Help please? Sick cat!

I'm new and I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, but I'm really worried about my 4 year old cat. She has always seemed super healthy and happy (despite being skittish) but tonight she was acting a bit off before vomiting white foam onto the floor. I assumed she hadn't been eating and brought her back to her bowl so she could eat; she then ate, went to sleep, and seemed fine. Several hours later she then puked brown/orange liquid and I took the food away for a little over an hour. After about 15 minutes from then she seemed like she was very hungry and she was acting like herself and meowing and snuggling up to me, so I felt guilty, and once again put her food down. She ate, and about 30 minutes after she vomited mostly digested food once again! Does anyone know what could be wrong?? This has never happened to her before, and I actually don't have money or even transportation to go to a vet--and it's 5AM and I haven't slept because im so scared. What can I do?? Thank you so much for any help..

The bad thing is it can be so many things...... a hairball could be the culprit, and is taking a while to come up, it could be the food upsetting her stomach, have you changed lately? Is she drinking, or is she vomiting after that? I have a cat that vomits frequently and even has some medicine for those occasions. The best thing to do is to take her to a vet, or at least call and ask their advise, you don't  want her to get dehydrated.  another good thing is that she seems to have an appetite, that is good news, sick cats do not want to eat. She is so blessed to have someone like you in her life that is so concerned! I'll pray that everything is OK, all the luck!

Thank you for responding! She has never had a hairball before to my knowledge but I'm not ruling anything out just yet. I haven't changed her food, but I'm worried about her maybe having eaten something she shouldn't have; but I feel like it would have been out of her system by now. I think I will call the vet as soon as they open for any ideas they may have as well, but I really do appreciate you taking the time! I hope all is okay as well.. the most bizarre thing to me is that she's running around and purring and refusing to go to sleep when she's not getting sick!

yes, I would take her to the Vet. It could something as innocent as a fur ball or it could be something as severe as something stuck in her throat. 

She is hungry, wants to eat, but cannot..Yes, a vet visit...

Thank you for caring so much about her. 

Can she keep water down? You want to get her into the Vet as soon as you can..no being able to eat and vomiting is definitely not something to take a wait and see approach...

Let us know what happens....

((hugs))

The running around and acting normal is good, she is not 'too' sick then, but cats are so good about hiding illness. You might get some Gerber baby food, meat like turkey and see if a bland food like that will stay down. I hope she is drinking and keeping that down. The 'foam' you described means she didn't have anything in her stomach when she vomited. I hope she just has a kitty stomach ache and gets well soon!

update;

so still unable to get to the vet (she's very skittish like I noted before, walking would be too risky an option with how far it is) but it's looking a little more optimistic?

after getting sick at about 4:30-5am, I held off on feeding her until about 11:30am. I fed her an extremely light meal on a flat plate so she wouldn't eat too quickly, she drank quite a bit of water and it all stayed down. at about 12 I gave her a bit more and that stayed down too. She went to the bathroom (just number 1) and she has been walking around and seeming like herself since. Is it still best to keep the feeding light or should I try giving her food normally?

another note! my mother informed me this morning that she gave her a small amount of breaded tilapia last night (without my knowledge, I don't like her to eat table food) but is it possible that could have had a bad effect on her tummy..?

Thank you to you guys for posting, I really appreciate the help

Fish is ok for cats as treats but plain cooked fish only or canned fish in water. What was in the breading? Things like garlic and onion, which are common in breading mixes, can make a cat sick. In large amounts, garlic and onion can be seriously harmful to a cat but I don't think breading would have a large quantity of them.

This exact same thing happened to my female cat several months ago.  She would walk around the house and on the patio and vomit up small piles of white foam.  I'd feed her, and she'd vomit up orange/brown foam and bits of food.  I called the vet and she said since she's indoor/outdoor, she probably ingested something that didn't agree with her, and the foam vomit was her way of trying to get it out of her system.  She told me to make absolutely certain to keep plenty of fresh water for her, offer her small amounts of dry food, and keep a close eye on her. If she started acting out of character AT ALL (stopped using the litter box, stopped eating altogether, became lethargic, or started vomiting up anything other than foam/little bits of food) to bring her in.  This foam vomiting went on for a solid three days, and then stopped as soon as it started.  Whatever it was she ate made its way through her system apparently, and she was fine after that.