Cat Vomits when fed more than a little food

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catman513

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Thank you so much for your help. Yes, all of the blood work is normal. Everything has been ruled out except the matters discoverable by the endoscopy. I am thinking about this and proceeding cautiously.

Thanks.

PS, I am getting some great video of the automatic feeder which I started yesterday giving about a level tablespoon of Evo and hour.
 
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violet

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Well......since Bernie had IBD, one time I agreed to try metronidazole for him.......(At that time our vet was only going by what was going on with him. She knew he had IBD without a doubt and she told me more than once why she was absolutely certain of that. But we had no test results.)

Anyway......My understanding is that this medication works quite well for many cats. Unfortunately Bernie wasn't one of them.

Pilling was not the problem because we give every medication in empty gel caps.

What happened was that he became more and more depressed and lethargic every day and his appetite decreased to the point where he was eating next to nothing. Our vet agreed that, obviously, this medication wasn't working for him.

In the end I was just very thankful that he didn't end up with liver failure, which is one the possible side effects of metronidazole.

And so we scheduled an endoscopy and the diagnosis was what we had fully expected. IBD.

The proper medication in the proper dosage worked wonders for him and in a few weeks he made what I still think of as a miraculous recovery. And he remained well for several years.

I have an article I would like to include here

http://rawmeatcatfood.com/2010/08/17/throwing-up/

(Originally these articles were part of the Feline Future web site. Then the web site was renamed and, frankly, I can't keep up with the changes any more.)

Anyway, hopefully there is something helpful in there that could help, at least a little bit, with this problem.
 
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catman513

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Well......since Bernie had IBD, one time I agreed to try metronidazole for him.......(At that time our vet was only going by what was going on with him. She knew he had IBD without a doubt and she told me more than once why she was absolutely certain of that. But we had no test results.)

Anyway......My understanding is that this medication works quite well for many cats. Unfortunately Bernie wasn't one of them.

Pilling was not the problem because we give every medication in empty gel caps.

What happened was that he became more and more depressed and lethargic every day and his appetite decreased to the point where he was eating next to nothing. Our vet agreed that, obviously, this medication wasn't working for him.

In the end I was just very thankful that he didn't end up with liver failure, which is one the possible side effects of metronidazole.

And so we scheduled an endoscopy and the diagnosis was what we had fully expected. IBD.

The proper medication in the proper dosage worked wonders for him and in a few weeks he made what I still think of as a miraculous recovery. And he remained well for several years.

I have an article I would like to include here

http://rawmeatcatfood.com/2010/08/17/throwing-up/

(Originally these articles were part of the Feline Future web site. Then the web site was renamed and, frankly, I can't keep up with the changes any more.)

Anyway, hopefully there is something helpful in there that could help, at least a little bit, with this problem.
I suppose that the metronidazole was a shot in the dark at curing the IBD with antibiotics which has worked well in some humans.

The diagnosis by endoscopy resulted in Bernie being medicated probably with prednisone. And, I may get the endoscopy or I may ask for a trial of the prednisone without it. But, I know that while cats do better than humans on prednisone, it is a very serious drug that tends to shrink everything served by blood vessels and shorten life by years. So I am wary of just asking for a trial. I am glad Bernie is doing well. Let's see how this plays out.
 
 
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violet

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There is something interesting about metronidazole in this article

http://ibdcrohns.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bestfriends.org%2Fmembers%2Fhealth%2Ffelinflbwl.htm

Dr. Muns writes:
There is evidence that metronidazole may have a direct immune suppressing effect.
And, of course, it also has anti-inflammatory effects in the bowel. From what I've read that's why they think it may be helpful in treating IBD.

Anyway, the most frustrating part of our experience was that while Bernie was on metronidazole he was feeling worse than terrible, but he wasn't vomiting. When we stopped the medication he started vomiting again the very next day. It didn't even take a full twenty-four hours. It was absolutely incredible.

So after this disaster we had no choice but schedule an endoscopy.

I think, for a short-term trial with prednisone you have nothing to be afraid of if the dosage isn't extremely high. In the same article Dr. Muns writes:

If prednisone alone is given, then improvement should be noted within the first one to two weeks of therapy.
We never got an unsafe, very high dose for any of our cats but I've heard it can happen. So I can't blame you for wanting to be very careful.
 
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catman513

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Thanks again. I am trying very small food portions throughout the day and he doesn't vomit when he only eats a level tablespoon or less. I'll have some great youtube video soon (it takes a while to edit and upload) but here is the setup I am working with:

 
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catman513

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Here is the video of Jack pacing back and forth for his hourly feeding. He is just getting used to eating in his room instead of the kitchen:

 

violet

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Poor sweet baby. I really hope your vet can help you find a way for feeding a little more food without consequences.

I would like to urge you to try canned only for a few days to see if he could handle that any better.

One reason, dry food can further irritate the esophagus. For kitties with this kind of problem vets actually recommend not feeding anything chunky, not even home cooked chicken or similar items. Just something very soft and smooth.

Pilling can also cause terrific problems for kitties, so here is some helpful info for you in case you get medication, prednisone for instance, to try

http://cats.about.com/od/healthfaqs/f/drypillingcats.htm

and

http://cats.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=cats&cdn=homegarden&tm=6&gps=497_20_767_329&f=21&tt=12&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.catinfo.org/pillingcats.htm

The pilling related info very much applies to prednisone. Taking precautions after pilling with this medication is of utmost importance. And even if you're doing everything right, watch for coughing or other signs that might indicate a problem.
 
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catman513

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Thanks for all that info. Very useful.

I have tried soft canned food with the same results. And, since it typically has lower fat and nutrients than EVO, I decided to try this approach. I know there is a Hills high nutrition product and I may try that.
 

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I'm sending you heartfelt wishes for success.
 
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catman513

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Update. No vomiting yet this week. Will continue to feed EVO in small hourly servings. I;ll report again. Thanks all.
 
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catman513

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Well, its been about a week and the only vomiting event Jack had this week was after he slept on the radiator all afternoon and the food built up in the bowl from the automatic cat feeder and he wolfed down about 4 servings at once. Other than that, all is well. There is a lot to consider with automatic feeders and if anyone wants to try it, send me a private message and I'll start a thread on it.

Again, thanks all. Here he is this morning from my security camera:

 
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finnlacey

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Flagyl (metronidazole) can definitely make kitties very nauseas, I'm having that issue with my sister's cat right now. Flagyl is to control the bacteria in the intestines causing massive diarrhea. There is no cure for IBD, none. It can only be stabilized, controlled and managed but there is no cure. My Alex was on Flagyl for a few days and it ended up causing her to become jaundiced and go into seizures. She immediately had to be admitted for HL. She'd already had liver inflammation though and the Flagyl was a decision I made because nothing was working for her. I wish I'd known about Entocort at the time, which doesn't need to be filtered by the liver. Anyway, Flagyl does help a lot of kitties so it depends on the cat.
 

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I'm glad to hear things are good with him. His is absolutely beautiful!
 

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this thread is several months old but one of my cats has EXACTLY the same problem.  exactly.  she's older and has other health concerns, but she's been seen by my vet of 20 years about five times in the last 18 months.  i hope you came to some conclusions with jack.

diotima is 15 (6/13/97) and 18 months ago at her geriatric well-kitty visit (all my cats go once a year but when she turned 12 we started going every six months) when her blood panel showed 13.2 for thyroid.  i started with methimazole gel twice a day and it dropped to 2.6 but she also lost an entire pound in the month she was regulating and she should have gained weight.  last time her level was 3.9, which is the high end of normal but i would like to see it lower.  i was able to get her weight to 6.8 oz. from 6.2 partially because i added about 1 tbsp. of baby food a day.


the regurgitation started maybe 2 or 3 years ago and the first thing i did was lower it to about a tbsp. at a time and she never vomits.  i was feeding blue buffalo freedom and spa select about 75:25 but it didn't matter if it was canned or dry, it was the amount.  the only other time she vomits is if she has a hairball, and that isn't very often.  as if feeding her six times a day isn't demanding enough, i have to monitor meal time for all three because if she's eating, they have to as well.  but what happens is that if one doesn't finish all his food and i'm not watching, she will finish it and then hurl.  this doesn't happen so much unless it's something like weruva tilapia and she kind of ate hers really fast and then horned in on baci or houdini's dish.  so i have to watch every second and i'm sooooo tired lol.

there is no random vomiting at different times throughout the day.  when it happens it's immediately after eating and it looks just like the food she ate.  i can feed her again immediately after and she doesn't get sick as long as i make sure it's only about a tbsp.  she has no side effects from methimazole (ear/head itching, hair loss, etc.)

however, as a result, i have to feed her six times a day, and she has to have methimazole transdermal gel in her ears twice a day, which makes it virtually impossible for me to leave.  i'm supposed to go to vegas in a couple of months and i have no idea what i'm going to do with her unless i can find someone who will literally babysit her.  i realize i can board her, but i'm wary of the feeding schedule because they usually go home at 5PM and leave dry food in the cage, which wouldn't work.

i started feeding all three cats 100% canned after reading lisa pierson's (dvm) article about cat nutrition and why cats should eat only canned food.  i've used weruva, wellness, a lot of the blue buffalo varieties (not a big hit.  all three cats turn up their noses at the flaked, even thyroid girl and she will eat anything), merrick's and natural choice for mature cats.  the younger two don't like the last two foods, which is fine with me.  EVO is next on my list, but none of them throw up even changing brands so often.  the biggest problem i have is when one of them turns into mr. picky and does the poop-covering pantomime to a full meal.

my vet hasn't suggested any additional tests other than a full blood panel and urine because her liver enzymes and kidney functions are normal, nor has he prescribed any antiemetic meds,  i prefer to get by on as few medications as absolutely necessary and if prednisone were the only answer, i believe i would not do it and remain a slave to the cat food dish.

what i am considering is the radioactive iodine implant for hyperthyroidism.  it's $1300 and would definitely cure the thyroid issue but whether or not it would do anything for the vomiting is a complete unknown.

i'd love to know what happened with jack.  he's a beautiful cat.  he has a perfect body size, too.  my other two are siamese but diotima is just a little black DSH.

i would consider a feeder, but i live in a loft so there's no place to segregate her and with the other two greedy cats, i'm not sure she would get her food at all.
 
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