Can anybody help me here?

[Overmind One]

My Maine Coon Siete suddenly started bleeding from the mouth. The blood just drips out. I first noticed it because he came to me and was dripping blood from his mouth. He is indoor only so he did not get out or eat anything poisonous. He is alert, and the bleeding is not constant. It seems to drip after he starts grooming, covering his white and black fur with bright red blood. I opened his mouth, and it could be coming from his gums, or he could be bringing it up from his stomach? He is not vomiting blood.

Im in a panic a bit. I am following him around, wiping his blood stained fur with a warm washcloth and water, and seeing how he is behaving. Is he going to die on me?

 

[Overmind One]

There are small clots in the blood. I do not see how a fresh bleed can have clots already in it. I am still not sure if the blood is coming from his mouth or his stomach. In a real panic now. It is 2:16am here and no pet hospital open at this time. Been going online, and some sites say this happens just before sudden death. Others say it is a stomach ailment which passes (as long as nose bleeding and blood in urine or feces is not present).

 

[Overmind One]

Profuse dripping seems to have stopped. But this is not over. He is still bleeding a bit. I am wiping it away as I inspect and find it about every 15 minutes. I cannot get to sleep until there is a whole hour with no bleeding. I do not have to work, so he deserves my full attention. The red on his fur where he has groomed and stained it with blood is depressing. He looks like he has been performing an autopsy.

 

[Overmind One]

Okay, he is sleeping and there is no bleeding. I believe it was coming from his right side gums, but that would not explain the clots I saw earlier when he first started bleeding. It is 3:17am and I have gone to him about three times checking to see if there is any new blood. Nothing. His fur needs to be washed of the red staining, but he may groom that away. To me this indicates gum/tooth issues and not a systemic illness.

Fingers crossed...Im no vet.

 

[Overmind One]

What I thought was clots could have been food particles coated in blood. Right now he is sleeping and his temperature is okay and he is breathing normally and not bleeding. WTF? His fur...

 

[Overmind One]

4:21am, and Siete got up to drink some water. I watched him, he walks normally, drank his water, but I also noticed some blood. I think this is blood in his mouth, as it is not full red (looks diluted), and once wiped away did not continue. He is sitting on the floor, relaxed, not bleeding. Pretty certain this is gum/tooth related now.

 

[Overmind One]

Okay, it is now 9am, ans Siete made it through the night without bleeding. But this morning, when he got up to go into my bedroom to lay in his sun spot, I noticed blood on the towel he was sleeping on. I wiped that away, (it had clots in it) and no bleeding. An hour later, I went in there and he was inside the closet, bleeding from the mouth again.

Right now, he is next to me on a pillow and I cleaned his mouth again, but about every 20 min blood starts flowing for about a minute, then stops. His fur is stained with blood on the paws and arms where he grooms. WHAT IS WRONG??? The vet is closed today. He is awake, breathing normally...what is it?

 

[Overmind One]

*sigh* Siete is trying to find dark places (inside my cabinets, in my closet). I pull him out because I cannot monitor the bleeding behavior if he is hiding. I am starting to think he may be close to death? The blood should not have clots in it already. It is not food. Perhaps he has swallowed the blood and it is coming back up? He is not vomiting it, it just drips. Overnight, we are talking a significant amount of blood.

Anybody gonna give some advice?

He is sleeping next to me on a towel (I made him lay there). No bleeding. But if the pattern holds, he will wake up and start grooming and the bleeding will start. No blood coming from nose, eye pupils normal, temperature normal. I hate this!

 

[Overmind One]

Bleeding still happening when he grooms, but not nearly as bad. I called an emergency pet hospital, but the Yelp reviews say it is a money vacuum. Customers on there complaining about bills for THOUSANDS of dollars. Im just not going to spend that. I will give him my love and care today and tonight and see my regular vet tomorrow. He is not bleeding out, and there is a definite connection to him grooming and the mouth bleeding. Probably not near death (just Cat Daddy worrying?). He is clearly not happy with his bloody fur, and I have been getting the blood off with a washcloth.

 

[Overmind One]

Well, just noticed this forum was not listed in the Recent Threads. Anyways, it has been several hours with Siete sleeping and there is no bleeding from his mouth. I lifted his lips, and no blood in his mouth or on his tongue. on either side. No blood where his head has been laying. Then again, he is sleeping and not grooming or moving around so I still do not know what is happening. Maybe he injured something in his mouth? Each time the "bleeding episode" was less severe, and smaller clots. Now, no bleeding...for now.

 

[Gatefan1976]

sounds to me like he cut a gum on something. Just like us, Head and mouth wounds just bleed a lot.
Is he yowling (not meow, yowl)?

 

[Overmind One]

sounds to me like he cut a gum on something. Just like us, Head and mouth wounds just bleed a lot.
Is he yowling (not meow, yowl)?

First, THANK YOU for commenting on this thread. I was hoping it would be you who commented.

He is not yowling or grimacing or acting as though he is in any pain at all. If you have read the frantic posts I was making all morning, it was really ME who was more wrecked than Siete seems to be. Here are two snaps from early this morning. His coat is red because he has been grooming with a bloody mouth.





Last night, when he was sleeping, there was a spot of blood where it had drained out. When he got up and started grooming, his mouth started bleeding again. This last time, about 4 hours now, there is no blood in his mouth or on the shelf where he is sleeping (see picture on bottom).

 

[Overmind One]

He just got up and ate a handful of treats. No blood in his mouth. I just watched him groom a little, no blood....

 

[Gatefan1976]

def sounds like a cut gum or he might have even possibly bitten his tongue (which would piss him off while grooming) If he were in any real pain, he would yowl at you, and if he was really messed up, he would just like in the one spot and wimper or yowl softly. If he lets you, check out his gums and see if you can see where he may have got himself. if you can identify the area, you could try putting some warm salty water on it to clean it out, but if it has stopped, his saliva has probably done the job already.

Not to worry dude, It's like kids and they hurt themselves the first time, nothing wrong with being a little over-proctective to start with

 

[Overmind One]

def sounds like a cut gum or he might have even possibly bitten his tongue (which would piss him off while grooming) If he were in any real pain, he would yowl at you, and if he was really messed up, he would just like in the one spot and wimper or yowl softly. If he lets you, check out his gums and see if you can see where he may have got himself. if you can identify the area, you could try putting some warm salty water on it to clean it out, but if it has stopped, his saliva has probably done the job already.

Not to worry dude, It's like kids and they hurt themselves the first time, nothing wrong with being a little over-proctective to start with

Well, he just ate some treats (which was a test for me), and his mouth did not bleed. After he fnished, I watched as he licked his chops and then groomed a bit and no more blood coming out. However over the course of the night, there was a good amount of blood (perhaps a tablespoonfull all together?). He is asleep again, and no blood....

He let me check his gums, his teeth, and his tongue. No blood. I cannot see where there was a sore. Where did those clots come from?

 

[Joelist]

So nothing indicating an abcess? That can also cause bleeding. To be safe a vet visit is probably a good idea.

 

[Gatefan1976]

A -regular- vet visit though, no need to rush off to the emergency vet.
If Joe is right, and it is an abcess, that would be harder to spot as a lot of that can be under the tooth and there might only be a mild swell on the jaw, but would definitely need a vet visit to sort out properly.

 

[Joelist]

I thought of an abcess because I had a dog get one a few years back. It took vet work to clear it all up as a tooth had to be extracted, bleeding stanched and so on.

 

[Overmind One]

A -regular- vet visit though, no need to rush off to the emergency vet.
If Joe is right, and it is an abcess, that would be harder to spot as a lot of that can be under the tooth and there might only be a mild swell on the jaw, but would definitely need a vet visit to sort out properly.

I actually almost DID rush him off to the vet. Seeing him standing there bleeding from his mouth, the bright red drops of it on my floors, and the blood on his fur just put me in a panic. I have been checking on him (just did that). No blood in mouth, no new blood on his fur. The clots could have formed inside his mouth behind the lips before I saw them. There are non in there now, gums look healthy and pink.

Could his own claws have cut his gums?

I will take him to his regular vet next Friday. I already had an appointment for then anyway. I think he is fine? I sure hope so...I will continue the updates.

 

[Gatefan1976]

if there is no obvious cause, it's a good (bad) thought dude.