Getting desperate--kitty won't stop vomiting

xinaangel

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Hi All--

It's starting to feel like I've tried everything, and I'm getting very very worried about my cat, Bear. She started vomiting profusely in September of 2016--like every couple hours for a few of days until we took her to the vet. They gave her fluids, did blood and urine tests, and an x-ray. Of course, everything came up normal. She hadn't lost any weight from her prior regular visit.

They recommended hydrolized protein diet, I ignored them, because I don't see how that will do anything for her. So many forums now are talking about no kibble--cats need high quality wet food diets, so I wanted to move in that direction. Many forums seem to call into question the quality of the prescription diets, and there just isn't enough information out there for me to really know.

I tried to start feeding wet foods, but my cat was addicted to her Natural Balance she's eaten her whole life. I feed my chihuahuas Wellness and Wellness Core, and they seem to respond really well, so I thought I'd pick up Core for her (for cats obviously) with something other than the chicken protein she's been eating her whole life. I tried transitioning her for a month, but she despised it so much. She would eat when she absolutely had to, but would never seem happy about it. I finally gave up and then gave her Blue Buffalo sensitive stomach formula (it did have some chicken protein in it, but I wanted to get her to eat). No transition, just gave it to her. She liked it immediately and was fine for about a month.

It's now December, and Bear starts vomiting profusely again. We took her back to the vet who said they want to re-do the blood test and now do a $400 ultrasound too. She still hasn't lost any weight, and at every visit the vets seem to think that her exam make sure her look very healthy otherwise--skin, coat, eyes, weight, temperature, no lumps, etc. My husband wants to wait on these procedures because he feels that if it's dietary, we are just wasting more money. I get it. So we get her an anti nausea shot, 4 days of anti-nausea pills and are told to give her 5mg a day of Pepcid a/c. The vet also suggested completely switching protein and going to a more limited diet. I suggested duck, but she said she'd rather I stay away from birds altogether for now, so we agree to give her venison--I bought Natural Balance LID. Bear ate it immediately, and I hoped taking the Pepcid for a while would help her recover.

We give her Pepcid and the venison kibble for about a month, then tried to stop giving her Pepcid. She got extremely ill again, and I felt we had got to get more radical--I don't really want my cat to be on Pepcid forever in order to not throw up. Also, if she didn't eat the Pepcid on time every day, she would throw up immediately at about the 24 hour mark once it wore off. This really freaked me out and led to decision to just radically change her diet.

I started reading up on and letting her taste different high-quality wet foods, and we decided on Instinct, both the rabbit and lamb formulas. We initially tried freeze dried (add water) for a couple days, and she hated it a lot. I could go to raw/frozen, but it is SO expensive, and I don't know if that will solve the problem. Instinct seems worlds above giving her dry kibble, and the ingredients appear to be more wholesome than even many of the other wet foods out there... I added Vetriscience mega probiotic which had many excellent reviews from other frustrated pet guardians like me who said it completely changed their cat.

She really started to seem like herself again, more energy and playtime, lounging on her favorite cat tree again instead of following me everywhere and begging to be held. We still did not take her off Pepcid though. It has been about two and a half weeks, and despite positive behavior signs, now she is throwing up even WITH the Pepcid.

I am at a loss. All I can think is maybe she needs to get the ultrasound? I'm not entirely sure what we are looking for if we do it or what we will do about it. The vets are always quite vague. Or does she need human grade food? Could she be allergic to her cat litter? Should I just stick with it and hope it still clears up? I just don't know. We have no houseplants, nothing scented in my house, no carpets. Bear is 6 years old, spayed tortie cat.

Does anybody have ideas? It makes me sick to see her like this. My husband is frustrated with sleep loss--he thinks people's cats were less ill when we were growing up and most people were still feeding cats Meow Mix. He's willing to do these dietary changes for Bear with me, but I'm running out of ideas. Any thoughts are much appreciated. Thank you
 

abyeb

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What is the nature of the vomiting? Is it actual vomiting (your cat is taking effort to bring the food back up) or regurgitating (your cat opens her mouth and the food just comes back up)? How far after meals does she vomit? Is the food completely, partially, or not at all digested? Is there blood in the vomit? Does it look like coffee grounds? Does the vomit appear right in front of Bear or does it travel in an arch? Does she vomit even if she hasn't eaten recently (i.e., vomiting bile) I think a barium test would be useful... has your vet done that for you yet?
 
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xinaangel

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Thank you. She was vomiting bile when she was extremely ill, vomiting several times a day, but not anymore. Since I switched her to wet food, it's now about once a day, still only vomit, no diarrhea. She retches and makes heaving sounds for about 30 seconds before it comes up. She usually does it when she wakes up in the middle of the night, so it seems fairly urgent when it happens.
It's medium to dark brown, but it doesn't look bloody to me. I'm less accustomed to what this vomit looks like since she used to eat kibbles and doesn't anymore. It seems like she's doing it maybe 4 hours since her last meal. It seems at least partially digested, and it does travel in an arch when it happens. No barium test has been suggested by the vet.
 
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xinaangel

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What is the nature of the vomiting? Is it actual vomiting (your cat is taking effort to bring the food back up) or regurgitating (your cat opens her mouth and the food just comes back up)? How far after meals does she vomit? Is the food completely, partially, or not at all digested? Is there blood in the vomit? Does it look like coffee grounds? Does the vomit appear right in front of Bear or does it travel in an arch? Does she vomit even if she hasn't eaten recently (i.e., vomiting bile) I think a barium test would be useful... has your vet done that for you yet?
Thank you. She was vomiting bile when she was extremely ill, vomiting several times a day, but not anymore. Since I switched her to wet food, it's now about once a day, still only vomit, no diarrhea. She retches and makes heaving sounds for about 30 seconds before it comes up. She usually does it when she wakes up in the middle of the night, so it seems fairly urgent when it happens.
It's medium to dark brown, but it doesn't look bloody to me. I'm less accustomed to what this vomit looks like since she used to eat kibbles and doesn't anymore. It seems like she's doing it maybe 4 hours since her last meal. It seems at least partially digested, and it does travel in an arch when it happens. No barium test has been suggested by the vet.
 

abyeb

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If it travels in an arch, it could be pyloric stenosis, a narrowing of the opening between the stomach and the small intestine. Ask your vet about the possibility of a barium test, barium is used as a tracer so your vet can track how food would move through her digestive system and where the problem area would be.
 
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