Any ideas? Cat stomach issues

I have a three year old male rescue cat named Blue-at 1 year old he blocked and we found out he had crystals (struvite sp?) after having him unblocked we got him on Royal Canine SO-he hasn't had any health problems since. Eats the food, drinks plenty of water, plays a lot and is very active. The vet did add that his stress level could be an underlying issue of the crystals, and this cat is a scaredy cat! He has gotten better but still he is very nervous. So I use Feliway in the house to keep his stress levels low.

Last week I saw him licking a plastic bag, something he has never done before. Later that day he was licking a guitar case! The next day he didn't eat much. On Saturday morning he vomited some liquid it had small gobs of hair in it and I attributed this to a hair ball. He ate fine the rest of the day. Sunday he barely touched his food but drank plenty of water. Monday he ate like a champ! He hasn't been lethargic, he has been peeing good, normal behavior. This morning he wouldn't eat, he went to the litter box and pooped, then got out ran downstairs and vomited some liquid with gobs of hair in it. Then he went to another litter box and urinated?

He has never done this before, and he has only vomited maybe 4 times in the 3 years I have had him? Could it just be a hair ball or hair in his stomach?  My concern is taking him to the vet (which I know everyone will tell me to do here) causes him so much stress I am afraid he might block if I take him because of the LUTD? Any ideas or has anyone had this happen?

I would invest in some calming agents such as Feliway diffusers, some of the drops from Jackson Galaxy's Spirit Essences line for cats, or Rescue Remedy.  That might help with the stress factor.  For the crystals, I'd suggest joining the FLUTD Yahoo group:  https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FLUTD/info as well as posting here.  The more heads together, the better!

I have the Felaway diffusers around the house, they did run out about 3 days ago and I ordered more but they haven't arrived. Funny you mention that as I thought maybe his barfing this morning was due to stress? The weird chewing on plastic behavior started right around when they ran out?

But they have run out in the past and he never acted like this or had stomach issues?

I will definitely join the group, my biggest problem is everyone has an opinion, even vets and they all differ. It just gets overwhelming and I figure if he is eating the prescription food and not having issues, then fine why dig deeper. Thanks for responding.

Both cats and dogs will sometimes lick or eat strange things when they feel nauseous. The question is why does he feel nauseous? Sometimes feeding a bland diet for a couple days will help, the clinic I work at recommends boiled chicken and rice or science diet i/d (which most cats hate) but since he's on a prescription diet I don't know if I would do that without the vets advice. If it's stress related you could try giving him some rescue remedy in his water just make sure you get the kind that's for animals. I've had really good success with this in my grandmas cat who was spraying.

I am going to see how he is doing tonight, if he is eating and drinking water and acting normal, then I would attribute this episode to hair in his stomach or a hair ball, and I'll just keep an eye on him. If he isn't eating or if he is acting weird I'll call the vet. When he was first put on the prescription food, I was told not to feed him anything except the prescription food, and that is all he has eaten in 1 1/2 years.

I am not even sure if I can give him rescue remedy?

The licking of unusual things is a pica induced by his tummy being uncomfortable as mentioned by JDollPrincess. If he were outside, he'd be chomping grass, but with no grass to chomp, they seek out what they can find. My Lazlo nibbles plastic when his stomach is upset and uncomfortable. It could be due to a hairball - but even that indicates something wrong with motility, as cats - if everything is working properly - pass the hair rather than vomit it up.

Vomit with hair in it doesn't really mean much. Cats groom, so at any point in time may have hair in their stomachs. Loose hair in vomit is indicative of grooming, not hairballs.

The clearish liquid (sometimes foamy) is stomach acid and/or bile. It can also be yellow or yellow tinted.

So if I understand the timeline, the vomiting of liquid (clear? yellowish?) is before he eats, and at some point in the morning? Sunday he didn't vomit - but didn't eat?

The stomach acid / bile build-up causes the upset stomach. Vomiting it up makes them feel better, and thus are often ready to eat after they get it up. The nausea from it prevents them from wanting to eat - and if they do eat despite the nausea from stomach acid/bile, they will subsequently throw up the meal.

For morning bile pukers, a typical recommendation is to feed a teaspoon of their morning meal shortly after you wake up, wait 10 or 15 minutes, then feed the rest of the meal. But this is when there's a reason to expect there would be overnight bile build-up: during a food transition, if there is kidney disease, if you feed timed meals and there's a long stretch between the last meal of the day and the first meal of the morning, etc.

If it arises seemingly out of nowhere, seeing a vet really is the best thing. Perhaps he's swallowed something that shouldn't be there, stimulating the bile production. At the very least, I would want an x-ray done.

To minimize the stress for the trip, purchase the Feliway wipes. Buy Rescue Remedy. And even consider a calming collar for future use.

Wipe the crate down with the feliway wipes. Put Rescue Remedy drops in his food that morning, and drop 3 drops in the front of the crate. You can even put a few drops directly on his fur, on his neck. Yes, FLUTD kitties can have rescue remedy.

You can also try a calming collar: http://www.calmingcollars.com/

I recommend the single channel ones, the double ones are bulky for cats. You can even just put this in his crate. I also recommend purchasing harp music to play on the drive.

Does he have access to some grass? For some reason cats feel like eating it when they have upset tummies. They can't digest it so it come out one end or the other.   Feliway comes in a spray as well.  When I used it on the towels to transport ferals, it seemed to calm them.

An update- Blue seems to be better-I went to the Vet and talked to him, he didn't seem concerned and said it sounds like a hairball issue, he advised I give him a little Laxatone for the next couple days and see how he does. I also had to buy his prescription food as the bag was almost empty.

When I got home I threw the old food away, cleaned the cat plates and put the food I just bought down, he chowed! No licking plastic either. I gave him a tiny boop of the laxatone on his nose which he did NOT care for and I will swipe some more on his paw tonight.

He hasn't thrown up again, he was making a coughing kind of sound this morning for a few seconds though? He ate and drank water but he seems a bit laid back, I did brush him too which the Vet recommended.

I am starting to wonder now too if the Royal Canine goes bad after a few weeks? I buy the large bag as I have three cats, and it was odd when I put the new food down all three chowed it like they haven't eaten in weeks? And they barely touched the "old" food I fed them in the morning?

Oh I also got the refills for the feliway diffusers-they finally showed up in the mail.

Glad to hear he's eating better. I prefer to address hairballs with diet and supplements, as hairballs forming are an indication of brewing motility / inflammation problems. Most vets are not familiar with this, though several (from Texas A&M) are working very hard to make this known. But if you're at all interested, here's some information. I share this, because I fed prescription urinary health dry (and some wet) food for years. I now feed a raw diet, and the cats that were on that dry food the longest have the most problems. Two have intestinal cancer, one is in remission after chemo, and the other two on it the longest have major, major issues with stomach acid and hairball problems. I've been fine-tuning how I manage it, but I think we're slowly getting there. I just wish someone had said, gently, to me, years ago - "take a step back and think about what you're feeding them. How would you feel eating only dry cereal - your entire life? No fresh food - ever?"

Kibble - like cereal - can have a place in the overall diet of a cat. But their health will be much better in the long run (and cost you less in vet visits) if it isn't the primary food source. Of course, if there are budget issues, it is what it is. Better they have a home and are loved. :rub:

If you're at all interested, here is some information.

http://www.catinfo.org

http://consciouscat.net/2010/04/28/some-startling-new-thoughts-on-cats-and-hairballs/

http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/Chronic-Vomiting-in-Cats-isnt-Normal-After-All/