Strange vomiting..

I have a one year old kitten who has not been sick since she was 6 weeks old. I believe she has Pica, but I have not seen a vet about it. She likes to eat pieces of my socks when I'm not watching her, and she'll chew on my hair when I'm asleep. Plastic bags, purse straps, the couch, you name it - she eats it. I've gotten very good at monitoring her and spraying things with bitter apple and trying to keep things out of her reach. Normally, things like hair ties she throws up in the normal vomit disgusting mess that I'm used to with cats. Other times, I guess she passes things in her stool. I made sure to check that she passed the plastic bag pieces, but they were tiny pieces so I'm not overly worried. 

Today, she  vomited all over the area near her litter box. I thought it was very light diarrhea because it seemed to follow a trail and thought she may have tried to run from it. After I cleaned it up, she came over and fell asleep next to me on the couch which is odd for the time of day, but her stomach was making so many noises. I got up and put her food away and changed her water and she followed me, which she normally does. She started drinking the water very fast and had a lot of it. I tried getting her to play a bit, but she wasn't bounding around like she usually does. She vomited a second time (this is when I realized it was throwing up) and then ran away. She had more water afterwards, and has downed almost half of her water bowl since I filled it. All of this happened within the span of an hour. 

The consistency of the vomit is very watery. It's a solid, dull, yellow-orange color. It looks like there are seeds in it, or something. Little hard yellow crystal pieces - about the size of a chia seed, a bit smaller. They are translucent yellow and there are a lot in the vomit. She seems relatively fine now, and it's been about 45 minutes since the last vomiting episode. Not sure what to make of this. I have no houseplants and I'm not sure what she may have gotten into while I was gone this morning. Her stomach noises are dissipating and less violent sounding, but she's sleeping again.

Any idea what may have caused this?

Given her history, I would say she ate something she shouldn't have. Hopefully the extra drinking is from dehydration caused by the vomiting and not a problem with kidney function if she ingested something toxic. I would keep a very close eye on her, and if she vomits again or shows any other non-normal behavior, she really needs a vet visit sooner rather than later.

In addition, I would suggest being a lot more careful to prevent her from ingesting non-food items. Those things you mention her eating can easily cause a life-threatening obstruction. I would also try to address the PICA issue which could be medical, diet, or behavior related.

I just can't figure it out, because nothing is coming up when she vomits, really. Normally when she eats non-edibles, it's in very little pieces. The sock she tried to eat had tiny holes in it, about half the diameter of a dime, for instance. 

Thank you, I was planning on having her get some x-rays or something when she gets her next shots to make sure there wasn't anything still inside her. I guess that may have to happen sooner rather than in a few months. I believe the pica is from being hand-reared. She was abandoned by her mother under a shed and was bottle-fed. She lost interest in her bottle around week 4, so I'm assuming it stems from that. She still tries to suckle on my fingers, though. 

biscuit55 said:

I just can't figure it out, because nothing is coming up when she vomits, really.

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OK, that's actually a little more concerning than her vomiting up the yellow seed-like stuff. She might be trying to vomit something up but can't. Is she eating at all? If she eats and regurgitates the food, that could be a sign of an obstruction.

I think you are correct that it might not be vomit. I think the orange yellow stuff may be pee with crystals in it. I think you should take her to the vet and if you are able to get a sample of the orange-yellow stuff, that would be good. 

I had a kitty who became very ill suddenly and I thought he threw up in his water bowl- it was a very intense orange yellow as you said. Then later when I went to clean the litter box I saw that there was the orange yellow liquid underneath the box and it was his pee. There was nothing in the smell to indicate it was urine. 

When I looked it up on the internet, there was a lot more info about the pee and the color of it. My boy is an outdoor kitty who we socialized but who has his girlfriend outside lol, and she is feral. We think he ingested something toxic and the yellow color was from his liver fighting to process it. We did take him to the vet and the diagnosis was hyper thyroid. They told us sometimes this happens- the severe illness etc.  although it is rare. I am not sure if it was a coincidence where he ate something and happened to be hyper thyroid all along, or if it was indeed related.

I hope this helps you. A vet is definitely a good idea along with a blood panel and hopefully also a urine sample. The drinking of a lot of water would be consistent with these other symptoms you describe. 

Oh, I forgot to add, when we took our boy to the vet we did a blood panel, an x-ray, then we took him to a specialty center for an ultrasound. To save yourself money, I suggest start with the blood panel and urine sample and hold off on the xray and ultrasound, this is just my opinion. If you really want to check for things eaten and blockages, do the xray too. But I think it may be related to the pee. 

No, I'm sorry, I mean nothing solid. It's just all yellowy liquid with a few tiny little specs of the seed stuff. It was only the two times that it happened, and the second time was much smaller than the first as if she just didn't get it all up the first time. 

Her stools look normal, although she hasn't pooed since the vomiting happened. She's just sleeping now and her breathing and heart rate is normal, temperature seems fine. She is just really sleepy and hesitant to jump up onto things or run.

Unless you actually see her vomiting like this, I really do think it is urine, based on your description. 

To be honest, It doesn't sound good. Do you leave any cleaning chemicals out in the open? Or in cabinets she might be able to get into?

To be safe, I would bring her to the vet. It's better to over worry then not worry enough when it comes to your pets health (or your own!)

I did not see it the first time. The second time, I only heard it. The third time it was just clear water after she had drank too quickly, and I saw it happen. Then after a few hours of no food and water I tried to let her eat a little, and at that point she threw up a small bit of food - less than she ate. I've kept food and water away from her for quite a bit, now, since. Going to try giving her the water back now. She returned to normal after the third vomiting and the fourth just seemed to be a normal vomit color and her actions were normal for what I've seen cats vomit. She has been playful and jumping around as per her normal routine for the past four hours since throwing up part of her food. 

I'm going to put out her water bowl and make sure she doesn't drink anything too quickly. Her breathing and heart rate are still normal, and her temperature still seems fine, but I can't really measure that. Gums are still normal colored, etc. I'm going to stay up with her tonight and try and give her food early in the morning. I have a 24 hour vet in town, but I'm hopeful I won't need it. I don't have a sample of the brightly colored vomit with the crystals, but the urine thing scares me. There are no chemicals she would have gotten into in liquid form, other than her bitter apple. And she hasn't had an incident of consuming non-edibles in a few weeks, so I'm not very convinced that it could be related... Thank you for all of your help!