My cat has been sick twice today.... never in two years!

kathy14

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 1, 2005
Messages
121
Purraise
1
Location
Mississauga, Canada
Hi all,

I am new to this site and I love it already. I was reading posts for the last few days as a guest and got some great ideas about integrating a new kitten (Callie, 3 month old female Calico) into our family (me, husband and Tigger, our 3 year old female tabby - spayed). But today I came here for a different problem, or it could be related... I really have no idea.

My apologies... I'm going to provide a lot of information in the hopes that someone can be in a good position to provide advice.

Tigger has never been sick in the 2.5 years we've had her, and she's never had hairballs either. She is very skittish with a new kitty in the house (it's been 10 days since Callie came home). They are only together twice a day right now and that's for feedings and treats. Callie lives in a separate room behind a glass door where her and Tigger can see each other. We tried letting Callie out to play a few times but Tigger gets really scared... Any sudden movement by Callie freaked her out and she would hiss and swipe at the kitten, so we slowed down the introduction process.

Tigger is a 'free feed' cat... she eats very small amounts at a time so it has made more sense for us to let her eat whenever she likes. Also, she was a starving street kitty when we got her and she seems to get stressed if there is not food available, whether she wants it at the time or not. So, there is always a bowl of food for her in the kitchen. Because of this, I couldn't feed her and the kitten at the same time since Tigger isn't interested in food at a given point in time. Instead, I've been feeding Callie her breakfast and at the same time giving Tigger a small portion of Tuna (canned in water, flaked), which she loves. We've been giving Tigger Tuna for 7 days each morning.

This morning at 6am Tigger threw up in two locations (on the carpet, of course). The joint feeding is at 7am each day, so this was prior to her daily treat of Tuna. She seemed fine all morning, although has been a little more cuddly than normal. I was preparing breakfast and Tigger was crying for her Tuna so I did the same thing as normal, only I gave her a little less than usual (she seemed a little mad about that). Now it is 2pm and I just found another two locations of fresh vomit, near the (now cleaned) locations where she threw up this morning.

I'm not sure what to do. Is it the Tuna? Stress from the new kitty? Why 10 days after the kitty and 7 days after she started having daily Tuna? I'm a loss for what to do. She doesn't seem dehydrated... I keep checking for that. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!
 

journey

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jun 20, 2005
Messages
500
Purraise
2
Location
Vancouver, Canada
Originally Posted by kathy14

Hi all,

I am new to this site and I love it already. I was reading posts for the last few days as a guest and got some great ideas about integrating a new kitten (Callie, 3 month old female Calico) into our family (me, husband and Tigger, our 3 year old female tabby - spayed). But today I came here for a different problem, or it could be related... I really have no idea.

My apologies... I'm going to provide a lot of information in the hopes that someone can be in a good position to provide advice.

Tigger has never been sick in the 2.5 years we've had her, and she's never had hairballs either. She is very skittish with a new kitty in the house (it's been 10 days since Callie came home). They are only together twice a day right now and that's for feedings and treats. Callie lives in a separate room behind a glass door where her and Tigger can see each other. We tried letting Callie out to play a few times but Tigger gets really scared... Any sudden movement by Callie freaked her out and she would hiss and swipe at the kitten, so we slowed down the introduction process.

Tigger is a 'free feed' cat... she eats very small amounts at a time so it has made more sense for us to let her eat whenever she likes. Also, she was a starving street kitty when we got her and she seems to get stressed if there is not food available, whether she wants it at the time or not. So, there is always a bowl of food for her in the kitchen. Because of this, I couldn't feed her and the kitten at the same time since Tigger isn't interested in food at a given point in time. Instead, I've been feeding Callie her breakfast and at the same time giving Tigger a small portion of Tuna (canned in water, flaked), which she loves. We've been giving Tigger Tuna for 7 days each morning.

This morning at 6am Tigger threw up in two locations (on the carpet, of course). The joint feeding is at 7am each day, so this was prior to her daily treat of Tuna. She seemed fine all morning, although has been a little more cuddly than normal. I was preparing breakfast and Tigger was crying for her Tuna so I did the same thing as normal, only I gave her a little less than usual (she seemed a little mad about that). Now it is 2pm and I just found another two locations of fresh vomit, near the (now cleaned) locations where she threw up this morning.

I'm not sure what to do. Is it the Tuna? Stress from the new kitty? Why 10 days after the kitty and 7 days after she started having daily Tuna? I'm a loss for what to do. She doesn't seem dehydrated... I keep checking for that. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!
Is she going to the bathroom and drinking and eating otherwise?

If she throws up again, I would probably take her to the vet. If she doesn't throw up again, I would probably stop feeding her the tuna.

I would say probably stress and tuna combined, but you never know, so if more vomiting occurs, I would rather be safe than sorry and bring her to the vet.

But I don't have much experience, so perhaps get some more advice from different people.....If you call your vet, they are most likely to say "just bring her in".
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

kathy14

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 1, 2005
Messages
121
Purraise
1
Location
Mississauga, Canada
Journey - thanks for your response. All morning and into the early afternoon that day Tigger was not herself... I could tell she wasn't feeling well. But by dinnertime she had perked up, played with me a bit, etc. She was acting normal in the evening as well, using the litter, appetite came back, drank lots of water, etc. So I felt much better!!

This morning at 6am I found one very small patch of vomit in the same location of the others. This time it was mainly unchewed dry food... I think she ate too fast (my cat when I was growing up used to do that every now and again)

Since then she's been doing really well. Just in case it's the tuna, this morning she got a tiny dish of cat milk at our regular feeding time... I decided not to give her tuna but she was prancing around while I was preparing Callie's breakfast so I had to give her something!!

I think she's fine and I'm not really worried anymore. But if there are any more patches of vomit tomorrow morning then I'm calling the vet!

Cheers, Kathy
 

arwen

TCS Member
Kitten
Joined
Jul 3, 2005
Messages
12
Purraise
1
Location
Tennessee
Originally Posted by kathy14

Journey - thanks for your response. All morning and into the early afternoon that day Tigger was not herself... I could tell she wasn't feeling well. But by dinnertime she had perked up, played with me a bit, etc. She was acting normal in the evening as well, using the litter, appetite came back, drank lots of water, etc. So I felt much better!!

This morning at 6am I found one very small patch of vomit in the same location of the others. This time it was mainly unchewed dry food... I think she ate too fast (my cat when I was growing up used to do that every now and again)

Since then she's been doing really well. Just in case it's the tuna, this morning she got a tiny dish of cat milk at our regular feeding time... I decided not to give her tuna but she was prancing around while I was preparing Callie's breakfast so I had to give her something!!

I think she's fine and I'm not really worried anymore. But if there are any more patches of vomit tomorrow morning then I'm calling the vet!

Cheers, Kathy
I am glad your kitty is doing better, in my experience, sometimes if there is a new cat in the house, they'll gobble up what they can, afraid the other cat is going to get all thier food. Maybe she just ate too quickly, which made her throw up. Just an idea.
 

jennyr

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 6, 2004
Messages
13,348
Purraise
593
Location
The Land of Cheese
Daily tuna is a very rich diet and I would guess that that has something to do with it. I would not feed straight tuna more than once or twice a month. It does not contain all the nutrients that cats need either.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7

kathy14

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 1, 2005
Messages
121
Purraise
1
Location
Mississauga, Canada
Journey - thanks for checking up on Tigger. And jennranson - it seems your theory could be right on.

Tigger had another day of throwing up so we called the vet and took her in. They checked her out... she's not dehydrated, no fever, and she doesn't seem as if she's not feeling well. They took blood for testing and will call me with results today if there's something wrong.

Tigger loves Tuna but has only ever had it in very small amounts before (a few flakes as a treat). The vet thinks that Tigger may not have the required enzymes to break down and digest the proteins found large amounts of pure Tuna so she's been getting sick. We put her on a sensitivity food yesterday and she had no Tuna... she wasn't sick last night or this morning.

The vet suggested that we slowly move her back to her regular food. And then after that, we can give her Tuna as a treat when the other cat is around and they are interacting well together, because she has responded really well to that. But, this should only in very small treat portions, not as a breakfast portion. I'm not sure if I'll do that yet, but if not, I'll need to find something else she loves as a treat!!

Cheers, Kathy
 
Top