Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there. I've emailed you in the past in regards to my cat, Sola who was diagnosed recently with moderate lymphoplasmacytic IBD. He is on budesonide (1ml/day) and gets ultrasounds every other month to monitor his condition.

I'm emailing because Sola recently started to have very hard, dark stools and constipation from time to time. Our vet recommended we add fibercon to his diet and I've been doing so for about 3 weeks, but he is still having hard, dark stools. I've read that this could indicate melena. What would you recommend I do?

Hi There,

The best way to find out if Sola's stool contains blood is to take a sample to the vet. A small amount of blood from the IBD would not be unusual, nor would it be something to worry about unless he were to become anemic.

Melena is really digested blood and it's presence usually shows up looking more like tar or even coffee grounds. Blood from the colon itself would tend to be fresh-looking.

So to be safe, you should take in a stool sample, have a PCV done to determine if Sola is anemic, and it would be good to talk to your vet about the constipation. You might find that adding some canned pumpkin (without spice) to Sola's diet will do the trick, or maybe adding a small amount of olive oil, or a suppliment such as Derm Caps.

Take care, and please let us know how Sola does.

Regards,
PHKitkat

Thanks for your advice.

I've taken a stool sample in recently and it came back negative. I've tried the pumpkin and he won't eat it, but I just started the olive oil to the food last week at someone else's suggestion.

I've never found blood in his stools, they are just very hard and dark, almost black. I read that dark stools could indicate bleeding in the upper GI. Do you agree? And if so, what can be done about it? And is that just IBD or something else?

I've also started feeding strictly wet food (Wellness canned turkey). I used to give him a little bit of dry food as a treat (Innova Evo chicken) but he wolfs it down (just a few pieces) then immediately vomits!

Hi,

I pretty much covered this in my last post. Upper GI bleeding CAN cause dark stools, but significant bleeding would be more likely to cause soft, or what is called "tarry" stools. If I were worried about possible bleeding in one of my cats, I would have a PCV done to see if the cat is anemic. All cats with IBD lose some blood but it is from the colon, not the upper GI system. Blood from the colon would not be dark and digested, but fresh.

If there is upper GI bleeding, it would take additional testing to determine the cause. Once that is found, your vet will decide what is to be done. There would be many possible causes of this kind of bleeding.

You might want to ask your vet about adding Pepcid AC to Sola's medication routine, since steroids are hard on the stomach. They can even cause ulcers if given without food. This CAN cause stomach bleeding, but would be most likely to cause vomiting, rather than travel throughout the GI tract.

My cat, Timothy, who had IBD for many years, remained mildly anemic and had some bleeding, but from the colon only. I was able to see the blood in his stools, but he never needed treatment for the anemia.

Regards,
PHKitkat

Thanks so much for the advice.

Sola had his PCV checked a few months ago and it was normal, but I'll have it checked again when we go in for his abdominal ultrasound next week.

During Sola's problems in the past, our vet has said we can add pepcid, so I will do that!

Thanks again,

Lisa (and Sola)