Cat threw up clear liquid?

sparks17 · Nov 20, 2015

Hello all. I woke up this morning to find out that my 8 month old kitten, Sophie, had thrown up clear liquid with a few bits of her dry food. She's acting like her normal self, playing and cuddling, but I'm not sure yet if she's eating or drinking as normal. I just put out a can of HIll's HE i/d Gastrointestinal food I had for her, in case it's an upset tummy issue. Is this something I need to be worried about? I'm not going to be home most of the day due to school and work, but plan to come back home every few hours to check on her, and do plan to take her to the vet if she keeps throwing up.

Some other info: She's an indoors-only cat, and she was in my bedroom all of last night, so it's unlikely that she got into anything she shouldn't have. I have been trying a new wet food with her the past couple of days. One brand she liked, but she wouldn't touch the kind I tried to give her last night. She also has Chicken Soup for the Soul kitten food available 24/7. I also gave her a small spoonful of canned pumpkin last night as a treat.

I'd appreciate any advice anyone can offer! Thanks!

stephenq · Nov 20, 2015

Sparks17 said:
Hello all. I woke up this morning to find out that my 8 month old kitten, Sophie, had thrown up clear liquid with a few bits of her dry food. She's acting like her normal self, playing and cuddling, but I'm not sure yet if she's eating or drinking as normal. I just put out a can of HIll's HE i/d Gastrointestinal food I had for her, in case it's an upset tummy issue. Is this something I need to be worried about? I'm not going to be home most of the day due to school and work, but plan to come back home every few hours to check on her, and do plan to take her to the vet if she keeps throwing up.

Some other info: She's an indoors-only cat, and she was in my bedroom all of last night, so it's unlikely that she got into anything she shouldn't have. I have been trying a new wet food with her the past couple of days. One brand she liked, but she wouldn't touch the kind I tried to give her last night. She also has Chicken Soup for the Soul kitten food available 24/7. I also gave her a small spoonful of canned pumpkin last night as a treat.

I'd appreciate any advice anyone can offer! Thanks!

Throwing up clear bile with a little food isn't generally serious if it only happens once. Sometimes cats if they are hungry (like its meal time or past meal time) have a reaction where their stomach's think its meal time and start to secrete acid in anticipation of the meal and if the meal doesn;t arrive then they throw up due to too much acid.

There are other causes too, but its really when vomiting becomes a regular thing (even occasional but regular) that you have to be concerned, but a single instance is probably benign. Be careful about changing foods and keep an eye on her. If it recurs let us know and consider contacting a vet.

donutte · Nov 20, 2015

Is it possible she just ate too fast? My little Oliver one day decided to absolutely attack his food. And that was the very first time he puked, ever. He heaved once or twice and it just flew out of his mouth onto the floor. The look on his face was "What the *bleep* just happened???" Then proceeded to eat it.

Shaking my head just recalling that story, lol. Silly Oliver.

stephenq · Nov 20, 2015

Donutte said:
Is it possible she just ate too fast? My little Oliver one day decided to absolutely attack his food. And that was the very first time he puked, ever. He heaved once or twice and it just flew out of his mouth onto the floor. The look on his face was "What the *bleep* just happened???" Then proceeded to eat it.

Shaking my head just recalling that story, lol. Silly Oliver.

Yes its possible but cats who eat too fast throw up food, not liquid bile.....

sparks17 · Nov 28, 2015

Thank you all for the advice! I'm not sure what caused her to throw up that time, but she was fine for the rest of the day.

However, in the past couple of days, Sophie has thrown up twice directly after eating, but I think she's eating too fast. I gave her a little bit of tuna the first time as a treat, and earlier, I gave her a new flavor of canned food that she scarfed down, and within a few minutes, she heaved up some of it. Does anybody have any advice on how to get her to slow down? She's fine with eating her dry food, but it seems that when she gets wet food, she wants to gobble it down.

stephenq · Nov 28, 2015

Sparks17 said:
Thank you all for the advice! I'm not sure what caused her to throw up that time, but she was fine for the rest of the day.

However, in the past couple of days, Sophie has thrown up twice directly after eating, but I think she's eating too fast. I gave her a little bit of tuna the first time as a treat, and earlier, I gave her a new flavor of canned food that she scarfed down, and within a few minutes, she heaved up some of it. Does anybody have any advice on how to get her to slow down? She's fine with eating her dry food, but it seems that when she gets wet food, she wants to gobble it down.

That does sound like the likely cause. You can smoosh it flat, refrigerate it, or both, or switch to a brand that isn't quite a tempting.

rennielondon · Nov 29, 2015

Normally when a cat throws up liquid, it's nausea. You mentioned that you recently changed one of her foods, so it's very likely this is upsetting her stomach. I had to learn the hard way that, when changing their food, we need to change slowly and in stages, by mixing the new with the old firstly in very small quantities, increasing slowly for 2 weeks until you finalise the transition.

My cat has a lot of nausea, followed by throwing up liquid, because she's a CKD cat. But yours is only a young one so I wouldn't be too worried.

Do the food transition slowly and that should stop.

If not, then it's worth checking with a vet.

Good luck.

sparks17 · Dec 1, 2015

R rennielondon . Thanks for the advice! However, I actually didn't change Sophie's food. The first time and only time she she threw up liquid, all she had to eat was her regular kitten kibble that I leave out for her to snack on.
The most recent time she threw up, I think was due to eating too fast, as I watched her gobble up the food, and she threw up minutes later. She's on a rotation of canned food, and while this last time, she was trying a new tuna flavor, it's the same kind as she's eaten before. I mixed a small amount of of her kibble with that particular flavor of canned food to try and get her to slow down and chew, and she's been fine.

Thank you for all the advice!

Cat threw up clear liquid?

sparks17

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donutte

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