Feral queen vomiting blood

We have had a feral queen with her kittens in a spare bedroom sanctuary room for a month or so and she and the kittens all seemed to be doing fine, aside from some eye infections that have been taken care of in the kittens. We took the kittens away yesterday because we felt like the queen was rubbing off on them in a bad way. We went in to check on her a while ago and noticed she was in the closet (which is odd behavior for her) and there seemed to be a rather large pool of what appeared to us as vomitus consisting almost exclusively of bright red blood. I'd love to take her to the emergency vet but it just doesn't seem feasible since she is incredibly feral. We took up her food and water since I read that that may help facilitate healing in the upper GI tract.

Should we go ahead and try to trap her? I'm worried that the e vet won't be able to do much with her since she is so wild. We were planning on having her spayed next week. Can we wait until then? I feel helpless!

Have you wormed her?  She could be loaded with roundworms. You can get safe wormer at Tractor Supply if there is one near you.  They are open on Sunday.  You want to get the small animal concentration of it.  A good brand is Nemex2  (pyrantel pamoate).  You can give her 5 ml. (the 10 lb dog dose) mixed in with her food.  The cat dose is usually higher than the dog dose, so if she is not 10 lbs, dont worry about it.  I like that brand because it tastes good, they eat it right up.  The large animal concentration is about 10 times as much so use the small animal concentration, easier to dose correctly.  You can use it for the kittens too.

Also, taking the kittens away for awhile each day is good but just taking them all away suddenly can cause her to get milk impaction, so let them be with her some.  Wean them gradually.

We wormed the kittens twice already, I wasn't aware I could just put it in her food! I feel awful now. I have some I can put down now. How quickly should I be expecting results?

Also, we will put the kittens back with her like you said to avoid the impaction.

THANK YOU SO MUCH

I rescued a cat once with such bad roundworms that she vomited up a pile of worms that looked like spaghetti after the first worming.  As long as the worms pass, one way or the other, all is well.  You have to repeat the worming after 2 weeks so that any new worms from eggs that hatch after the first worming do not get mature enough to breed and make more eggs.  The only problem with a huge worm infestation is that occasionally they can all die at once and make a blockage in the intestines, so just make sure she continues to produce results in the litter box.

Of course the reason for her vomiting blood may not be worms, but I mentioned it because that is the first thing to rule out.  Most feral cats have had worms since they were kittens and the worms keep growing and producing more worms.  Don't be surprised if she does vomit up a pile of them after the wormer kills them.  Just keep an eye on her.  The vomiting should stop very soon.  It did for my rescue cat, after the pile of spaghetti type worms she vomited.  She also had tapeworm but those are less hard on a cat.  It requires a different wormer (praziquantel), and just one worming will get them.  Most important to do the pyrantel pamoate worming first.

Hopefully you're right and we can get this straightened up for her! This is the first feral I have ever dealt with and I have to be honest in saying she can be a little intimidating. We trapped her and brought her in the house to make sure she and her kittens would be safe while they grew, and to be positive she wouldn't move away and just get pregnant again. We live across the road from chicken houses and the vet said people like to drop cats there. Have you ever heard of anything like that?

I feel bad that she is in a room all day, you can tell she hates it. She looks out the window via the cat tree longingly almost all day. ): I was hoping to get her spayed and notched soon and back out but if we need to get her wormed again in two weeks we will wait. We will have the vet do any vaccinations during the surgery as well.

This may seem like a weird question but do husband and I need to get dewormed as well? We have been good about washing up after, especially with her, but I want to be sure!

Thanks again for all your help!

I have been in rescue for 50 years and have never been dewormed.  I was dewormed as a kid because the whole family got pinworms!  That was a mess back then (1950s) because they didnt have this dewormer yet.  We had to take gentian violet which turned everything purple.    If you are concerned about it, you can just geIl.  It says it is sugar free and has a caramel taste, but since it is sweetened with acesulfame potassium (aspartame), it is poisonous to cats, as are most artificial sweeteners.  Another one of the inactive ingredients, propylene glycol, is poisonous to cats although safe for humans and is an additive to many things.  It is a colorless, odorless synthetic liquid that absorbs water and has been used as a moistening agent in pet food and chewy treats.  Though the Food & Drug Administration considers the additive to be safe for most animals, it officially declared propylene glycol unsafe for cats in 1996. Most cat food makers stopped adding propylene glycol to their formulas in 1992 when it was discovered that large doses of propylene glycol can trigger a blood disease known as “Heinz body” anemia in cats.   I think it used to be in those semi-soft foods which came in packages and don't seem to be on the market anymore.  I never used them as they just didn't seem healthy to me, and I'm glad I didnt!

Always read labels!!!  Anyhow, I have this on hand should I ever get a worm infestation but I never have.  Normal hygiene should prevent it.  When humans get it, it is usually kids playing in sandboxes that cats have used for litter boxes, and then putting their fingers in their mouths or eating food without washing their hands first. 

I see my laptop did what it sometimes does and dropped out or moved a sentence.  When it says, "if you you are concerned about it, you can just geIl" what it was SUPPOSED to say was "you can just get a product called PIN-X. an over the counter treatment for pinworms for humans.  It is the same ingredient (pyrantel pamoate) but in the 50 mg./ml. concentration."  Available at most pharmacies and even in some supermarket pharmacy aisles.

So how did this turn out? 

Sorry for taking so long to get back about this.

Once we gave her the pyrantel pamoate she almost immediately got better. So I expect that is what it was. Thanks so much for all your help in getting her better.

She is now spayed, vaccinated, dewormed and ear notched. She is happily back outside where she belongs. We leave food out and something is eating it - hopefully her! There are cutie paw prints on the hood of husbands car every morning so maybe that is her. We haven't actually seen her. She is a wily one.

Thanks again for all your help!

Thanks for letting us know.  I'm always pleased when what I write can help a cat!  Oh, an the computer is fixed now too, it got worse!  Had to call the GeekBuddy.

Congrats on the healthy computer!

Just wanted to say thanks for taking such good care of that feral gal.  I can guarantee she's grateful for you helping her with her kittens, ailments, and reproductive cycle.  Well done.

Thank you very much. It means a lot.