Kitten vomiting foam, refusing to eat/drink, does not want to be touched. I'm in distress.

Hi everyone, this just seems to be a horrible week for our family, as one problem after another keeps coming up (if you've read my post about my older cat's nervous breakdown). 

As some of you know, I have a 3 month old kitten. She's usually very active and playful, but this morning I came into her room (we're keeping her separated from our older cat) and noticed she had vomited in the bathroom. I cleaned it up and tried to pet her but she seemed out of it - just laying on the bed, not moving around much, not purring as she usually does. I thought she may just be a little groggy from her vomiting episode earlier, so I left her alone for about half an hour and when I walked back into the room, I saw she had vomited again, but clear foam this time, as I think there was nothing left in her stomach at this point. Maybe an hour or so later, she vomited like this again, and then again about 1.5 hours later.  I'm really worried now because this doesn't seem to be due to the food, as she hasn't eaten since last night, and since she vomited up the food this morning, she hasn't had anything in her stomach to cause the irritation. She's been very lethargic. She hasn't been moving around the room much, only jumping down from the bed to go to the bathroom or to vomit on the floor. I tried to flip her onto her back to examine her belly but she really doesn't like me to touch it right now. I'm going to wait until the evening and if she doesn't improve I will either make an appointment at the vet's or take her to emergency, as I hope this will resolve on its own before I face the vet and the bills (I spent a huge amount at the vet just last week to treat her from the ear and eye infections she got at the shelter). 

Has anyone had any experiences like this? What could be causing this? I scoured the room to see if there's anything she could have ingested and I can't find any evidence or anything. I'm really not sure what to think and I'm really stressed now between this sick baby and my anxious, stressed out older girl.  

Also, I should mention in the past two days she has (in my opinion) been really overeating, as we tried to switch from timed meals to free feeding. I know sometimes overeating can be a cause of these symptoms, but that was yesterday and her vomiting problems are happening today, when she hasn't had anything to eat.

She did just accept a tiny bit of water, but that is all I can get her to take.

There is also an uncharacteristic smell coming from her backside. Her poop usually does have a very strong odor, but this smell is different. If I were to try to describe it, I'd say it's almost sour, if that makes sense.

I would not let this go on very long. Cats can get in trouble real quickly with vomiting problems. Can you take her to the vet.

Could the kitten have licked shampoo, soap or detergent from the bathroom?

It could have been a number of things.. she could have licked some shampoo or eaten something or it could be from her overeating the past few days. She's feeling a bit better now and is starting to become more playful - playing with her toys, walking around the room, climbing up onto me. I can still hear her stomach really rumbling so I'm starting to think this was all just some kind of indigestion or bad food. We have an appointment at the vet's tomorrow, so hopefully this will turn out to be a minor issue that will resolve itself... 

I'm glad you have a vet appointment, make sure to bring it up to them and see what they think. This is probably not from overeating since kittens this age are supposed to be allowed to eat as much as they want. I'm glad she is feeling better. It is likely that she licked soap or something similar and now that it is out of her system she is feeling good again.

Please I'm praying your kitty is feeling better. I just wanted to advise that cat food with red dye can cause allergic reactions. My cat, for example, gets diarrhea. I've read that for others it can cause vomiting. I'd recommended looking at the ingredient list on all her foods & treats for it! I personally use the brand Wellness to feed my darling. It's a bit expensive, but I'm a one animal household and the company issues coupons frequently....Anyway, please I pray your baby is granted swift healing   xoxo

Hi all,

Just back from the vet. She's feeling much better and is pretty much back to her normal self, with just some occasional rumbling in her belly. No more vomiting or lethargy. No bad smell from the rear end either. The doctor said it's probably nothing to worry about - maybe she licked something she shouldn't have or had a bout of indigestion, or it could be that she ate too much dry food in the past few days which caused a temporary blockage and irritated her system. Vet said to watch over her a few days but he thinks she'll be just fine.

P.S. Also good news with my older lady - she's back to normal now that she's had a bit of a break from the kitten.