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Vet prescribed metronidazole for cat's bloody stool. Is it safe?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Colorpoint Shorthair | Female | spayed | 2 years and 6 months old | 11 lbs

My cat has had some blood in her stools lately and the stools have been softer than usual. I brought her to a vet and her tests came back clear but the vet prescribed metronidazole. Is this the appropriate medication? On the Web I saw that it can have severe side effects

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Jenny, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on July 31st, 2017

That is a very common antibiotic that is prescribe for loose stool especially if there is blood present. Every medicine has side effects, but the short term use of that particular one has minimal. Most side effects are from prolonged use and often at very high doses.

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    Answered By Dr. Macartney, BVet Med, MRCVS

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    I am sorry to hear that Cookie-puss is having these issues with diarrhoea and blood in her feces. Metronidazole is an excellent choice of medications as it's not an antibiotic, but also has effectiveness against a common intestinal parasite garadia. I have not seen any cases of severe side-effects when I have used it. It could be that what you are reading occurred in only a small portion of animals and therefore is very unlikely. I hope that she starts to recover quickly.

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