My Cat is Vomiting; Loss Some Weight

I have a 13 year old cat. She is an indoor cat and only one time had an infection (bug bite on her back) that was cleared up with an anti-biotic shot 3 years ago. Recently, about the last 6 months, she started to throw up all of her food after eating. We thought she was eating too much, too fast. We tried limiting her food but she still throws up occasionally.

Brought her to the vet for blood work. Everything was normal except high white blood cell count. They ran more tests and said it was an infection and gave her an anti-biotic shot. We have been weening her off of Friskies and onto a better dry food product. Slowly she is eating it. We noticed she is back to her more normal self, as she is more active again around the house. Early this morning she vomited. It was more hair and clear liquid mixed with food. In the past it was just all food. Not sure if it was random hair ball or there is still an issue.

We're brining her back to the vet for another round of blood work. This time to check pancreas (I'm dumbfounded as to why they didn't do this with the original blood test) We told when she got the anti-biotic shot that even it were pancreas infection it would clear it up.

Right now she is giving us a lot of stress as other than this vomiting issue, she she seems fine and alert.

Any similar stories, ideas as to what might be going on here? Should we ask to have x-rays done? I've read online that she could have something in her stomach that has to be removed.

Any help would be appreciated.

Did they run a T4 to check her thyroid? Her kidney levels were ok? Did they do a urinalysis? 

I would highly, highly suggest you put her on a wet food only diet. Friskies, as you probably know, is terrible quality kibble, but beyond that 13 year olds really, really need the moisture levels in wet food. It's also not uncommon for older cats to have digestive issues, and kibble is much harder to digest than wet food. I think you may find that if you put her on a decent quality wet food she wont vomit as often, as long as this isn't a medical issue. Make sure they ran a T4 level because an abnormal thyroid will cause the symptoms you are describing. 

Hi,
Thanks for the reply.

According to the vet everything was normal except slightly high white blood cell count.

I thought because of her age it would be thyroid but the vet said thyroid and kidneys were good. We're bringing her in for more blood work to see if it's pancreatitis. Still, she got an antibiotic shot for that regardless so I'm puzzled about the recent vomit this morning.

I will buy some wet food - thanks for the tip. Should I mix it in with hard food or go right to only wet food? She's been eating had food her whole life and I don't want to not yo eat because of the sudden change.

Sorry for errors in previous post - I don't want her not to eat because of new food.

mb2577 said:

Hi,
Thanks for the reply.

According to the vet everything was normal except slightly high white blood cell count.

I thought because of her age it would be thyroid but the vet said thyroid and kidneys were good. We're bringing her in for more blood work to see if it's pancreatitis. Still, she got an antibiotic shot for that regardless so I'm puzzled about the recent vomit this morning.

I will buy some wet food - thanks for the tip. Should I mix it in with hard food or go right to only wet food? She's been eating had food her whole life and I don't want to not yo eat because of the sudden change.

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Just try offering her some wet food and see if she eats it. It can be difficult to transition kibble fed cats to wet food, sometimes they don't recognize wet food as "food" so it takes some patients, but it's worth it. This is a good list of wet foods. Higher quality wet foods, ones you buy at independent pet food stores or Petco, are much better quality than anything you can find at walmart or the grocery store. You can put some kibble on top of the wet food as a "topper" to see if that helps entice her to eat. Additionally, you can buy treats like bonito flakes or freeze dried chicken treats to put those on top. 

Check that T4 level and make sure it's not grey zone. Grey zone is basically "high normal" and in older cats it can be a sign they're going into hyper-t. Def possible she's having a panc flair because of all the vomiting. 

Not on this list but foods I also like are Feline Naturals canned foods, and Weurva

http://www.naturalcatcareblog.com/2010/12/the-7-best-natural-commercial-cat-foods-so-far/

Additionally, you could offer her some meat flavored baby food to help her eat. It's not balanced so of course don't feed this long term but meat baby food is very tastey to cats and helps entice sick cats to eat. It'a also very easy to digest. Make sure it's meat and broth only, no corn starch or onions or garlic. Beech nut is really easy to find at most grocery stores or even target or walmart. 

Hi,

Just checked records and T4 and FT4 all came back normal. I emailed the vet and she said we can do more blood work, x-rays or ultrasound and still might not know what is the exact issue, which has me frustrated.

I will get wet food and hope this solves this. the only issue that came up from the blood work was high white cell blood count and the vet said was due to an infection, which she received antibiotic shot. I'm hoping this vomiting today was more hairball than stomach as she does lick her hair a lot and I do. Rush her a lot.

Sorry, I do brush her a lot.

mb2577 said:

Hi,

Just checked records and T4 and FT4 all came back normal. I emailed the vet and she said we can do more blood work, x-rays or ultrasound and still might not know what is the exact issue, which has me frustrated.

I will get wet food and hope this solves this. the only issue that came up from the blood work was high white cell blood count and the vet said was due to an infection, which she received antibiotic shot. I'm hoping this vomiting today was more hairball than stomach as she does lick her hair a lot and I do. Rush her a lot.

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It could be IBD, which is common in cats, unfortunately more common in cats that have been kibble fed for many years. Cats are obligate carnivores, so they can't digest or use things like wheat, corn, veggies, etc. which is found in all types of kibble. The best treatment for IBD (or even just vomiting when all other medical issues have been ruled out) is a bio appropriate diet, which is ideally homecooked or raw food. Here's some info. You want want to consider cooking for for her using EZcomplete. It's a pre-mix that you add to cooked or raw meat, and boom, you have perfectly balanced food! I use EZcomplete with my own crew, it's excellent, and it's helped a lot of IBD cats.

The ladies that own the company are former members here, long time raw feeders, super smart, and they'll send you a sample if you ask.

http://www.foodfurlife.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html

http://www.foodfurlife.com/my-cat-is-vomiting---what-do-i-do.html

Oh, wow. Thanks for the info. I just went to the store before I read this and got two cans of Nature Variety Instinct which came up high on the list in the link you gave me. I put some hard food on top of some and she just looked at.

I'm going to research more of IBD.

So all of the sudden a cat can get sick after years of eating hard food?

mb2577 said:

Oh, wow. Thanks for the info. I just went to the store before I read this and got two cans of Nature Variety Instinct which came up high on the list in the link you gave me. I put some hard food on top of some and she just looked at.

I'm going to research more of IBD.

So all of the sudden a cat can get sick after years of eating hard food?

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There's some studies that suggest eating kibble long term can contribute to IBD in cats, because kibble has a lot of things cats aren't designed to digest, like corn, wheat, veggies, etc. Yeah, some cats take to wet food really easily some don't. I transitioned my (then) 12.5 year old from all kibble to raw food, because he wouldn't eat any wet food. He's now 14 and he'll eat some wet food, but it took a long time to "teach" him how to eat wet food. Like your cat, he was vomiting his kibble all the time. It turns out he was hyper-t, and once he was treated for that the vomiting mostly went away, but he still has some digestive issues. However, he does much, much better on a diet of raw, freeze dried raw, and high quality canned foods. I use toppers to entice him to eat. He loves freeze dried chicken treats, bonito flakes, freeze dried salmon treats, etc. Sometimes you have to try lots of different flavors/brands too. Some cats like pate, some like gravy, some like minced, some like shreds, some only like chicken or turkey. Some cats take to homecooked or raw over canned food, too. 

I though for sure it was a thyroid issue but the vet her thyroid is fine. I looked at IBD and I think it could be the issue. I just hope to God no cancer. They vet said they didn't feel any lumps and even with additional tests might not be able to detect it. I'm going by how she looks, behaves, and right now nothing out of the ordinary.

We're going to do another round of blood work. I really hope it's the diet because of her age.

mb2577 said:

I though for sure it was a thyroid issue but the vet her thyroid is fine. I looked at IBD and I think it could be the issue. I just hope to God no cancer. They vet said they didn't feel any lumps and even with additional tests might not be able to detect it. I'm going by how she looks, behaves, and right now nothing out of the ordinary.

We're going to do another round of blood work. I really hope it's the diet because of her age.

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Good luck, be patient trying new foods. Def invest in some good quality treats to try and entice her try new foods. Whole life, Bravo, Pure Bites, and Orijen all make great freeze dried meat treats that are very enticing. 

Thanks! I had to sit with her but she ate the wet food. I'm just concerned with the vomiting.

Hi, so after two blood tests and an x ray, everything is normal. Got her on new food and today she threw up for the first time in weeks. Not sure if she ate too fast or what. Am a bit puzzled.