10 month old red swollen anus

[jhas507]

I just rescued a 10 month old male cat from an unclean environment (in a house, but locked in a dirty cage all day). He is not neutered, and the previous owners were unable to verify that he has ever even been to a vet. His anus is red and swollen, and he has trouble controlling his BMs. He has not had a solid BM in the two days that I've had him, and it often just leaks out when he stretches or plays.

He doesn't seem to be in any pain or miserable in any way. He still plays, eats and drinks without an issue, although he is eating and drinking quite a bit. I'm wondering if he has a parasite of some kind? I'm taking him to the vet tomorrow, I'm just trying to get some info to run by the vet to exhaust all possibilities. It would be nice if I could hurry things along so I could eventually stop keeping him locked in the bathroom.

[Piparskeggr]

Very heartening update!

Has kitty revealed his name to you?

[jhas507]

So I took him to the vet one week ago today. The vet said that there are any number of reasons he could be suffering from diarrhea. I did bring in a stool sample for the vet, and this was inspected during the visit so we had an immediate answer. He also had a blood draw.

He is Feline Leukemia and Immune deficiency negative, and also did not have any worms. It is possible that his BM's could have been caused by some sort of bacteria in his GI tract. He was placed on antibiotics twice daily for two weeks (half way done!), and was also prescribed a steroid topical ointment to apply to his anus to promote healing. Also, the vet said that due to him constantly licking his anus and causing it to bleed, he needed to be fitted with a cone. Along with this, he was placed on a bland diet, which he is given a 1/2 cup per day.

One week later, his anus is noticeably better, even to the point of his cone being able to be removed. He is still on antibiotics for another week, though. He still is not having solid BM's, but his defecating is reducing to a more normal rate, and appears to be slowly solidifying with each pass. He does not seem to have the appetite and thirst he had when I first rescued him, which tells me the antibiotics are working, and he no longer needs to eat as much.

He is now allowed to come out of the bathroom when I am home; I still keep him in the bathroom when I am at work just in case of an accident, but he has a bed, toys, food and water in the bathroom. His litter box is cleaned daily, which I'm sure also helps.

From the way he appears to be healing, I'm sure he'll be able to be out of the bathroom full time by the end of the week!!

Thanks for your support!

Josh