Male cat with mucus in stool

Question

The cat is 11 or 12 years old, and I got him from a friend two years ago. He's been very healthy all along until the last few weeks, when he seemed to be losing some weight and being annoyed at our other cat. He is still eating his food, but apparently not as much as before. I've started to monitor his bowel movements, and have noticed a fair amount of clear mucus when he poops, but no blood. The poops themselves are brown and normal-looking. He does not seem to have either diarrhea or constipation and doesn't seem to be in pain, although maybe has some discomfort since he wants nothing to do with the other cat. He just isn't quite his normal self.

His food is canned cat food (Friskies). I was also leaving out dry kibble but will just go with canned now.

Does anyone have any similar experience with their cat having a lot of mucus in the stool? Any tips, vet histories, etc.? The vet is a long expensive trip away, and with covid around I'm very reluctant to risk a trip. I'm hoping this is something that will abate with time, but any feedback will be welcome.

Answer 1

The first thing to do is to get your cat dewormed.

Your cat slowly losing weight can be caused by intestinal parasites, as this is a common cause for weight loss in cats.

The mucus in your cat's stool is a signal that the intestines are irritated/inflamed; this is often caused by intestinal parasites. Parasites are not the only cause for mucus in a cat's stool, as some infections in your cat's intestines can cause this too.

You can get dewormer at your local pharmacy; for an outdoor cat you should deworm him/her every 6 months and once a year for an indoor-only cat.

Your cat should get better in 2-3 days after giving the dewormer, if not you need to contact your vet.