Help. Cat vomits far too often

trentdiggity

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So I've taken my cat to 3 vets and have yet to get an answer to this. This has been going on over the last two years.

She throws up every 2-3 days. Its normally just her food and some liquid, sometimes she will throwup only the liquid. Does anyone have any idea on what I can try next?

First off, its not hairballs or alergy to a food. We have tried her on several types of food, including the organic stuff. She's also been treated with various types of medicine to kill any parasites. Also treated for acid reflux(pepcid AC via vet's reccommendation). We feed her away from our other cats, limit the amount of food she gets, etc. but the problem continues.

Shes a very small cat, she was a stray. I know shes atleast 4 years old but she had never grown. when we take her to the vet, they always think shes under a year.

Is it possible she could be allergic to something in the house? this problem started 3-4 months after moving into a new place.

Has anyone had a simular expierence? where do we go from here? shes such a sweet and playful cat, it kills us that she gets sick so much.
 

alikatt

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I went through a very similiar experience with our Lil' Bit (RIP). He had his good day's and his bad days. After being seen by the second vet, we still didn't really have any answers. The first vet took xrays, and found some obstructions in his tummy that looked to be small pieces of plastic, from say... a toliet brush maybe, and they wanted to do surgery. $2,500 to do it, and we couldn't afford it, so we just hoped and prayed they would work themselves out of his system. He did ok for awhile, and then started throwing up and getting sick again, so he was taken to the second vet. Xrays were taken, and there were no obstructions anymore, but he saw the possibilty of something being wrong with his intestines. I wish I could remember the word, but something having to do with them overlapping themselves, or something to that effect.

We were given a powder enzyme that helped to break down his food for him before he started to eat, and then while in his tummy, and it helped for awhile, but he took a turn for the worse. I'm not trying to scare you, but I am just offering my experience.

I would recommend taking him in for xray's, or even better finding a feline specialist in your area. It was concluded that he had some type of congenital digestive problems that we could do nothing about. Just be diligent, and find the answers you need. Good luck to you, and I'm thinking of you and your sweet baby to a speedy recovery.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to PM me. I will offer you any advice I can.
 

sharky

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I agree 2nd opinion and xrays.... I also want to ask did you try each food for 8-12 weeks??
 
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trentdiggity

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I did try the food for about 12 weeks each time.
I think xrays are the next step. Thanks.
 

jenny82

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Emily throws up about once a week (used to be about twice a week) and I don't think it's hairballs because I can't see hair in it...it just looks like partially digested food. The vet basically told me not to worry about it because it was happening infrequently enough that she was still getting enough food, and it's been happening most of her life.
 

myfirstragdoll

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Hershey my Ragdoll use to throw up food. The vet found nothing wrong, he said it was probably the food well after trying ALL kinds of food Chicken Soup for the cat lovers soul, Iams and Purina One doesn't make him throw up. I have him on now Chicken Soup because it's better then Iams and Purina One.
 

shambelle

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This may sound stupid, but I didn't see anything about it in your question.

Do you elevate her bowls? Teddy used to throw up often, and we raised his bowls on little boxes. The vomiting stopped.
 
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trentdiggity

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ok you kind of lost me there on elevating the bowls. how does that help?

My cat doesnt throw up immediatly, she eats, an hour or so passes and then she throws up the food. other than being chewed up and wet, its not really any different than when she ate it.

We've had her on iams, same result.

Also can you tell me more about the chicken soup? what brand? does it get enough vitamins? how much do you feed? etc.
This idea interests me because when there is human food around, this cat is very persistent in getting to it. we have to lock her in another room while we eat.
 

ocicat_steph

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We're currently going through the same thing with our Phoebe. She's been like this for over a month now. She has a food allergy and we had her on Royal Canin Allergy diet for a while which is predigested food basically. then we found she had been snacking on a plant in the house which i didn't know was toxic. she hadn't touched it before until just recently when the kitten pulled a piece off and left it on the floor. Phoebe is a bit of a hoover... she likes to eat random things left on the floor. well we firstly took her in for the poisoning but even after flushing her kidneys blood tests saying she was fine she still was throwing up. so we switched her food to Jameswell Beloved which is ment to be a single ingredient diet for allergy elemination. we had had allergy testing done ages ago and went with the one that wasn't listed as one of her allergic ones. she kept throwing up and we noticed at first when the vets gave a steroid injection that the vomiting would stop for a week. then begin again. but now it's back and almost everyday and only in the evening which is weird because nothing different happens in the evening. they then suggested the antibiotic for her stomach to see if it's a bacterial thing... still doesn't seem to be helping. she threw up really bad last night and when she went to the loo she didn't even poo much only a little pebble and it got stuck to her bum which she scrapped across the floor for us and made her rectum bleed. i freaked out and called the vets. they listed her to a referal vets today for an endoscopy. we're completly out of ideas and the steroids seem to be the only thing that helps. we were going to try a course of steroids and ween her off them but i can't wait anymore this isn't fair to her and she's losing weight now from not injesting anything. so she's off to the vets for the proceedure on the 11th. i will keep you posted as to what they find. i hope they find something because it's going to cost us £700($1400) for it. we've already spent £300($600) in the last month.
 

stephanietx

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This brings back many memories! My Callie used to throw up several times a DAY, right after eating, a little after eating, an hour or so after eating, while eating...you get the picture! I was feeding her Nutro and giving her tuna or salmon treats at night. We elevated her bowl, put marbles in there all to slow her down and that helped SOME, but she still would throw up regularly. Well, I don't remember what happened, but along the way, I put her on a different food and stopped feeding her the Nutro treats. Her throwing up decreased significantly. Then, I started watching her after I fed her wet food, and found out that ANY food or treat with ANY type of fish in it made her throw up. She now eats Royal Canin and Science Diet r/d (to help keep her weight down), no treats and she RARELY throws up.

Stephanie
 

shambelle

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Elevating the bowls did two things for Teddy:
1. slowed him down and forced him to chew his food
2. the more upright position allowed him to swallow better

It doesn't work for every cat; it did for him. He'd throw up either 5 minutes or up to an hour later - now, he doesn't.
 
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