A New Level of Patience in Cat Ownership

Ok this is kind of gross but we're all kitty parents here so I'm going to tell it.

So.  Yesterday, my partner sends out a Tweet saying he hears one of the cats throwing up (I automatically knew it was Casper) but, could not find where he did it.  I Tweeted back "Try Harder" ROFL.

So.  I come home at 7ish as usual.  Typically we eat dinner in the living room, the house is quite small and we like to watch TV while we eat (no family room).  I get up to fetch something else in the kitchen and there is this *odd* odor.  I felt like it was coming from me but couldn't quite place what it was.  And yet, knew it wasn't literally me.

Went back into the living room and was about to sit back on the (leather) couch when I notice this HUGE pile of half dried barf, squished into the couch.  My heart sank as I realized I most likely had sat in it - and yes, it was me that stunk! 

Apparently, he had thrown up on the pillow, but when I sat down the pillow moved, turned over and dumped it onto the couch.  I, had been moving the pillow around to make matters worse, and stretching out on the couch so once my butt hit it, things went from bad to worse.  

Anyway - turned to my BF, who had this now horrified look on his face.  Thankfully, we both have a sense of humor but man oh man I was not pleased.  Ran upstairs and stripped, and screamed down to him "LAUNDRY TIME!" (he almost always does the wash for us).  

It's weird how when a human does this I gag like crazy and nearly get sick myself.  But with the cats, IDK, it's just another thing to clean up.  I guess this is how parents get with their children when they are ill?  I never had kids, so I don't really know.  But this certainly was a whole new level of "ICK" to contend with.  

I/we will be way more cautious about where we sit/step the next time we hear one of them doing this, that's for sure!

Anyone else have something similar happen?  

Welcome to my world. I've done that. More than once. It's gotten to the point where I look carefully before I sit down. Our Bootser is quite old and she has a nasty hairball thing going. Her favorite spot is on the sofa and I swear that girl will jump on the sofa, just to puke, and then get back down. And I've sat right in it. And realized that I sat in it when my pants felt wet. I stood up and all Rick heard was, "Really, Bootser? REALLY?" Disgusting. Our sofa and chair are both badly stained from cat barf....we can no longer get it out, even with the steam cleaner. And I refuse to buy a new sofa and chair as long as we have the cats. So I steam clean as much as I can. But ick. It's disgusting.

I've also walked out the hallway in the morning and walked right into a hairball. I really hate that as it seems to set the stage for the way my day is going to go. Step in a hairball and it's going to be a no-good, really bad day. Nothing like a squishy hairball between your toes to really make your eyes open! Ew!

But the worst is when she hacks up a hairball on the comforter of the bed while we're at work. Til we get home, it's dry. And it blends into the colors of the comforter, so we don't see it right away. One night, I brought the comforter up to my neck.....and there it was. I was not amused. The comforter went into the washer right away. But I still had that ick feeling. 

I can (and have done so) sleep through the smoke detector going off in the middle of the night. But let a cat puke in the living room and I can hear that in the bedroom at 2:00 in the morning. And I get out of bed and clean it up.....it's better for me. What I clean at 2:00, I don't step in at 4:00. 

Ok you got me beat!  Not, that this is a good thing!  At least it cleaned off the leather really well - surprisingly.

Only once did Casper do it on our bed, happened in the middle of the night as we were sleeping.  Heard him starting to hack but couldn't get up fast enough in our slumber to get him off the bed.  Well, we obviously got up anyway to strip the bed.  No amusement had there.  

Casper is our barfer, he's nearly 13 and started this a couple of years ago.  He's been tested but nothing conclusive shows up.  He'll go weeks perfectly fine then get into a jag for days although typically it happens only in the morning.  I adjusted the way I feed him in the morning which seems to have helped a lot at least but he still does it.  He almost never brings up hairballs, that's rare. But we know there isn't any obstructions so, it remains a mystery.  Just, one of those cat things I guess.

I agree there is nothing worse to set you day off on the wrong foot.  I have stepped in it also, and once a piece of poo that dropped off Cocoa's long hair as she ran out of the box (didn't see it, was on the stairs and the lights weren't all on yet).  And of course, I had already showered so I jumped back in again    I do believe I was late for work that day.  "Cat emergency" 

Yuck.
I have a girl who wolfs down her food sometimes and barfs it up. She does it so quietly. I'm always on the lookout cause she loves to barf on our rug which is blocks of brown, beige, burgundy, grey. On day she barfed on the beige part so it blended in and I didn't see it until I saw my one year old human baby picking up bits of it about to eat it! Ewww.
We also have another cat that comes up for headbutts them sneezes in your face.

As others have said I have found kitty barf in some of the most unpleasant places. Riley my13 year old boy started up about a year or so ago. I find dried spots on my blankets in the bed, on the arm of the lazy boy and even on my couch. I have even found it on the floor usually by stepping in it.

Sivyaleah with Casper has he had a full blood panel done? With Riley I didn't realize that his throwing up was related to having ckd until he lost a bunch of weight and I took him into the vet. Most of the time especially more recently he wasn't throwing up hairballs or food but bile.

Also cat vomit is no where as bad as human. I work as a certified nurse aid and have had to deal with human vomit many times over the past 6 years. The smell is definitly worse, although kitty vomit definitly doesn't smell like roses either. In my experience kid vomit isn't as bad as adult but still not pleasant.

BarbH said:

As others have said I have found kitty barf in some of the most unpleasant places. Riley my13 year old boy started up about a year or so ago. I find dried spots on my blankets in the bed, on the arm of the lazy boy and even on my couch. I have even found it on the floor usually by stepping in it.

Sivyaleah with Casper has he had a full blood panel done? With Riley I didn't realize that his throwing up was related to having ckd until he lost a bunch of weight and I took him into the vet. Most of the time especially more recently he wasn't throwing up hairballs or food but bile.

Also cat vomit is no where as bad as human. I work as a certified nurse aid and have had to deal with human vomit many times over the past 6 years. The smell is definitly worse, although kitty vomit definitly doesn't smell like roses either. In my experience kid vomit isn't as bad as adult but still not pleasant.

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Hi Barb.  Yes, we had a full blood panel done on him at his last well visit in February of this year.  He's due to go back shortly for another visit.  Everything was picture perfect.  In fact, our vet was very pleased with his overall health, other than this one annoyance.  It isn't bile that he throws up, it's always food.  And it happens within 15 minutes or so of eating.  All kinds of food, there is no specific type which does it.  I had lifted his bowls a couple of inches, and now feed him breakfast in two shifts, about 1/2 hour apart.  This seems to have helped him somewhat.  But still not perfect.  He has lost a little bit of weight in the past year but, this was attributed more to Cocoa scarfing down his leftovers if he walks away from his dish.  We really didn't realize just how many more calories she was getting, and he wasn't receiving until we began paying more attention to how they ate together.  Not a big amount of weight, not even a pound and he was slightly overweight before that so the vet wasn't too concerned.  That situation has mellowed out now that Cocoa realizes she has a secure food source (she was a rescue) - she doesn't feel the need to run to his dish quite so much, and he now will eat out of hers if she leaves anything over (which never used to happen).  So, basically he's maintained his weight fairly well, and his appetite sure is not suffering either.  He LOVES to eat

sivyaleah said:

Hi Barb.  Yes, we had a full blood panel done on him at his last well visit in February of this year.  He's due to go back shortly for another visit.  Everything was picture perfect.  In fact, our vet was very pleased with his overall health, other than this one annoyance.  It isn't bile that he throws up, it's always food.  And it happens within 15 minutes or so of eating.  All kinds of food, there is no specific type which does it.  I had lifted his bowls a couple of inches, and now feed him breakfast in two shifts, about 1/2 hour apart.  This seems to have helped him somewhat.  But still not perfect.  He has lost a little bit of weight in the past year but, this was attributed more to Cocoa scarfing down his leftovers if he walks away from his dish.  We really didn't realize just how many more calories she was getting, and he wasn't receiving until we began paying more attention to how they ate together.  Not a big amount of weight, not even a pound and he was slightly overweight before that so the vet wasn't too concerned.  That situation has mellowed out now that Cocoa realizes she has a secure food source (she was a rescue) - she doesn't feel the need to run to his dish quite so much, and he now will eat out of hers if she leaves anything over (which never used to happen).  So, basically he's maintained his weight fairly well, and his appetite sure is not suffering either.  He LOVES to eat

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That is good that everything came back good one other thing that you might want to investigate is the possibility of ibd. My mother's cat had started throwing up her food. They changed her diet to the royal canin prescription that if I remember correctly the protien is rabbit. Since the change she did stop thowing up her food. With trying to change your kitty's food not sure if you have tried different protiens but may be worth checking out. I have seen a few different threads about cats with ibd and feeding on here.

It's difficult to do a novel protein for him, because I use all of those types (rabbit, venison, etc.) in rotation as it is.  And others, I can not get.  

But, like I mentioned, there seems to be no specific protein that does it with him.  He can goes weeks on end with not one incident and then for a couple of days, he starts up again.  I'd say he doesn't more than he does for sure.  We all had suspicions it was more due to him eating too quickly - he does tend to wolf down his food - which is why slowing it down for him probably has made some impact.

We are going to bring it up again at the vet - as we always do and I'll mention the IBD to him - who knows?.  But, he's certainly thriving and there are no other indications to make us suspect otherwise (i.e.; good litter box habits, everything coming out normally) and he isn't acting strange other than advancing age taking it's small toll.  

I quit going barefoot in my house after I came out to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee one morning, half asleep, hadn't turned on lights yet, and stepped right on a dead mouse, still squishy.....    

With hunter cats, IBD cats and cats that just like to barf sometimes....yeah, no more bare feet for me!

betsygee said:

 
I quit going barefoot in my house after I came out to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee one morning, half asleep, hadn't turned on lights yet, and stepped right on a dead mouse, still squishy.....    

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That's just wrong! I'd have been sick right on the spot. (And I thought it was bad when our son kept a dead mouse in his pocket for a couple of days. I didn't know it and was going through pockets for laundry day. Reached in and....They said I screamed so loud, you could hear me on Pluto. And I made it completely up the basement steps in two leaps. Rick and not-so-darling-son were doubled over laughing so hard. I was NOT amused and told them so. But I've never stepped on a squishy dead mouse.)

Ok. Ewww :O

sivyaleah said:

 
It's weird how when a human does this I gag like crazy and nearly get sick myself.  But with the cats, IDK, it's just another thing to clean up.  I guess this is how parents get with their children when they are ill?  I never had kids, so I don't really know.  But this certainly was a whole new level of "ICK" to contend with.  

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I know what you mean.  When hubby's kids came to visit as little kids (I don't have bio kids either), I couldn't even deal with their runny noses.  Now with the cats it's everything from wiping their butts to cleaning up all manner of "stuff"--theirs and the critter parts they leave behind.   I have to admit, though, that mouse under my foot was just about the worst.  

When Brandon used to vomite all the time we had a big tv on a dresser almost everytime he pukes he does it on the tv I don't know why but he did and the tv finally killed :/ think god Brandon dont puke no more and yes I had sat in cat puke before not fun

Congratulations, you are all official members of the cat club!  Puke and all! Lol. That's exactly what I was doing today. Going around the house and finding Topaz's old puke stains in the hard to get at place's. Like under the coffee table that is covered in plants in the hall way. (It's an extra one so I can store my plants for the winter).I needed the ******** paint scraper to get it off the laminate flooring! Oh joy! Not! This is after of course, cleaning the carpet stains from the upstairs hallway and bedroom. 

I must say it is worse when they sneak a dead mouse/mole into the living room and it's been there for a few months. Needless to say they was nothing left except a couple of maggot's. Fortunately, that was my experience by my Father's. Boy was he      , well you get the idea! Lol. 

I just wished to God they would do there business in a place where it's easy to get at! 

Oh yes, I almost forgot. I got up in the middle of the night one time and the lights were out to do something in the kitchen, cannot remember what though, when I stepped in what I prayed was a mashed potato that fell off the table. Of course I could not be that lucky, and you guessed it. Puke again! Lol.  

kathyfromcanada said:

 
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Oh yes, I almost forgot. I got up in the middle of the night one time and the lights were out to do something in the kitchen, cannot remember what though, when I stepped in what I prayed was a mashed potato that fell off the table. Of course I could not be that lucky, and you guessed it. Puke again! Lol.  

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A mashed potato!  This made me laugh out loud.

sivyaleah said:

 

A mashed potato!  This made me laugh out loud.

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It's called "denial"....  

betsygee said:

 
It's called "denial"....  

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I can at least hope! Lol.

One of my previous 'girls' spent her 18 years managing to puke 'on demand' whenever' she didn't like her food.  She always deposited either right where I'd swing my feat out of the bed and put them on the floor, or right ouside my bedroom door.   No bare feat in this house and she's been gone nearly 7 years.  You never forget that cold, textured slime feeling.   

I've not sat in it but I did come back from work a few weeks ago, get changed and go to sit on the sofa and found kitty sick right in front of the sofa with my feet!

I also noticed this morning when I was sat eating my breakfast that there is dried kitty sick on the dining room window ledge - no idea when they did that one!

The other nice one was when I had my mother visiting and I was scooping the litter boxes while talking to her on the way to bed and spotted a strange looking object under the dining chair (next to the litter box) - neither my mother nor I could work out what it was but on investigation it was an entire tin of wet food that had been moved their via a cats stomach - Moeka had decided that she was too scared to come out and eat in the evening so Savanna had eaten both bowls of food and then obviously thrown it straight up under the table.  Now if I have visitors and Moeka is acting scared I only put one bowl down to start with until I see if she is going to come out!

I seem to go through a lot of baby wipes cleaning up sick!

Yeah, Maia has her moments...................The only other thing she loves more then food and her oversized hairless mom (me) is cleaning herself! She often over indulges in all and ofcourse 2 of the 3 result in kitty puke surprise. I have found a digestive supplement that seems to majorly help with hairballs and keep her bowels regular, Daily Digest,  Pet Naturals. They are little treats that she won't eat alone, so I cut them up and put them in her wet food dinner.

    You can't stop them from tossing their kitty cookies, but you can help minimize the cookie toss through diet I have also found adding water to her wet food meals helps her 100%. She not only eats slower, but has never regurgitated her wet food meals.