Frequent vomiting - serious?

molly a · Oct 28, 2003

My Owen is a big long-haired cat who has routinely vomited up hairballs once a week or so for his entire 7 years. I know that's basically normal and it doesn't worry me.

Over the last week or so, however, he's been vomiting every day, sometimes more than once, and none of it has been a hairball. It seems to be just food, in varying stages of digestion. Otherwise, he acts perfectly normal, running and playing with my other cat and cuddling with me as usual.

Could it be that he has a hairball stuck in his stomach? Or could something else be going on?

molly a · Oct 28, 2003

P.S. I do have an appointment at the vet for tomorrow morning.

caterpillar · Oct 28, 2003

Returning home today, I noticed one of the kittens had vomited on the floor. Luckily, it wasn't on the carpet or rug. Once in a while, a kitten will vomit and I wish I knew which one it was!

I am at a loss to explain why this happens. Sorry for this distasteful subject matter, but the vomit looked fresh and it was a combination of the canned and dry food (still in kibble pieces).

I hope it doesn't mean something is lacking in their diets, like some greens or vegetables. Then again it could be a hairball problem, but I very rarely see them grooming themselves and their fur seems nice, clean, and silky.

Sorry I can't add anything to the subject of frequent vomiting.

hissy · Oct 28, 2003

Frequent vomiting is always a concern as cats dehydrated quickly. Changes in diet, stress, eating the wrong food, finding spoiled food, or hairballs are some of the reasons why cats throw up. Giving your cat access to grass will help, but the vet visit is the best option for chronically vomiting cats because there is no way of knowing what is really going on.

You can feed your cat canned pumpkin with their food, and there are foods on the pet food market to help cats with sensitive stomachs.

molly a · Oct 28, 2003

Thanks for the information.

He went through a bout of irritable bowel for a few months last year. We ran thousands of dollars in tests and the vet couldn't find anything wrong, so he was on steroids for a couple of months before it finally went away. I'm wondering if he just has a sensitive digestive tract.

yayi · Oct 28, 2003

Originally posted by molly a

Over the last week or so, however, he's been vomiting every day, sometimes more than once, and none of it has been a hairball. It seems to be just food, in varying stages of digestion. Otherwise, he acts perfectly normal, running and playing with my other cat and cuddling with me as usual.

These symptoms happened to QT about a month ago. I brought her to the vet and she said it was an unusual hairball problem. HOWEVER, two days after the vet visit, QT threw up a whole lizard! She apparently swallowed it after an exciting chase one night. QT is back to normal and STILL chasing lizards!Grrr...
I know you are bringing Owen to the vet. Please tell us what's the diagnosis!

molly a · Oct 29, 2003

Holy cow, yayi! An entire LIZARD?

The vet is running bloodwork today and told me to give him 1/4 of a Pepcid in the meantime to see if it helps - he might just have some kind of minor gastritis. She also wanted to do an x-ray to check for foreign bodies, but because of the cost I said I'd rather wait until the bloodwork comes back and we try the Pepcid.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed! She said vomiting can be a sign of a lot of serious things (diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease), but since he seems overall healthy I'm hoping for the best.

yayi · Oct 29, 2003

I hope Owen is doing better today!

Just wanted you to know that here in the tropics, lizards are very common and they grow only up to 3 - 4 in. from head to tail. My cats, specially QT, are very fond of catching them and giving them to me ALIVE. Probably what happened was the lizard, in trying to get off QT's mouth must have crawled the wrong way and ended up being swallowed.

This is the naughty kitty!

molly a · Oct 30, 2003

Aw, look at the bad boy! I had to tell my vet the lizard story.

Owen's bloodwork is fine, but he's still puking. He was very lethargic when I got home from work - I think he's stopped eating. I gave him some canned food and he's kept it down almost an hour, so I guess we'll see. My main concern is dehydration, but he's still drinking and doesn't seem dehydrated at all.

If he keeps it up we're going to get an x-ray on Saturday.

yayi · Oct 31, 2003

Poor Owen!

Is the vet's prescription of Pepcid helping?
I hope Owen gets better! Keep us posted!

molly a · Nov 2, 2003

Unfortunately, NOTHING seems to be helping. He had an x-ray yesterday which was normal.

The vet said we can either get an endoscopy with biopsies of the stomach and small intestine, or we can try non-allergenic prescription food for a couple of months and see how he does. I opted for the latter, since he's had trouble with Irritable Bowel in the past. I started him on it last night and he's still puking, four times in the last 12 hours. He still seems hungry, isn't losing weight, and is quite affectionate - he just pukes every few hours. I'm at my wits end. I actually started looking at laminate flooring on homedepot.com because I'm so tired of cleaning the carpet!

Poor little guy. I want him to get better.

blondiecat · Nov 2, 2003

Poor Guy

The Sammycat had this problem about 3 months ago, it was due to a hairball blockage. After he spent the night at the Vet's office and went thru some serious treatment there he is much better. I have to give him a good hairball remedy twice a week.

I am glad that you are taking your baby to the vet. Hope he gets to feeling better real soon.

molly a · Nov 11, 2003

Hi - I just want to let everyone know that after being unable to find anything wrong at all, the vet suggested we try low-allergen prescription cat food. After a week on the new food, Owen is doing great! His vomiting has completely stopped.

Thanks everyone for the advice!

superkitty · Nov 11, 2003

Thanks for the update, glad to hear that he's doing well! It's always good when an uncomplicated solution is found, in this case a suitable food for your sensitive guy!

yayi · Nov 11, 2003

What a relief to hear Owen is okay at last!

hwangster · Nov 14, 2003

you are very fortunate. My cat had the same symptoms, and I thought it was food allergies as well. But as many of you know, it turned out to be a gastric lymphoma :'(

Frequent vomiting - serious?

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