Why is my cat straining with bloody diarrhea after tapeworm meds?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! If the worms you are seeing are small pieces of rice then they are likely tape worms. You need to purchase a dewormer than gets tape worms (drontal, droncit, cestex) and check her for fleas. Fleas are the intermediate host for tape worm. Also be sure that when you dewormed her before than you repeated the first dose 3-4 weeks later. There are some SPCAs that have low cost veterinary clinics. If the blood persists in her stool I recommend you have her seen. Blood indicates inflammation of the colon. Stop the diatomaceous earth. I hope this helps and good luck!

I am sorry to hear about your kitty! With blood present I think it is time for a vet exam (and bring a stool sample along). We can have intestinal parasites that are not treated by dewormer (such as Coccidia and Giardia). We can also have things like colitis, inflammatory bowel disease, or food allergy cause these issues. The vet can examine your kitty and based on the exam and history make recommendations and possible test and treatment options.

Hello. A cat cannot be constipated & have diarrhea at the same time. I think you are seeing Tiki strain, but this is from abdominal discomfort probably due to spasms in the gut, not from being constipated. There are all sorts of reasons for the diarrhea with blood, a bacterial infection, intestinal parasites, food intolerance, & less likely because of her age - neoplasia. The first thing to do is eliminate all fish from her diet. Go with a meat or poultry based diet. This can either be a dry kibble or wet food. Start her on a probiotic designed for cats. We have Proviable by Nutrimax & FortiFlora by Purina here. Next, have a sample of her stool examined by a veterinarian for the presence of intestinal parasites & then wormed with the proper medication. If this does not help, Tiki may need additional testing to find the cause of her discomfort. I hope she is feeling better soon & thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I'm sorry Apple isn't doing well at the moment! There are a number of other causes of blood in the stool such as a bacterial infection, viral infection, a foreign body, eating something rotten, giardia, coccidia, or damage to the GI tract among other causes. I'm not sure if the vet did a fecal float to check to check for parasites, but giardia cysts are often not detected with this test because of their small size, and will often require a special zinc sulfate flotation solution for detection. You can ask your vet if they have done this test to check for giardia as a possible cause of her bloody stool. Further tests may be needed as well such as blood work, a urinalysis, x-ray of her abdomen, or an ultrasound of her abdomen. I would speak to your vet to see if one of these tests could be done to help diagnose the cause of her symptoms so she can be treated. I hope this helps, best of luck!

Hello, thank you for using PetCoach. I suggest you have him dewormed and I would also start him on a probiotic (Fortiflora). If you do those two things and the diarrhea doesn't start to resolve in a few days then you need to take him to a vet for an exam. ( https://www.1800petmeds.com/purina+fortiflora-prod10376.html ) ( https://www.1800petmeds.com/drontal+for+cats-prod10073.html ) I don't think the oral flea/tick med is the issue but of course it can be. If you use that again in the future and the diarrhea starts again then you can probably confidently say that it is the issue in which case I would stop using it. Usually if that is the case the diarrhea starts within 24 hours of administration. Two weeks later, it is not likely. The new food is also possibly the culprit but again, you didn't switch cold turkey and it doesn't sound like he is eating that much of it anyway. Again, possible but not likely. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This really depends on a lot of factors. It depends on how much blood Tiger may be losing and if this is truly from diarrhea being caused by the parasites. If a diagnosis of parasites was established and you are giving the deworming as instructed by a veterinarian then it would be reasonable to see if this was just a one time episode of bloody stool and to have him examined if it continues. However, if a diagnosis has not been established by a veterinarian, I think it would be best to have a veterinarian look at Tiger as this diarrhea and bloody stools may be unrelated to parasites in which case it is not going to improve with the dewormer. Good luck and have a great day!

Oh my. Put some lubricating jelly on this prolapsed rectum right away. Multiple kitties straining to defecate and having loose stools with blood is highly suspicious for intestinal parasites or a bacterial infection. These kitties need to have their feces tested and then placed on the appropriate dewormer. Whipworms in particular are know for causing severe straining in pets. In the meantime I would suggest adding in 1-2 tsp of canned pumpkin (not the pie filling) in their food daily to add fiber and help reduce some of the straining. They could also use some probiotics as well. Over the counter Culturelle is equivalent to many of the pet formulated ones such as Fortiflora. Then it’s highly advised to take the kitty with the rectal prolapse to your local ER vet right away since your regular veterinarian is closed. The lubricating jelly can hopefully buy you some time if you can’t find an open vet right away. Good luck to you and your kitties and I hope they feel better soon. Take care.