Cricket vomits water.

My male cat (9 years old) vomits up water almost every morning. There usually is a little clear or white foam. On occasion it looks like bile but mostly white. He has not thrown up any partially digested food in it.

He has always had a good appetite but lately it has gotten stronger. I also notice a personality change. I began to suspect Hyperthyroidism so I took him to the vet and got a Senior profile blood work and a urinalysis on him.

So far I am still waiting on the blood work to return but the urine has a few oxalate crystals in it. This worries me greatly as these can only lead to trouble down the road.

He is on canned cat food (being careful of his allergens to food). His urine came back with a 6.5 pH which I don't think is acidic enough to cause Oxalate crystals but many cats are different and sometimes results for one would be in a different range than another.

I am just wondering if his constant vomiting up water is what may be contributing to  the Oxalate crystals being that water in the system is what flushes out undesirable minerals and he probably is not getting enough from his diet alone. Any ideas? I'd appreciate any input. Thanks.

Audrey and Cricket.

Does he only vomit clear liquid in the morning?  It could be from excess stomach acid.  You need to wait for the blood test to come back to know what could be going on.  I take it he vomits before he has anything to eat.  If so you could try giving him a little food or a couple of treats first thing to soak up the excess acid.   Also if possible give him his last meal of the day later.

Denice said:

 
Does he only vomit clear liquid in the morning?  It could be from excess stomach acid.  You need to wait for the blood test to come back to know what could be going on.  I take it he vomits before he has anything to eat.  If so you could try giving him a little food or a couple of treats first thing to soak up the excess acid.   Also if possible give him his last meal of the day later.

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Yes just in the morning and I agree with you as it does sound like thyroid or kidneys although nothing stood out on the urinalysis for the kidneys. After I went to the vet I got another surprise. He threw up his food today after giving him an herb just for digesting. I am waiting for the blood tests and am afraid this may be bad. Need to get more water in him later in the day. May try putting a little extra water in his canned food to see if this helps the Oxalate crystals and do a repeat urinalysis.

Hopefully something easily taken care of shows up on the bloodwork. 

I have never heard of such a persistent vomiting matter of water. Did you change anything in his food? Or perhaps did he stop peeing in his litter box? I heard some one's cat in another thread has a cat who was persistently vomiting and had peeing problems and it turned out to be an UTI (urinary track infection). I am defiantly no genius expert so I may be wrong but by the sound of it it sound like your cat has that.  

With calcium oxolate your target urine ph is 7.0-7.5 so you need to increase your kitties ph.  You can do this by adding Postassium Citrate.  I do hope that the bloodwork helps you get to the bottom of what is causing the vomiting.  You need to increase how much water your kitty gets.  You can do this by adding a little bit to his canned food. 

Well the news is back with Cricket's tests. Totally confusing. Evidently Cricket has not kept abreast of all the target ranges for his urine. He is off the charts. When his urine is alkaline he is fine--no sludge, crystals or fragments. When his urine is acidic he is fine. When his urine is within the recommended range he has Oxalate crystals!

Does anyone else have a cat that presents this way? I just wonder if sometimes this is normal for certain cats to be completely out of line with the target range for pH and become very hard to manage their urine and crystals not knowing which way to change their diet or add any meds.

His urine is diluted, 1.020. His pH is 6.5, His WBC is +. Small amount of bacteria.

His blood work WBC is high--18.8 (reference range is 3.5-16.0). His Neutrophils are high -12,462 (reference range 2500-8500). Cholesterol is high but that doesn't always mean too much in cats. Otherwise unremarkable.

I still am not sure what to do about the Oxalate crystals but am going to mention the Potassium citrate as was mentioned here and by the way thank you for all the comments. They are so appreciated. This is a wonderful group of people and I am glad to be here.

With his vomiting up water and foam I am not sure yet but am on to something. It could be his treats but am in the process of elimination right now and so far he has stopped vomiting the water. I have stopped the treats but have also started a new food a few days ago and the jury is still out on that one. One elimination at a time I guess is in order.

With the urine--has anyone had more luck with paying more attention to the magnesium or the type of magnesium in the food and paying less attention to the pH? I again would appreciate any thoughts on these matters.

Audrey and Cricket.

I really have nothing to offer, I have been very fortunate as far as crystals in the urine.  That is strange about the ph, I do know that 6 to 6.5 is considered the "safe" range.  I guess his safe range is more acidic.  It sounds like there is also an infection going.  I know it's pretty common for there to be some crystals when there is an infection.