My kitten has bloody stool and looks inflamed. What should I do?

It looks like Coco may have a small amount of rectal tissue prolapsed. This can occur if they have parasites, chronic diarrhea, foreign body or constipation. I recommend having her checked for intestinal parasites and possibly adding water to her food to help her pass stool more easily. If she is vomiting or showing any other signs of illness she should see a pet ASAP.

I'm so sorry to hear that Oliver is having this problem. A prolapsed rectum is very painful and the longer that tissue stays out the higher the chance that it will lose blood supply and need surgery. Prolapsed rectums in kittens are usually caused by excessive straining from diarrhea, constipation, or GI parasites. Unfortunately, there is no home remedy and I can only recommend that you have Oliver seen right away to correct this problem and find the underlying cause.

Poor guy. He sounds ill indeed. Many disease processes can cause loose bloody stool including: intestinal parasites, pancreatitis, inflammatory bowel disease, lymphoma (cancer of the intestines), dietary indiscretion (eating something he shouldn't have), and even a bacterial infection. The first step would be to do a full panel bloodwork analysis, fecal exam and urinalysis done on Oliver. This should be ble to narrow things down quite a bit so that your vet can know what Oliver needs treatment wise. I would suggest scheduling an appt for him soon at your local vet. I hope that your pet Oliver is able to recover from his bloody stool and illness. Best wishes and take care.

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about Prince. Congrats on your new kitten, but I'm sorry he isn't well! If he wasn't weaned and is now eating a kitten food, that could be causing the bloody diarrhea. I agree, it does look like his anus is protruding a bit. Given that he's eating and drinking and otherwise acting normally, it's fine to wait until the morning to wait to take him into a vet. He should see one first thing in the morning to get treated. Tonight, keep feeding him and giving him water, and keep him warm and comfortable. I hope this helps!

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.

Blood in the stool is very worrisome to owners and I understand that but if it is a one time occurrence I would not be overly concerned. The most common reason for this colonic irritation is internal parasites. I suggest you speak to your vet about deworming. The two common parasites to cause blood in stool is hookworms and coccidia both of which are treated with different dewormers. You should have your vet run a fecal test first to figure out if that is the underlying reason. I would also suggest you start her on a probiotic and use it for at least 2 weeks. I recommend Fortiflora but any probiotic for cats should be OK (no human probiotics). ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/Purina-FortiFlora-Cat-GR-1/dp/B019K79PZY/ref=sr_1_3?crid=278E7D3H93B4O&keywords=fortiflora+for+cats&qid=1560006557&s=gateway&sprefix=fortiflora+for+dogs%2Caps%2C306&sr=8-3 ) Hope this helps. If you have more questions you can always opt for a private consultation where we can chat back and forth. That way you can ask as many questions as you'd like. Best wishes.

He may be constipated or have a partial rectal prolapse. Veterinary attention is recommended to diagnose the underlying cause prior to treatment. Submit a stool sample to diagnose intestinal parasites which are a common cause of the symptoms described, especially in kittens.