Vet Question Of The Day
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Question
Our (1yo female DSH) neutered cat (neutered prior to our ownership) has had intermittent small volume bloody discharge from her vagina for the last 3 months. On exam her vulva had an ulcerated area and our veternarian is planning an exam under anesthesia later this week. She has no weight loss, a healthy appetite, and has had no change in activity. She is the only animal in our home. What do you believe this could be?
Answer
Usually when a cat has bloody discharge mixed in with the urine, it's either a problem with the urinary system or the reproductive tract. Because she's been neutered, we'd assume that the bulk of her reproductive tract has been removed and so it's more than likely a urinary problem.
There are 2 things that I can think of :
1. she has a bladder infection and the blood is the result of urinary crystals rubbing against the bladder walls or urethral walls and causing damage and therefore she's got bleeding as a result. The irritation from the urination (usually there's a burning sensation but nobody ever asked the cat) may be causing her to clean that area more than usual and the excessive cleaning on her part has led to an ulcer (their tongues are pretty rough).
2. she has an immune mediated disease or something like an eosinophilic granulomatous complex (this is usually found more so in the mouth area where they get ulcerations but it can be found in anywhere). There is a gamut of tests that go with this because often it's the result of something underlying that is resulting in the ulcerations forming eg like Feline Leukemia Virus or Feline Immune Deficiency Virus where their immune system is being effectively switched off and therefore they get a lot of weird diseases which they would normally fight off on their own if their immune system is 'normal'.
Cats are pretty good at coping when they are ill. They do tend to sleep a lot anyway so I find that when owners bring them in they could 'look' okay but in fact they're really quite sick already. They've just learnt to cope the best way they can with whatever they've got.
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