Aging Cat - Blood Clots?

[cottontail]

Hello,

I promise I am working to get hold of a vet, but I want to be prepared with what to expect.

My cat Spotty is an 18 year old female. I’m fairly confident she’s deaf - I’m Deaf also but my family suggests that Spotty doesn’t react to any noises anymore, unless they’re incredibly loud. She’s started, in the last few months, to meow frequently and loudly, leading me from the door (then refusing to out) to her food dish (still full) and back again nonstop. She’s also become quite aggressive about food and will grab and bite at your hands when she believes you have food in them. Essentially, I think she has dementia at this point.

Today I came home to find small spots of blood along the floor leading from the litter box, and a blood clot on the floor in front of it. I cleaned it up and checked Spotty over, she looks physically fine. Just now she climbed up on a chair and sat down for a while; when she got up, there was a blood clot on the chair.

Any idea what’s going on? She seems to be having normal bowel and bladder habits.

[fjm]

Is the blood bright scarlet, or bluish crimson? And when you say "blood clot" do you mean a lump, or a stain? Have you checked her anus and vulva?

[cottontail]

Is the blood bright scarlet, or bluish crimson? And when you say "blood clot" do you mean a lump, or a stain? Have you checked her anus and vulva?

The blood is a bit of both. They were lumps. I tried to check her but was unsure what I was looking for - just got back from the vet and it turned out to be both her anus and her vulva.

They cleared an anal gland and they’re keeping her to get a urine sample. The vet suggested it may be a bladder infection but to be prepared for other possibilities. If not an infection, they’re thinking cancer, unfortunately.

[fjm]

You have done the very best for her by getting her to the vet as soon as possible - I hope it proves to be something treatable, and she is home soon.