My rescued kitten is throwing up

Hi, I'm new here but found your forum white looking around for answers to why my poor little kitten is vomiting

He's been with me from about 3 weeks old, doing fine. He was eating canned kitten milk replacer (would NOT take a bottle) with mixed up canned food. We were alternating mixing it with milk and water. Then just water. He had thrown up two, maybe three times at this point and not all in one day. Took him to the vet and at that time she estimated him at being 5 weeks old. She said he was in good health, had a little fat belly, gums were healthy, no fleas. They checked for worms, none showed up at that point, but they gave him medication for it anyway, just in case. I told the vet about him vomiting and she told me it was probably nothing to worry about, he was most likely just eating too fast or over eating. She also informed me that he should now be able to eat dry food, we tried that and he wasn't able to chew it. So we started wetting the dry food and mashing it up for him. He eats Blue Buffalo Wilderness Kitten dry food and Blue Buffalo Sensative Solutions, Wilderness, and Longevity wet food. We were putting probably two to two and a half teaspoons in his bowl, most of the time he would eat it all.

Now, it's been about 4 weeks since we've been to the vet. If the vet was correct he should be about 9 weeks old now. For the past week and a half he's had good days and bad. When he vomits its a tad bit of food, but mostly clear liquid, sometimes it's a little, sometimes quite a bit. We're now feeding him a teaspoon of food every two hours (sometimes longer than two hours because he tends to take longer, but fewer naps now during the day). He had a bad day today and I'm really worried. He vomited 3 times today, twice it was a lot, once just a tad bit of spit up. It scares him when he does it, but a few minutes later he's running around like a playful kitten.

He's not missing any sleep, runs around and plays like normal, very active, and cuddly, drinks a good amount of water a day, and is hungry when we feed him. We're going to the vet on Wednesday. Any advice for between now and then?
Thanks so much for your input!

Could be several things going on that would cause the vomiting.
1.) Parasite. Even though he tested neg at the vet a month ago, he could still have them...they don't always show up due to the different shedding cycles.

2.) Food allergy. You could try giving him some plain boiled chicken (with or without rice.) Give him the broth too. You can do this for 2-3 days to see if a bland diet makes any difference.

3.) Does he have any sneezing or eye discharge? Nasal drainage can cause vomiting when the mucus goes down the back of the throat (post nasal drip.)

If he is eating too much or too fast he should be vomiting mostly food and pretty shortly after he eats. Because it's mostly clear liquid, that doesn't sound like the problem to me.

I would try to see if it is an allergy. Cut out the major allergens. Even if it doesn't help, you'll still have more information for the vet to help diagnose your little guy faster.

Hope they can figure out what's going on.

Can you correlate which foods he is eating on his "bad" days.  For instance, yesterday when he threw up 3 times, what did you feed him yesterday, other than his Blue Buffalo Wilderness Kitten dry?  Which of the wet foods?  I would look to that specific food as the culprit (I'm assuming, since you just give him a teaspoon or so at a time, you fed him from the same can all day...could be a bad assumption, but I'm going with it for the moment.  So...could be there is one specific ingredient in there that doesn't agree with him.  And it's possible each time he's had a "bad" day, that's what he ate.  Hard to tell unless you keep a journal of what you feed him. 

I just checked the dry you are feeding him, and it looks like it is free of the most comment allergens (corn, soy and wheat), so, all in all, it's not a bad food, although I don't think there is anything wrong with just feeding him all canned, and skipping the dry altogether, once you figure out what is causing the vomiting.

Glad you're taking him in on Wednesday, but don't let the Vet tell you it's nothing.  Vomiting 3 times in one day is not "nothing".  Once he gets another parasite check-up, let us know the results of that so we know what we might be dealing with.  

Thanks guys for your input.

I will definitely have him checked for any kind of parasite again Wednesday.

I fed him Blue Buffalo Sensative Solutions Kitten the day before and the day he vomited 3 times out of the same can. He finish it the day he was vomiting and we started on Blue Wilderness Kitten last night and this morning. It's night fall and we just started on Blue Spa Select Kitten. He's had a better day today, although he did vomit once. About a quarter sized amount and clear liquid once again.

I forgot to mention the vet gave him meds for worms just incase at his vet visit.

I also forgot to mention that sometimes when my family or myself is holding him or he's laying on us we'll feel him, I'm not sure how to describe it, it's sort of like burping or almost like he's vomiting but he doesn't.

You guys are great, thanks for all your help.

That last part you added about burping when you're holding him really sounds like acid reflux to me. I have never dealt with that in my cats, only people. I did look up reflux on this site and it sounds like some people use pepcid to control the problem and some people change the diet. If everything else comes back normal I would ask about the reflux.

I'm leaning towards a food allergy or inability to tolerate something in one of the food you're feeding him.  Also, if you're changing dry foods to quickly, that might be the culprit.  For kittens, I really like Royal Canin's babycat formulas both dry and canned, or Wellness kitten (canned).  At this age, he should be eating mainly canned but can have dry supplemented.  When you take him to the vet tomorrow, ask for another fecal to be done as at this age, worms are still very likely possible.

We were thinking acid reflux also these past couple days, since its not right after he eats that he is vomiting and its a clear liquid that's coming up. He hasn't vomited so far this morning, he's eaten twice (still 1 teaspoon at a time, every two to three hours). I'm keeping a log of what I've been feeding him and were skipping the dry food, we just put it out to see if he'd munch on it, but we stopped giving it to him for the every two hour meals, it's only canned food for meal time now. I'm keeping a log of the ingredients that is in the canned food also to possibly rule out a food allergy. I will try the Pepcid if he vomits today, does anyone have any knowledge about dosage? I'm seeing 1/4 of a 10mg tablet for kittens, is this correct?

For ADULT cats it's 1/4 of a tablet, and it's the Pepcid A/C, not the regular Pepcid.  But for a kitten that young...I just don't know.  Your Vet appt is tomorrow, right?  I don't think I would give him anything until then. 

Since you already stopped his dry food, you need to make sure you are feeding extra wet to make up for it.  Often they will throw up a clear froth when they go too long without food, at least that's how it is with my sick cats who don't eat enough at each meal.  I have to give them some kind of treats right before bedtime or they will throw up froth usually around 5 a.m.   And, naturally, because your guy is still growing, he needs basically as much as he will eat, but in small doses all through the day, if that's possible (if someone is home to give it to him ). 

This is eerie.  I am having the same problem with my kitten, who's about the same age.  She's 8 weeks old, and is showing the same symptoms, including the "burping".  I've even tried the same foods to see if that helped.

She went to the vet yesterday and stayed overnight so they could monitor what she ate and what happened, and get stool and urine samples.  I think they also did an x-ray to check for any obvious blockages.  I pick her up tonight, and hopefully they'll have an answer for us.

DataAngel said:

 
This is eerie.  I am having the same problem with my kitten, who's about the same age.  She's 8 weeks old, and is showing the same symptoms, including the "burping".  I've even tried the same foods to see if that helped.

She went to the vet yesterday and stayed overnight so they could monitor what she ate and what happened, and get stool and urine samples.  I think they also did an x-ray to check for any obvious blockages.  I pick her up tonight, and hopefully they'll have an answer for us.

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That IS eerie!  Be sure to let us know what they say.  (so if she was also on the Blue Buffalo, I'm wondering if there's something about that food ...I know it actually has quite a few carbs in it, even though it's corn, wheat and soy free.  I'm speaking of the WET food.  It's got potatoes pretty high up on the ingredient list, plus the berries, etc.)

Definitely call the vet prior to giving any Pepcid.  Not sure it's safe for a kitten that young.  Hope your little one is feeling better soon.  They are so darn cute at that age!

Charlotte is home from the vet. They did an x-ray and noticed no blockages. She ate really well.  The vet thinks she might have been constipated. They didn't go into details, but it sounds like she had a massive poo. Maybe she doesn't like sharing a litter box with her brothers.  Unfortunately she's got a few more weeks of sharing, unless we find homes for the boys.

Binxsmom -- how's your little guy's litter situation?

I'm still not convinced that constipation was the whole problem, but I'm going to make sure Charlotte stays grain-free and maybe give her a teeny bit of pumpkin and see how that goes. Er. So to speak.

I definitely think I'll wait on the Pepcid until we talk to the vet. He's had a good day today, no vomiting at all! I wonder if he's getting hungry in between? We started just leaving some dry food out for him so he could munch but he doesn't seem to be going to it. When we give him his wet food every two hours sometimes he'll gobble it up and sometimes he'll eat a little and go back to it15-20 minutes later.

Please let us know how your kitten is doing! Thank you guys for all of your advice (:

I'm glad your kitten is home and the vet said she did well! Binx has a bowel movement at least twice a day, it's not loose and it's not a massive amount, he goes number one quite a few times a day. I try to clean his liter box out right after he uses it when I'm home and nothing seems abnormal. So it doesn't seem to me like he has a problem in the liter box area. :/ hopefully the vet can give some answers tomorrow!

What is he eating?  (Sorry if this has been covered before.)  Wondering more if it's a food issue.

He's eating blue buffalo wilderness dry food (we just started putting it out just for him to munch on in between wet food meals) canned blue buffalo wilderness kitten, sensitive solutions kitten, and spa select kitten all blue buffalo. He turned his nose up twice to blue buffalo sensitive solutions kitten today which is what he was eating on his bad day where he committed three times. Needless to say we threw that can awAy and won't buy it again. Maybe there's an answer for us.

Kitten milk is apparently a contributing factor for Charlotte. She had a little last night and promptly threw up again.   So that's definitely off the menu now.  I'm also going to double-check the food I buy and make sure it's dairy free.   Her brothers are completely fine with the milk, but at least they don't need it.  Good luck with your wee one!

You might try plain boiled chicken for a day or so to see if that helps calm his tummy.  Just boil some chicken with no salt or seasonings, shred and add in some of the broth to make it the consistency of oatmeal.

How's Binx doing?