Gastrointestinal Issues

Hey there,

I've been having issues with my long haired 3 year old cat, Cleo. She's been throwing up her food almost immediately after eating in the past week. This has happened all of a sudden. When she does keep her food down and pass stool, it's huge and as hard as a rock and she has trouble letting it out. I basically have vomit and/or poo all over the house every morning . She seems perfectly fine and affectionate/playful otherwise though...

She had colitis back in March. She had similar symptoms then except they were more severe and she had diarrhea with mucus in it. My doctor said that it was because of the food I was feeding her, so I promptly switched to higher quality cat food (I did not know that Friskies, Whiskas, etc was bad). I now have her on Chicken Soup for the Soul pet food due to it's reviews for high quality as well as Performatrin Ultra wet food which was recommended by my local pet food store.

I don't know what to do, has anyone run into these issues before? Before we figured out she had colitis, my vet assured me she's fine and it was 100% the food, but now I'm not sure....

Are you brushing her every single day.  It sounds like she's digesting a LOT of fur and that's what may be causing the huge stools.  It's possible she's got a hairball stuck somewhere along her "pipes" too that's causing the vomiting.  She might need some hairball remedy.  I like Vet's Best Hairball Remedy.  Usually my guys can get theirs out within an our or two.of getting a tablet, but I don't know that they've ever had one really stuck.. 

In the meantime, you might try just feeding her the wet food for awhile, to help her pass what's in her intestines along, as dry food is, well, drying, and if her stool is already hard as a rock, she doesn't need anything that is drying right now. 

If the vomiting continues with all wet food and daily brushing, I would take her to the Vet to be seen.  I'm just speculating that it might be a stuck hairball.  It might be something else entirely. 

Sounds like a possible blockage to me too. I would give something for hairballs and if her poops don't go back to normal and/or the vomiting doesn't stop take her to a vet (or if she stops pooping altogether get her there quickly).

The symptoms you describe suggest possible pancreatitis. Both diarrhoea and constipation and being sick are all symptoms. A blood test would reveal where she's at to some extent. You could try a veterinary gastrointestinal food, it won't do her any harm and if it is a form of pancreatitis the symptoms will settle down with this food. There are lots on the market, there is much debate on what causes pancreatitis, some vets say fat (not all fats are created equally and looking at the labels won't help), some vets say enzyme deficient foods result in the pancreas working too hard and 'malfunctioning'. The truth is that the current research is inconclusive. Obviously take the advice of your vet but I think it is wise to act sooner rather than later, I have 2 with pancreatitis, one advanced and it is awful. It is a minefield in terms of what to feed. A specialist in the area would be the most useful person to ask, although opinions vary. This is what I've found - Royal Canin sensitive wet and dry didn't really help (but he had this in the early days of coming out of hospital and it's not that tasty (I have 30 cats and they all think the same after the initial 'ooo, what's this ...yum...' then 'I changed my mind'!). Royal Canin gastrointestinal, didn't help one cat, not tried the other. Z/D advised not to feed by vet but they like the dry - won't touch the wet (tins, not tried pouches). The current food we're trialling is Purina ProPlan EN Gastrointestinal, they like the wet (pouches, not tried tins - pouches are cheaper) and dry and after the howling we had after changing the food (because it hurt him to even think about pooing), he has settled down, his poop has started to form, it's only been 5 days so too early to conclude but he has put on weight and is back to his energetic self.
Another vet suggest AVA food, not tried it and not asked our main (more experienced vet). The other problem is that any change in food causes great discomfort, although it sounds as if your cat is not as advanced as mine (and she may not even have pancreatitis) so I imagine she will tolerate change better especially if it is gradual. I find any change in food can't really be judged until they have been on it at least for a week and on nothing else - even the smallest mouthful of a forbidden food can cause a huge flare up. Eating mice, birds etc is fine - they naturally contain the necessary enzymes and is entirely what nature intended.
Good luck