the Vet

Hi Cally,

The most common cause of any skin issue in cats is fleas and they are surprisingly common at this time of year, especially in house cats because the central heating allows them to reproduce in our homes. So, you must firstly ensure he has been correctly treated against fleas and that you have also done the house. This will require using products from your vet, not the pet shop. If you have already done this then that is excellent but if not it is the first thing to do. It is important to remember that in cats who are itchy, they lick at themselves so much that you will rarely see a flea, or even flea dirt, but they can still be the cause of the grooming.

The second most common problem of skin problems in cats is stress related over-grooming and this can be more difficult to treat. He may have found the move, and now being an indoor cat, a difficult transition and be using the grooming as an outlet. Normally when cats over-groom due to stress they don´t make the skin scabby, just bald, so that could indicate another underlying problem and certainly these scabs need to be treated as they are likely to be itchy themselves, which will only make him groom even more! I have posted some links at the bottom of this page to some advice information on stress in cats and how to help them.

Blood in the faeces is not always as sinister as you may think. When an animal has diarrhoea the guts are inflamed and the portion of the gut which is most affected is usually the rectum (the very final section of the intestines) where the faeces spends the longest time before it is passed. So, it becomes the most inflamed, inflamed tissue will bleed very easily and the animal will pass small volumes of blood. That is not to say this is the only cause of blood in the faeces, others can include tumours, stress or gritty, sharp material in the poo, but simple inflammation is the most common. Often older animals don´t digest their food as well as younger ones and senior diets can be very helpful for this, so see if you can get a senior wet food as well as a dry one, or your vet should be able to provide you with an easily digestible diet for a few days to help calm things down. Also, if you haven´t done it recently, you should worm him.

I hope this helps.

Cat

http://www.petstreet.co.uk/Blog/467996.Is%20your%20home%20_Feline%20Friendly__
http://www.petstreet.co.uk/Blog/461426.Phenomenal%20Pheromones!

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