Blood after toilet?

girl24

I have been looking after a family members cat for the weekend and last night I noticed some drops of blood where the cat had been sitting, I tried to see if there was any blood on her or around the anal area but there wasn't but then I checked the litter tray and there was a few drops around that. I have told my relative about it so I presume he will bring the cat to the vet tommorrow but any ideas as to what is causing this?

boomerang

If it is fresh blood, it's probably just from her rectum if she is constipated and has been straining to go to the toilet.

pwd

Have you seen its stools, by any chance? Runny bloody stools are likely to indicate feline distemper, which is extremely serious, and requires immediate attention from a vet.

Rancid

Or it could be Cystitis, a urinary tract/bladder infection.
This can result in straining to urinate and sometimes bleeding, too.

If the cat is showing signs of trying to urinate and not producing any, get it to the vet *immediately*.

The Sweeper

If she's been recently stressed by being relocated to your house for a period of being minded, she may well have interstitial cystitis - a stress-related inflammation of the bladder and urethra that can cause spots of blood in the litter tray. Interstitial cystitis resolves itself usually in about 7-10 days, but may be resolved quicker or more apropriately with a course of antibiotics.

However blood in the urine can also be an indication of a more sinister condition, involving struvite and oxalate crystals and stones in the cat's bladder, which can cause a life-threatening condition if they block the urethra so the cat literally cannot pee around the crystals, and the bladder expands, resulting in kidney failure and death for the cat. Symptoms will include the cat appearing to be well off form, displaying discomfort if touched or picked up (yowling, snapping or scratching) and vomiting and unable to keep food or water down.

A cat with a urinary blockage needs to see the vet immediately. These blockages are becoming more and more common in cats fed an exclusively dry kibble diet and who don't drink enough water.

These days, any cat with blood in their urine needs to see the vet immediately because of the life-threatening risk of crystals in the bladder - the vet can take a urine sample and spin it to see if there are crystals. At least if there are no crystals you can rule out that problem and address the issue of cystitis caused by stress.

girl24

Hi, thanks for all the replies. He brought her to the vet first thing this morning and the vet said she has cystitus but he didn't do a urine sample, should he have? The Sweeper you mentioned about vomiting and I know she has on occaison vomited up her food and she doesn't eat much anyway, never has done since he has had her, she is an old cat so I suppose that could be attributed to her age.

The Sweeper

With regard to the 'should he have' part on the urine sample, the vet may have assessed the cat's age, the change in her circumstances, her normal diet, whether this has happened before, and whether she has other symptoms e.g. a temperature or vomiting (and by vomiting, I do mean literally cannot keep food or water down as opposed to the occasional post-prandial-puke most cats tend towards), and after looking at all of that he may have been satisfied that she simply had cystitis from being a bit stressed out. Hope she gets better soon!