Cat keeps throwing up - 2 weeks now

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum but sure glad that I found it. My wife and I have 3 cats that own US! The first one is the mother cat (Coolio-8yo), her sons Charcoal and Bud (5yo). We recently built a new house so before we moved in we decided to have the cats declawed (Laser Surgery), since they are inside ONLY cats, a week before we moved to the new house. They were all declawed, tested for diseases and Coolio had to have a tooth removed. When we brought them home to the old house we had to feed Coolio special wet cat food because of her tooth, which all the cats loved to eat. Charcoal started acting very strange the minute we brought him home though and was very angry with everything and every. I mean he was even hissing and growling at boxes and chairs! We figured he was just scared. He then started vomiting once to twice a day. Again we figured it was stress from the declaw and the change in cat food. We decided to move into our new house anyways and he kept vomiting but for the last week it has only been white foamy vomit and at least 6-7 times a day. We took him to the vet who ran some tests, performed and enema, took exrays to determine the state of his digestive tracts. He wasn't able to find anything and Charcoal never threw up once in the over 24 hours that he was at the vet. So they told me to keep an eye on him. The minute I brought him home he ran downstairs and threw up some more white foamy liquid. He then proceeded to eat the NEW special cat food that the vet perscribed and again threw that up within just a few minutes. The vet would now like us to bring him back in tomorrow if he continues to throw up tonight, which is very likely, for some blood work and possible invasive surgery.

Can anyone help me with this or has anyone been threw this before. My wife and I are not able to have kids so these are our babies!

Did you change the food slowly? Or did you do it right away? Thats gonna be one thing upseting the cat and could very much so cause vomitting. If the vet did xrays I assume they didnt find anything like string, ect that could be causeing it.

That is alot of stress for a cat to over take at once, declaw (i am against..but i wont go into that as its not what you asked) than moving, and changeing food ect.

My instinct is its the major stress. But..def would call for another trip to the vet..if theres still vomitting. At least for some liquids.

I don't know I mean, the cats went through a LOT. A new home, a visit to the vet AND declawed on top of it all. I would have waited until you moved and they settled in to do all that personally. I would not have declawed them though, that is such a horrible thing to put them through, I am sure this one is just taking it especially badly, especially after 5 years of having claws, he is probably shocked and confused and wondering why he can't stretch properly anymore and that is just throwing everything else off, like his eating habits. Declawing has so many bad results, many cats become biters afterwards, watch in your 8 year old cat especially. I thought most vets didn't do it in older cats like that. Sorry if that is a bit harsh but that is the reality. This site is against declawing and many are used to talking people out of declawing their cats.

Maybe try taking the sickie back to the vet again? Throwing up too much will just dehydrate the cat and they go downhill so fast after that. Change in food has a lot to do with it too, so that on top of everything else, his system is a little messed up right now.

Foamy throw up could be worms or an obstruction so might want to look into another vet if this one isn't helping much.

This sounds very serious. Throwing up, like it is with humans, is a serious sign if it is constant and not normal looking (foamy in this case.) I agree, if this vet can't come up with anything I'd find another-- get another opinion.

I don't want to get into "what it could be" since you have a vet and the vet doesn't know.

But, since your kitty is throwing up, his digestive system is taking a beating and he may be losing nutritional value. Ask your vet about giving him something to help with the nutrition. I've no suggestions, I used to use pediasure and w/d for kittens with digestive problems/nutrition problems but they didn't vomit, and since your kitty is, asking is the only safe way to go.

I hope Charcoal feels better soon.

Thanks everyone for the helpful feedback. The vet had performed a "Barrium" (Sp?) on Charcoal. It appears that everything has passed through his system and he is feeling much better. The other change that we made was to bottled water and that seemed to help too. He is currently on the w/d or i/d, I can't recall at the moment. But he has only thrown up once since then. So it was either the cat food, barrium or the bottled water. I think we'll stick with the bottled water for all of our cats and see how that works out while we slowly switch them back to their normal food.

I can totally relate - my cat, Julius, is going through the exact same thing. It looks to be something to do with the liver, but I can't really afford further testing or surgery/hospitalization if it requires that. Julius does seem to be doing better, so I'm keeping him under close watch for the next few days, and hope that it's just an acute liver irritation of sorts...

Hope Charcoal gets well soon!

-Mike

I feel your pain! My older cat, Callie, would throw up for no apparent reason for the longest time. Many trips to the vet showed nothing wrong, so we were getting very frustrated. Turned out she's sensitive to most kind of fish-based foods! So now she only gets chicken, turkey, and beef-based canned foods. She can't even have fish-flavored treats! However, she can handle a pinch of canned tuna every once in awhile.

Hope the change in food helps your little guy!

Stephanie

If the vet does rule out other reasons, it's very possible that the stress from declawing could be part of the cause. Declawing cat be traumatic, and its not uncommon for a cat's personality to be completely changed afterwards.

You did what you had to do, you know not all of us believe in it. But whatever your reasons, you do need to understand (not as an argument against it, but just so you understand the stress that it could cause, laser or not) that declawing a cat is equivalent to someone cutting off the tips of all your fingers. Whatever the procedure, it's the after effects that cause most of the stress and pain. Going through that would make you stressed out too, so you need extra patience with them right now. Add to that the moving.


You might try feeding them smaller meals a few times a day so their stomachs might get less upset. Also, if they're not that fond of the food you're giving them, they might throw up for that reason also. I had a cat once who would throw up that foamy white stuff if I didn't feed him exactly on time. It was a reminder (again, this is based on the vet not finding any phsyical reason for it).

Avoid fish types, beef, and stay with chicken flavors for a while. Any cat food with rice in it is also easier on their stomaches (I was told this by a vet).

Also try putting a bit of olive oil (maybe half a teaspoon) in their food, or put a little softened butter on your finger and let them lick it off 2 or 3 times a week. It might sooth their intenstinal passages (and is good for hairballs and their coats).

Good luck.

My cat Katie has been throwing up now for some time. It started with the occasional clear vomit, then it became tinged pink, sometimes foamy. Sometimes it is pink and occasionally there are strands of bright red. I have been to 2 vets who both gave her clavomox, one with vitamins, one with no vitamins. She is getting weaker and I don't know what to do. She is 13 and I am so worried. She is second only to my husband. Any ideas?