Kitten vomited - not himself.

Calvin (5 months) has not been well and I am waiting to take him to the vet in about an hour. He comes to our bed at night and then spends most of the night under our bed. Usually when the alarm goes of in the morning he comes up and smothers us will love - it really is adorable. However, this morning he did not. We waited for him, called him and he was just lying there. Then he came out and seemed very quite (which he is not normally). Then he came down to his room (where he has his litterbox in the closet and his food and water) and called for us. I came down and he was standing in front of the litterbox but not going in. He then ran out of the closet and almost seemed to be scared of the box and was moving away from it. He then retched and vomited some white foam (about a teaspoon) and has been very quite since - sitting or lying in 1 place - not running to the faucet when it is turned on (which he does every time). So needless to say, we are concerned.

There defintely can be a couple things that I can think of which has been different:

1) we are in the process of moving him to wellness from science diet dry. I added about 1/5 of wellness to his science diet day before evening and yesterday and although he ate some on sunday and a little yesterday, there's a lot left over - which is a normal occurance. I give him about 1/4 cup of dry food a day and usually he does not finish them. He also has about 7.5 ish oz of wet food. Yesterday morning he was not eating his wet and going to the kibbles and so I took away the kibbles for a bit hoping he'd go to the wet. When that did not happen I brought out the kibbles and he did not eat that either. At 4 pm he was looking for his wet food and had about 2.5 oz and at night he had about 3 oz. He seemed hungry then but then he's not eaten or drank anything this morning. He usually has a bowel movement at breakfast time (usually in between) but none this morning. I scooped his litter box and his poop was fine from yesterday.

2) he licked my finger for a tiny bit of whipped cream yesterday, which I did not realize was there. He, in the past, had got into some whipped cream in the trash bin (long story) and was just fine. Plus I do not think he's lactose intolerant since he's had creamcheese with his med (as per vet's recommendation) and been fine. He otherwise does not get any human food - not for the lack of want - but because he refuse him.

Thanks for reading. We are heading to the vets in a bit but am looking for any advice. Should I stop the Wellness?

Well, poor boy! Has he urinated? That is important to watch for. We don't want to see him have a blockage. I only say that becuse of your remark about the litter box aversion.

Your vet will be able to tell you better than I about the food deal.. It's a good thing you are going in. So many people hem and haw...should I take him, shouldn't i take him. Our cats tell us they are sick if we know what to look for. And you obviously do.

Please let us know how Calvin is. Sending for him to be ok.

Sorry to hear about Calvin! Glad you picked up on it and that you're taking him to the vet. It could be the change in food or he could've picked up something off the floor and ate it. Who knows for sure. Hope he's feeling better soon and that you get some answers from the vet.

Thanks for the wishes. So we just came back from the vet's - thankfully the clinic is just a mile from home. The vet said that he'd rather have a cat vomit food than foam and gave Calvin an antiemetic injection for nausea, which should last for 24 hours. In case he vomits, I should call the clinic. He palpated Calvin and found him to be in no pain (thank God for that) but feels that he has loose stool in his bowels and we may see some diarrhea. The vet, from what I understand feels it may be one of the following:

1) he may have eaten something off the floor, which is giving him a tummy upset and will pass. Which to me is the best scenario

2) it is related to him tummy troubles that he's had earlier. Right after he came to us he has some softer bowel with at times a little blood mixed. 2 pathological exams showed nothing. He took 7 days of flagyl and it got resolved. So this just may be a part of that. This may be a chronic issue - which we hope will resolve as Calvin grows. Calvin also had a rounded belly when we got him and got deworming meds (the shelter had given him those and then he got some at the beginning of Dec when I took him to the vet). The vet gave me 3 syringes of panacur to give him today since he still has a rounded belly.

3) He ate something bad and in case he throws up again or there are any other significant changes, we go back to the clinic for x-rays.

So this is where we stand. Calvin was not happy during the visit. But he was hungry when he came back home. He ate some wet food (about 1/3 of what he normally has) and the vet said to give him a little at a time and see how he does. He did urinate in the morning and drank a little water from the faucet right before we left (about 2 hours ago) but he has not had a bowel movement yet. After coming back home he's roamed the house a little but he is a little tired. I am trying to be in the main level of the house (in his room/ our office) so he can have easy access to his litter box but right now he seems to want to be on his tree in the basement. But at least he ate, is walking around and did seek out his tree to perch on. Will keep my fingers crossed.

Glad he's feeling well enough to eat something. Come on Calvin!!! Get better for your Meowmy!

O thats good to hear he must be feeling a bit better.

So glad you were able to get right in.

for you and sweet Calvin.

crossing fingers he continues to feel better - it's so sad when they're under the weather and we can't figure out what exactly the problem is...but thank goodness he's got your guys who watch so closely and didn't hesitate to contact the vet.

Please keep us posted.

How's Calvin doing this morning?

Thanks everyone for the vibes. Calvin seems to be back to his self - mood wise - since yesterday evening. He usually sleep through the afternoon to about 6pm or so till his daddy returns from work. So when DH came back, he did what he normally does with him - follow him around everywhere and then have their vigorous playtime. In fact DH wanted to cuddle Calvin and make sure he was fine and sat on the stairs. Calvin, as their everyday routine dictates, wanted to go upstairs and urged DH to stick to their routine - it was adorable to watch.

He ate well last night - mostly wet. I thought he did not have a bowel movement yesterday as I generally get to know. I was in his room till early evening and then went to the family room where he was with us, except for short breaks. So he may have pooped then. I found it in his litter box this morning and was surprised that it was not diarrhea that the vet predicted (I also heard the noisy tummy when his doctor palpated his tummy). Touchwood, he's better. His antiemetic med must have worn out by now and no more vomits. Don't know what happened yesterday - maybe plain indigestion or he may have eating something "bad" and the vet was able to dislodge it while he was feeling Calvin's gut.

However, dear Calvin decided not to have any wet food this morning. His food schedule is that he has wet food at about 6 am in the morning before DH leaves (since I travel - we've tried to sync Calvin's eating with DH's schedu;e). Then he has access to kibbles all day (I leave out 1/4 cup and he usually does not finish). At about 6:30pm he has wet food and then again some around 11-11:30pm. For the past 3 days he's not had his morning wet. On monday and today he had kibbles in the morning(I am transitioning him from Science Diet to Wellness and adding a few kibbles of wellness - he seems to like it). On Monday he begged for food at around 4 pm and I gave in to his demands and then again he ate at 10 pm. Yesterday he was too sick to eat in the morning but was hungry after the doctor's visit and ate around noon since the doc asked me to give him some. Today it's noon and he's napping. I would like to hold back till 6:30 pm or so to give him wet food since that's the feeding pattern I prefer to keep. I hope this is just related to his desire for the new food and he'll realize that he will not get wet food when he wants.

Since he did scare us yesterday, I will keep a close eye on him the next couple of days. Once again, thanks everyone, for the vibes!

I hope Calvin is still doing ok?

Something I noticed with Tumbles was that he'd have loose stools and not quite be himself right before going through a growth spurt. Also, in Calvin's case, he could be teething. I think kittens, like human babies, can have upset tummies and be "off" when teething.

Thanks for asking MY4LLMA and stephanietx. Calvin is doing well. He has taken a fancy for his new wellness kibbles mixed in with his science diet and ignoring his wet food to some extend. Plus he is too finicky about food - he needs variety during every meal. It's funny how DH and I are just the opposite. Yes, he's one of those who want variety, turns his nose up if he does not care for the flavor and wont eat anything (at room temp or even slightly warmer) if it's been in the fridge.

He definitely is growing - he also was teething last week. His poop has mostly been good to a little softer but otherwise ok. It is Tuesday's foamy vomit and lethargy for a few hours that still nags me a little but I can just hope that whatever it was, has passed.

Here's hoping that Tuesday's episode was just a freak thing and that Calvin's health is great from now on.

So young to be so finicky! One good thing about having long time shelter cats (and most were strays before that) is that they think most any food is good. They are just glad to have canned food and on a regular schedule. They eat most food, though some they like more than others.

But even so, sometimes 2 or 3 of my cats eat little of their canned meal. But I think this is when they aren't that hungry. They only get about half an hour to eat it anyway, and then it gets thrown out.

I want them to eat the canned food for the moisture, and most of the time they all do, and 2 eat almost all of it every day. So if it is not going in all of them I reduce the amount a little of the early morning kibble meal. Canned meal is about 5-6 p.m. If their bowls of kibble from the morning have been empty a few hours before the canned meal, it disappears much better. I don't want them to ever be too hungry. But I don't want them finicky, fat (Claudio already is), or not eating canned food.

I always put out refrigerated food to get it to room temperature, or even microwave it very slightly to just take the chill off. And I only buy 3 oz. cans.

Oh, and I really don't put out a lot of canned food. They each get 1.25 oz. and they are adult cats (Claude gets a tiny bit more but he weighs 18+ lbs. and he is on a diet so diet food - per vet's orders). For a kitten like Calvin, I'd probably only give him half a teaspoon or less. I think giving them a small amount of food in a normal sized bowl (I use 5" across stainless bowls) makes the food look less overwhelming and they are more inclined to eat it up. I mix a little water into canned cat food to increase their moisture intake.

Robin

Glad to hear Calvin's feeling better - and it took me a while, but I'm not quite as nervous these days if mine aren't cleaning their plates as usual....what I do now, though, is keep a little diary of anything that's out of the ordinary - like an unusually full bowl left, or hairball, or peeing - and see if there's a pattern - or have a record for the vet to see if I end up being that nervous. Sometimes, even for the best of us, it's hard to remember exactly when the last poop was, or if it's a particular brand/texture of food that's not pleasing.

I have noticed that sometimes they're just not as hungry for some reason - but it's never been for more than two days top. My diary did help me figure out that mine only like pate, they don't like chunky food, though.

Thanks Robin and darlili for the great advice!!!
I think I am just a nervous 1st time meowmy and got to factor in that Calvin may just not be very hungry one day and hence eat less. I think it is the fear that he may be starving that bothers me but as my husband reminds me that Calvin will not starve since he has access to his dry food.

Even though Calvin was rescued and was in the shelter/ foster care, I think he just knows what he wants. For example, he likes a couple of gravy varieties from avoderm and on days he'll have the whole thing and on others just the gravy. He likes chunks and loves wellness pate but not most other pates. We are keeping a list of the ones that he likes more than others. I do not have a problem is giving him a lot of variety since it does not cost extra and I buy the 3 oz cans either ways. It is just that I still learning what he likes and does not. I am sure that he is, too, since I am trying to give him the best I can afford and that's not too tough with 1 kitten. (At foster care he was on fancy feast and science diet and I am really happy that his foster mom gave all of them decent food). Changing his food, along with days when he's not feeling too well, does make gauging his eating habits a tad difficult. So I guess it is a bit of waiting and watching.
Once again, thanks for the excellent advice.