Indoor Cat throwing up blood after hairballs.

Good evening everyone!

I've got a bit of problem with one of my cats. He's an adult male, indoor cat, who woke me up in the middle of the night last night letting it rip with some pretty good size hairballs. He seemed fine this morning but as the day has gone on he's thrown up a few times mostly saliva looking froth, this last one it appears blood is in the mix.

He doesn't seem to have much of an appetite but his energy level seems ok. (He's chasing around the other cats in the house, ect...) He's had no dietary changes or been exposed to anything out of the ordinary lately so anyone got any ideas as to what is going with him? If the throwing up continues especially with blood it will be off to vet we go for sure but I'm not convinced this is an emergency just yet. Could the blood/bile be from all the retching he did last night and today?

Thanks folks!

Your cat needs to be examined by his Vet pronto! Vomiting is a concern in itself, but vomiting blood...that's serious!

Comprehensive information in this article:
http://www.petplace.com/cats/hematem...ats/page1.aspx

I also believe you should get in touch with a vet for advice.

Definantly should go to vet to be on the safe side. But just to put it out there my male did this about 3 months ago. It was a large amount of bright red blood and he was checked at the vet for possible obstruction. Everything ended up being fine. No problems since, just was unexplained bleeding. Maybe that will be the case with yours but you should get it checked. Good vibes your way

Thank you all for the feedback, it's really appreciated. Here's the update...

Good news... No more blood in any of the throw up/hair ball moments. He vomited up twice last night but it was all yellowish/hairball looking liquid. (Sorry for the not so appetizing description)

Not so good news... He's more lethargic today and clearly doesn't give off the happy vibes.

So being that it's Sunday and he's not throwing up blood we're taking him in first thing in the A.M to our regular vet instead of taking him in to the emergency vet today and spending a few zillion dollars. Does everyone think that's sound or should I go ahead and be forking off the $$$ and get him seen today?

Thanks folks!

Sounds like a reasonable plan because ER vets are terribly expensive, plus it makes things more difficult that they don’t have access to your kitty’s records.

HOWEVER. Since there is no way to know what’s wrong and something seems to be seriously wrong, please put all the food away, do not offer any food for the next 24 hours until you can take him to your regular vet.

Leave water available and please watch him closely to see whether he is drinking and whether drinking water makes the vomiting worse. If that happens, dehydration can become a serious problem and my advice would be to go to the ER vet anyway. (Because when drinking water makes vomiting worse water must be withheld as well and a cat has to get IV fluids to prevent dangerous dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. In that situation perhaps he can be stabilized with subQ fluids until tomorrow morning when you can go to your regular vet.)

I do not recommend that you withhold food for the next 24 hours unless told to do so by your Vet. Withholding food from a cat is something that should only be done with a Dr's order and under the supervision of your Vet.

Another update. My little man is going in to the vet in the a.m first thing. He's thrown up about three times today, smaller amounts, no blood, all yellowish liquid. He's been laying down all day and sleeping. Much more cuddly than normal and basically looking very glum.

I just wonder what caused this sudden sickness out of blue? He's an indoor cat so no exposure to anything crazy outside. I suppose he could have eaten something either insect or object that could be messing with him. He's drinking water which is a good thing and he's eating fairly normally all be it he's throwing up small amounts of liquid still.

I'll post again after the vet visit. It breaks my heart to see him so unhappy. It's amazing how close I've gotten to this cat!

Thanks everyone and have a good night!
G

Looking forward to hearing what your Vet has to say and how your little boy is feeling today!