Kitty at Vet... Questions About Regurgitation

Back in early March I took my cat to the vet because he was regurgitating his food once every few days. They said he was constipated and gave him an enema and he was doing very well until this past weekend. He started regurgitating his food at least once a day for three days in a row. So Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve taken him back to the vet and they are keeping him so he can be monitored.

Some info on whatâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s happened lately… Heâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s approximately 5 years old and neutered and has always taken spells of barfing up food. Itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s always as heâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s eating, never more than a couple of minutes after. Last Friday, we moved to a new house and he did well the first night. However when the satellite man came the next day to hook up the TV, he vomited his food and hid under a chair the rest of the day. I took him to the vet yesterday and he had lost one pound since March. But they had put him on Hills W/D then because the vet wanted him to lose a couple of pounds. He weighed 13 at the time, now down to 12. But he has been way more active on the W/D and I also cut down how much I was feeding per instruction. Is that weight loss too much too fast??

I guess Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m just more worried because itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s all happening at the same time. The vomiting along with the weight loss are signs of some pretty bad things. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m supposed to hear from the vet in a few hours, I just wondered if anyone had any opinions as to whether this could just be the stress of the move or something more serious.

Thanks for reading…

Is your vet doing blood work and X-rays? You need the results of a CBC, a complete chemistry profile, and a couple of X-rays. (A chest X-ray and an abdominal X-ray.)

Vomiting and regurgitation are two very different things. Vomiting can be the sign of certain health problems (digestive and several others), while regurgitation can be the sign of food allergy, eating way too fast way too much, especially on a very empty stomach, or even an inflamed esophagus. That's why doing a CBC is important. You'll want to know whether any degree of inflammation or infection is involved in the symptoms. Doing X-rays (chest and abdominal) is also necessary when there is chronic regurgitation and vomiting. Some possibilities need to be ruled out with these.

If your vet is not doing any of these tests, you must ask for them specifically. They are an absolutely essential starting point.

As for constipation, young cats usually respond very well to a diet change. Many vets recommend a low-fiber canned diet. High-fiber food (even canned) can be constipating, so avoiding high-fiber foods can be very helpful. (I first learned about this when fiber caused unexpected problems with constipation for one of mine.)

Does your kitty go outside?

Thanks for your response! I know they have done the X-rays because the tech told me they looked good. Not sure about blood work though. I asked about the weight loss and he said he was pleased with it.

As for the regurgitation vs. vomiting...I've always been confused by that. I'm ashamed to say I'm not sure which it is. What he does is eats 80% of his food then makes a couple of clicking noises and the food comes out. Whole pieces of it and usually he'll finish eating the rest but not always.

Kitty is indoor only...he only stares longingly at the outside through the windows

My cat went through this. Took her to the vet repeatedly and they couldn't find anything wrong with her after all kinds of bloodwork, tests, and x-rays. It turned out she was allergic to the fish in the canned food we were feeding her! After cutting out that particular flavor, she stopped puking. That was about 8 years ago.

Fast forward to now and she'll regurgitate when she's constipated. She has renal issues and it's common for renal kitties to have constipation. I'm not saying your cat has renal issues, I'm just making the comparison to the constipation and regurgitation. On days when she's needing to have a good BM, she'll have less appetite, be reclusive, and of course, throw up more. It's like because she's constipated, there's no place for the food to go once it's eaten. She's probably got a bit of indigestion going on.

That's something else to consider. He could have some indigestion and that will cause him to throw up.