11-year-old Cat Threw Up, Won't Let Me Touch Her

[lisnya]

I have a cat who is about 11 years old. She's indoors-outdoors, which I -sadly- have no control over. Yesterday she came home and she's been pretty pissed ever since. She doesn't want me to pet her, even though she is normally affectionate. She also cried a bit yesterday and then she did it again today. Today the crying was followed by a bit of vomit, after which she seemed to continue to be nauseous. I'm worried that she might be in pain but I was able to get her to play with a string and she also has a healthy appetite, like always. I did change her wet food two days ago, but she's eaten the same brand before (animonda carny) and she tolerated it just fine. She also doesn't normally have trouble with new foods. Most vets here are likely to ignore me and think I'm paranoid but do you think that there is cause for concern?

Edit: she also hasn't gone outside today, which is weird because I have new fosters she doesn't want to be around.

 

[Columbine]

She sounds like she's really not right. I'd definitely get her to a vet to be checked out, especially given her age. Even if the vets DO think your being paranoid (which I doubt), you're paying the bill, and therefore they're obligated to check her over. As this started when she came back from outside, the strongest likelihood is that she came into contact with something she shouldn't have whilst she was out. It's always better to get things checked sooner rather than later

(I'm in the UK, with pretty laid back vets, so I do understand your anxiety about looking paranoid. They'll always listen to me, though, and give the cat/dog/pony a decent checking over. I'm sure your will do the same).

 

[lisnya]

Ι'm in Greece, were vets don't open until Monday. I will call but I worry they won't tell me to bring her in, that's why I asked here...

 

[lisnya]

I think that it may be a hairball that is bothering her. She has trouble with those because her fur is kinda long and by the time we noticed she wouldn't let us brush her. I can't find a vet on the phone, they tend to avoid answering during the weekend for fear of having to rush in. Is there anything I can give her? I have some laxative that vets here prescribe for cats as well, can I use it?

 

[lisnya]

I'm posting again rather than editing my post, hoping for some advice. Last night she had dinner, she tolerated that, but after that I gave her a treat, some malt paste (which I luckily bought accidentally thinking it was going to be a cheese-flavored paste I coat their pills with, lol) and she stole a tiny bit of chicken and she puked up all three of them. She even vomited twice without having eaten. She kept swallowing before, too, she must've been very nauseous, poor thing. I did find her vet, he told me to give her lactulose like I was thinking but she puked that up, too.

Then this morning I gave her wet food and, luckily, she kept it down. Then I got some vaseline, melted it and gave her 2.5 cc of it. She'd spent the whole night sitting in her favorite chair, on a pile of clothes I didn't put away because I knew I'd find her there in the morning and easily give her the vaseline, haha, and she seemed pretty miserable but now she seems better. She even asked to go outside but she didn't put up a fight at all, I said no and she went back to the couch right away. The problem is that she's been indoors for 47 hours now and she hasn't gone to the litter box yet. She eats and drinks water and grooms and plays and everything but no litter box. I'll call the vet later again and then take her there tomorrow, obviously. But shouldn't she have gone by now? She's taken two doses of malt paste, one of vaseline and one of lactulose since yesterday! Can someone tell me how long it takes for the vaseline to help, please?

I have five cats now: one is constipated, one has chronic diarrhea, one developed an allergy on some low quality wet food I had to give her when I ran out and one (the youngest, too) has a wet cough that comes and goes. At least Rojillo is healthy, at least so far, knock on wood. Such happy holidays we're all having, lol.

 

[Columbine]

Yes, she should have gone by now, especially with the malt paste/lactulose/vaseline mixture. Having said that, if she's not kept much food down then there won't be as much to come out.

If it's a hairball it sounds like a bad one I don't think there's much you can do yourself that you aren't already doing. She needs veterinary treatment, imo, so get her there in morning. As she's eating (and keeping it down now) and drinking, she should be ok to wait til morning. I'd be considering getting her seen today (as an emergency patient) though, if she were mine. Sorry I can't be of more help

 

[lisnya]

I'm considering taking her in today, too, but there are no emergency vet here and she's doing a lot better now. She's in a much better mood, she doesn't seem to be in pain, she's running around and she's very insistently asking me to let her out, which hopefully means she wants to go. I want her to stay indoors and use the litter box so I can see it, obviously, but I'm also worried about making her hold it in... I'll talk to her vet, too, and if he agrees to come and open his clinic for me, which I hope, I'll take her in today but hopefully she can wait until tomorrow. Do you know how long it takes for the malt paste and/or the vaseline to act? It's been a few hours...

 

[Columbine]

I think it depends on the cat, and what's going on inside them. I'd guess that it could be as late as this evening (or later), especially if she doesn't have as much as usual inside her.

With her wanting to go out, could you follow her and see what she does that way? Some indoor/outdoor cats are just happier doing their business outside. Just a thought.

Do keep us posted on what happens. It's always so worrying when kitties aren't well

 

[lisnya]

She is happier outside but she doesn't go to a place where I can follow, otherwise I'd do that. Maybe I need to let her out where she can also eat some grass, though and if she's constipated, we'll see it tomorrow at the vet, anyway, right? Poor thing has been growling to go out. She only goes about every other day, too, so maybe she wasn't constipated, maybe there was just a hairball somewhere in her stomach that was causing her pain and the vaseline moved it because she perked up pretty quickly after I gave it to her.

Thanks. This cat is special, too, in that she's my late brother's cat and the only kitten my first bottle baby, who died in 2012 had. I don't know how I'll cope if anything happens to her, tbh.

 

[Columbine]

It's always worrying when those extra special kitties get sick. It sounds like the vaseline may have helped a little, but like you, I'd want to keep an eye on what comes out of her for the time being. Having said that, she sounds pretty determined to go outside. Maybe let her out, and follow/observe her as best you can. If she's really desperate to go, you might get lucky with her using a more human-accessible spot

Both you and your girl are in my thoughts


One last thought - try adding a little water to her food for a few days. It can't do any harm, and the hydration boost might be welcome after all her vomiting.

 

[lisnya]

We have a huge yard in the building and there's a tall cypress tree, surrounded by tall, thick bushes and she hides underneath and fertilizes them, there's no way I'll be able to see. I've tried to follow her before, when she first started going outside, and not only did it not work, she also had plenty of words for me, lol. She started swearing at me as soon as she spotted me like a mile away.

She is finicky about food, so while it would be a good idea to add water to it, I don't think it would fly. Instead I've switched her to wet food only and I've added some pedialyte-like powder in her water. I'm considering some milk, as well, since she loves it and it doesn't hurt her. She hasn't thrown up since last night, though and -at least so far- her coat is nice and shiny, I don't think dehydration might be an issue. I am keeping an eye on her, though.

 

[Columbine]

It sounds like her outside time is definitely private in her mind Fair enough - It was just a thought

I totally get why you want to leave her food as normal too, in the circumstances. Fussy or finicky cats can be a real pain like that. I'd be tempted to hold off on the milk for now though - keep to the wet food alone, simply because you know for sure that stays down.

 

[lisnya]

Hahaha, let's say that she is... particular as a cat. She is cuddly and affectionate but she's also stubborn and she has to have things her way. And she has a big mouth, too, she doesn't growl or hiss but she has these ways of meowing and it sounds like she's hurling insults, which is hilarious. I love her to bits.

I ended up letting her go out close to dinner time, so I knew she wouldn't take long. She disappeared for a second there, which means she was fertilizing the bushes as she doesn't leave the yard, but she soon came home and she's completely back to her normal self. She played, she yelled at me, she smacked the little ones around, she yelled at my roommate and our other cat, she stole my dinner, she didn't isolate herself and she doesn't seem in pain. She also hasn't thrown up since last night, so all in order. I expect and hope that the news at the vet will be good tomorrow.

I ended up giving her some butter, too, since she does love her dairy and I'm going to need to determine whether I should keep giving her the malt paste, vaseline or a combination of the two. I always worried about her developing hairball-related issues, because she does often hack those up, I shouldn't have waited to get here before educating myself and finding a way to help her, I thought the grass would be enough. On the bright side, because I did worry about her getting impacted (I had a kitten who had a severe problem for completely unrelated reasons and it became a fear), I developed a habit of feeling for hard masses and I've never found any of those, although I have often found her claws.

Thanks for your help, Columbine!

 

[Columbine]

You're very welcome I'm really glad she's feeling more like herself again.

 

[lisnya]

We have an appointment in about an hour. She's definitely fine, though, and she even did me a favor and pooped next to the litter box today, so I know it's hers because she refuses to use a litter box that's already been used by the little ones, lol. She was definitely not constipated, I guess she was able to get rid of the hairball while she was outside. She also asked for all the cuddles she didn't get in the past few days and smacked the kittens around a lot to make up for all the days she didn't get to do it.

 

[Columbine]

What did the vet have to say? I hope all is well with your girl

Sorry to hear she beat up on disciplined the kittens a bit If it's any consolation, my girl does the same with my boys (mitigated little now by the fact that they're bigger than she is!). Some girls just like to make sure that everybody knows that they're the boss

 

[lisnya]

He couldn't find anything wrong with her. He felt her stomach and he did an ultra-sound, just to be sure, he didn't find anything. He figured it was a hairball and she got rid of it last night. He told me to keep giving her the malt paste rather than the vaseline since I have it and to plant some wheat for her. He also said that I'll need to watch her because she's going to have a harder time passing hairballs as she grows older. He also tried to suggest that I shave her but it's not possible because she goes outside and because I'm not drugging an 11-year-old cat to have her shaved, anyway.

She is not normally so mean to them, really, she actually sort of tolerates them. In fact, I even have incriminating photos of her letting them sleep on her. But right now she has all this pent up energy from her days of being sick and she's running and climbing walls to release it, so the kittens keep trying to join in but she is *not* having it, lol.

 

[Columbine]

Well, I'm glad she's ok

With hairball prevention, how is she about being brushed? Daily brushing will remove a lot of the dead/loose hair, so reducing the amount that she ingests. It is possible to shave cats without sedation (it must be, or else grooming parlour couldn't do it), but it rather depends on said cat being amenable to the procedure Brushing is definitely easier in most cases

 

[lisnya]

I try to brush her but she doesn't tolerate it very well. She won't let me get anywhere near her underside, her legs and her butt. Basically, I brush part of her back and her face, which accomplishes nothing but she likes to rub against the brush. The problem was that we took forever to figure out that she has pretty long hair because compared to her mom she looked like a shorthair. Now it's too late.

Most grooming parlors here won't accept cats at all and the ones that do usually are attached to a vet clinic, so they're able to sedate them. They won't sedate cats older than nine, usually, though. I kinda thing suggesting that we shave her was a dumb suggestion, tbh. Brushing would be great but she doesn't like her, so I guess I'll keep up the malt paste, vaseline and butter. I already planted some wheat, too, I'm going to make sure they all have access to that.

 

[Columbine]

I think cats going to grooming parlours is bigger in America than in Europe - I only mentioned it to illustrate that (in some cases at least) cats don't need sedation for shaving

I can understand the logic behind suggesting the shaving (it's actually relatively common with long haired cats, especially if they're difficult to groom or have matting issues), but I totally agree that sedating an 11 year old cat for something that isn't medically necessary isn't a great idea.

I think just keep going with the brushing, and maybe work with her to get her more tolerant of being groomed (with a good supply of her favourite treats to create positive associations with the experience). Go for several shorter grooming sessions rather than one longer one, and persevere with her. My girl's easily overstimulated by touch, so she gets lots of mini grooming sessions rather than a full body groom in one go. Older cats CAN learn to tolerate all kinds of things - it just takes longer than with kittens It'll be worth it if it stops her getting sick from hairballs again