Can this be a hairball?

aliviah

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On Monday my boyfriend and I just bought and moved into our new house.. so we went and rescued our new kitty from one of our local shelters. He looked completely fine at the shelter, and nothing came up at the vet. No health conditions came up on any of his papers. He was playful and loving and wanted to be around everyone. But after a day or so he started hacking and gagging. We thought that he might be allergic to his cat food, so bought him wet cat food in a different brand. But he's still doing it, and now it's getting worse. Now he's throwing up foam/food multiple times a day. He can't keep his food down at all. He's reverse sneezing, and breathing through his mouth. His nose is still wet. He's a short hair cat, but he does shed a lot. I have a brush that I brush him with. All he wants to do now is lay down and hide. He's not really interested in anything. And when he gets up and moves, most of the time he'll start hacking again. We got him some hairball remedy gel and he wasn't interested in it. Kinda had to make him eat it :(
 

cat nap

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Hi @Aliviah,

It really sounds like your new kitty is sick.

The constant throwing up of foam/food, and the sneezing, laying and hiding, sounds very serious.

I would take him to a Vet ASAP.

It sounds more like an URI (upper respiratory infection) which the vet can easily treat, than a hairball.

Very common when bringing cats home from shelters, according to this Article:

 [article="29716"]Identifying Common Ailments In Cats Adopted From Animal Shelters And Rescue Groups​[/article]  

Also, cats can get extremely dehydrated, very quickly, if not eating or drinking water, so the Vet would give him sub-q fluids to make him feel better.
 

stephenq

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Cats come home from shelters and routinely come down with an infection after they get home, having been incubating it.  He needs vet attention asap, your shelter probably has some sort of post adoption medical care protocol, usually they will provide care but not reimburse you if you go to your own vet.

Cat allergies don't show up this way, and its not a hairball.  

See my article at http://www.thecatsite.com/a/identif...dopted-from-animal-shelters-and-rescue-groups
 
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