Cat being sick over the last few days

Hi all, I wonder if you could give me some advice...

My cat (about 9 months old) has been sick a few times since last Friday. Generally the sick has been clear colour, but today I saw she brought up some clear and then another lot that was mucus coloured (quite dark - photos available if required but I won't post for all to see as not a very nice image).

Behaviourally and health-wise she seems fine otherwise and has been eating, although a bit less than usual and leaves some to come back for it at times. I haven't changed her main food - she eats Schesir wet food for kittens. I did briefly introduce some Whiskers anti-hairball treats into her dry food, which she usually only eats when hungry and it's not time for her wet food. I then stopped the Whiskers treats around a week ago as I didn't want her having them every day.

If anyone could give me some advice on what might be causing this, what I could try to see if she stops or any other general advice this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

I don't know what's causing it and a vet visit is in order. Clear is usually a stomach acid issue (which can be a sign of something else). Dark? Vet visit.

In the meantime, no more hairball treats. They are not treats like all the others. See: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/276968/hootie-has-been-vomiting-frequently-and-im-getting-concerned

A vet visit is a good idea!

Is there digested food or partly digested food in the vomit?  When you say its dark, can you be more specific?  What color?  A photo would be fine too.

The fact that she is vomiting and has some reduced appetite is a sign that she isn't feeling well and again I think a vet visit is in order.

I have attached the photos below: She brought up the frothy clear substance first, then immediately after the yellowy/green substance immediately after. I then took two close up photos, one of each of them. There didn't appear to any partly digested food in the vomit, but it did look like there was something dark in the yellow one and possibly some hair in the clear one.

The green looks like bile. It doesn't look like grass. There are many serious reasons why your cat is vomiting. Please take your cat to the vet.

Agreed vet visit is in order and bring photos to the vet.

u sure she didn't chew on a plant? as much as my cat liked whiskas their mo has changed and if she were still alive I wouldn't give her any of their products

It's a definite possibility that she chewed on one of the plants, as she's always playing around with them. I am not giving any Whiskers now. She had the treats for about a couple of weeks then I stopped them. Strangely, since I took these photos (Monday evening), she hasn't vomited again and she seems ok now in those terms, but her eating habits have changed a bit, which has got me paranoid there's still something wrong. That could be my fault however, as I gave her an extra meal one day as she seemed hungry, which threw her eating pattern out a bit and I don't think she's quite adjusted back.

She seems very active and playful still at the moment, but my paranoia is still making me want to take her to the vet, which I am planning on doing after work tonight.

Yes I am going to take her tonight after work. It might be me being paranoid, as she hasn't been sick since the one time on Monday and before that she did only bring up clear liquid twice, but my worry is that in my opinion she she seems a bit thin too for her age, as well as not coming into heat when one was definitely due. I needed to get her sterilized too, but had to wait until her last heat ended, then this happened, so now today's vets visit is going to me quite a in-depth one, and to confuse matters further I live in Italy but don't speak fluent Italian, so explaining it all to the vet should be interesting! All this and I am a first time cat owner, so really don't have a clue about what's normal and when a vet is needed!

Thanks, I will do. Going tonight after work.

andym1982 said:

Yes I am going to take her tonight after work. It might be me being paranoid, as she hasn't been sick since the one time on Monday and before that she did only bring up clear liquid twice, but my worry is that in my opinion she she seems a bit thin too for her age, as well as not coming into heat when one was definitely due. I needed to get her sterilized too, but had to wait until her last heat ended, then this happened, so now today's vets visit is going to me quite a in-depth one, and to confuse matters further I live in Italy but don't speak fluent Italian, so explaining it all to the vet should be interesting! All this and I am a first time cat owner, so really don't have a clue about what's normal and when a vet is needed!

Click to expand...

The green vomit does look like a plant, a common reason for a cat to throw up.

Thanks for your advice. I took her to the vet. He diagnosed a throat issue and not a stomach issue. He gave her an injection to sort this out and said to see how she goes from now until Wednesday. If the problems continue we go back, if they seem to be gone we are all good!

My nerves are more at ease now! Many thanks to you and to everyone who gave me advice.

OK keep us posted!

just curious...what kind of shot?

Not entirely sure of the specifics as he explained it to me in Italian. The gist I got was vitamins and antibiotics (although I may be incorrect, I'll have to check with my girlfriend) to cover her from Friday evening until Wednesday. At which time if the problems have gone it's resolved and if not I go back for him to investigate further. He was confident it was a throat infection issue and from her change in behaviour and acting like normal now it seems to have done the job so far, as she is now eating more regularly and enthusiastically as she was before, and acting like her usual batty self!

so she's ok?

Well, sort of. She hasn't been sick again. But the vet was asking about the 'wretching' and 'coughing' noises she was making before - he gave examples of what the two were like - and it seems that she is now doing at least one of these infrequently again. She has sneezed again, which alone probably wouldn't have concerned me, but also done some brief 'coughing' too which was something the doctor discussed as being one of the symptoms of her problem before.

She has also changed in her behaviour again somewhat. She is sleeping at the foot of the bed close to us, and unlike normally when she wakes us up by meowing and walking all over us, she has been quieter again since yesterday morning. She also didn't eat all her food last night, left it and didn't even go back to finish it, then this morning didn't show interest in her food much at all.

She's also just going to her 'comfort areas' where she likes to curl up sometimes, instead of walking around the place like she tends to do quite a bit normally. She also did something which is unusual - sat on me and stayed there letting me stroke her. Usually she sits to one side of me and doesn't like to sit directly on me.

The strange thing is whatever the vet gave her last Friday worked a treat until its effects wore off. He did say they would wear off on Wednesday and to return to him if symptoms returned. So tonight I'll go back.

Update from second visit:

He said it still is a throat issue and that the injection didn't last long enough for it to clear up fully, so he has given a slightly higher dosage that will be stronger and last longer, to allow it to clear up completely. He checked her age in months before administering.

Bless her, she knew what was coming when he took the needle out and tried to escape, but refused to bite me even when she went for my finger to let me know she didn't like it, she didn't bite down. Last night she seemed quite grumpy but this morning came for cuddles on the bed and ate her food which was nice to see.

If it seems that she's still out of sorts by the middle of next week I'll go back, but I am hoping this time the higher dosage will do the trick.

Please make sure to keep all plants out of reach of her. There are many that are toxic or can get stuck in their throat or cause irritation.

Thank you for this - I just checked a database of plants considered toxic and I have seen that there is poinsettia on the list. We have one of them in the house and it's very possible the dark green patch in the vomit is a chewed poinsettia leaf.  It seems too much of a coincidence for it not to be the case, seeing as it says online that this plant causes gastronomical tract irritations and the kinds of symptoms we've seen.

Needless to say, poinsettia goes outside the apartment in the communal hallway where kitty won't go and all other plants (orchid and rose) go outside or out of reach, although they didn't appear on the database I checked.