Stray Cat Vomiting - just nerves?

A young black cat was brought to me 3 weeks ago. She was very thin, full of fleas and mites. She had been given perhaps more than enough to eat so I was not too surprised when she vomited everything during the first night in my care. However, even small portions fed to her during the next few days were thrown back at me once a day. I took her to the vet mainly to try to control vomiting but although she will now manage 2 days without problems on the third day I can still expect a meal to be returned, undigested, about 2 hours after being eaten. Because she is also suffering from giardien she was kept 2 days at the vet to ensure that the medication was kept inside her. She had blood tests done for virus infections but all were negative. She has put on quite a bit of weight while in my care but is still vomiting regularly. The vet says things will improve as soon as a new home is found for her. We have plenty of healthy cats waiting for a new home, so the chances of somebody taking on a cat which vomits violently on a regular basis in spite of being on a rather expensive gastro-intestinal diet are rather slim.

When I first visited the vet I was told she had a mild form of ataxia and was deaf to certain sounds. My own feeling is that she was in such a bad condition and so weak that she didn’t know where she was or how she was supposed to react. She now keeps herself clean, plays with cat toys and climbs to the top of the cat tree which she never did during the first week with me. I hope that her condition will continue to improve and that vomiting will cease completely. Has anybody any experience with such a problem? She is a lovely friendly cat with a bushy tail. We call her BB (short for Black Beauty). Pictures to come!

I'm suspecting that the ingredients in that diet are causing issues. Is there corn or cornmeal in this food? I would get some whatbis called limited ingredient food and slowly switch that. The vomiting sounds like a food allergy. Are there any other medications still administered?



Sometimes they need a novel ingredient diet like duck rabbit lamb etc. Sometimes the chicken causes these issues. Chewy.com seems to have a large variety of these kinds of foods. You can read the reviews and also Amazon has reviews of food as well.

When you change diet don't do it abruptly. Start slow like 1/4new and 3/4 old and every day slowly increase. I would try the 1/4-3/4 ratio for a week and see if the vomiting decreases.

Thank you for the reply. Naturally I am considering allergic reactions and intolerance issues, although at the moment I am sticking to the diet the vet ordered as he will blame my unqualified attempts at treating this cat when things fail to improve. At least I will keep it up until the second course of worm treatment has been completed and she is pronounced clear of giardia. We suspect that she was so full of worms that she couldn't`t digest her food properly.
Only Panacur: to treat giardia. Yesterday she had a double-dose as she vomited the first. This morning she had slight diarrhea which made me cheer! Not because I want her to react in this way but all of my cats and kittens have had diarrhea during worm treatment for giardia and BB has shown no reaction at all - in fact she's almost constipated. Tomorrow she will have her last dosage and after that I hope things will improve.

Unfortunately I have another sick cat who is causing me a lot of worry. She was feral - but now refuses to go outside - apart from sleeping with us and sitting close to us when we are relaxing, she is almost impossible to hold or catch. She spends a lot of time hiding and senses immediately when we are looking for her. She is on antibiotics and painkillers but I'm not doing very well at administering her medication.

Of course, they are in separate parts of the house, so I cannot spend nearly as much time as I would like with these 2 little black kitties.

Well if it doesn't resolve in a few days I would start the change over. You can always do half an half . Then you are not going against the vet but supplement for additional nourishment. But I don't know much about gardia so not sure what to do. Keep us posted.

Have you tried canned pumpkin only need 1/4 teaspoon or so. Some times that stops the diarrhea.

foxxycat said:

Have you tried canned pumpkin only need 1/4 teaspoon or so. Some times that stops the diarrhea.

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Pumpkin is a good gentle tonic for both diarrhea and constipation so I did try it early on. She vomited it back during the following night.

If she vomits again this weekend I will certainly be talking to the vet on Monday.

Thanks again for answering.

I tend to think it's a food intolerance issue as well.  What exactly are you feeding her?  I had a cat who threw up any food that was fish flavored.

stephanietx said:

 
I tend to think it's a food intolerance issue as well.  What exactly are you feeding her?  I had a cat who threw up any food that was fish flavored.

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Since the last visit to the vet, I've been feeding her the diet she was given during her 2 night stay there: Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Gastro Intestinal (wet food) and ReConvales Tonicum.

How is she doing with the food from the vet?  I feed one of my kitties the RC Gastro HE dry, in addition to mainly wet food to control loose bowels.  He likes it and it works.

I have to keep reports on all my foster cats so I can give you the statistics!

stephanietx said:

 
How is she doing with the food from the vet?  I feed one of my kitties the RC Gastro HE dry, in addition to mainly wet food to control loose bowels.  He likes it and it works.

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Since she arrived, when she vomited once a day, I tried feeding her steamed chicken plus RC Gastro wet and dry (as I had some anyway). We then managed precisely one day without her throwing up, so I had to take her to the vet. She was given an injection to prevent vomiting (I think it was Cerenia) as well as other medication to boost her immune system. This was repeated 3 days later and after another 4 days she was taken into the clinic.

Since being on the diet (16 days) she has managed to go 2-3 days without vomiting. I am expecting her to throw up any time now as we've had 2 clear days. Loose bowels is really not an issue. She had a little diarrhea yesterday probably because the day before I'd given her a little too much worm-treatment paste after she'd vomited her breakfast.

She is in a room on her own so she has no choice but eat what she's given. She had a beautiful Persian castrated tom as room mate for the first few days before I realized that she was sick. It was far more difficult getting her to eat her food when his smelt so much better!

Have you tried a limited ingredient food?  Something like Duck & Pea? 

She's obviously not blocked since she's able to keep some of it down.  How do her kidney values look? 

Awww love this kitty! Such beautiful furr!!