Cat vomited undigested food, seen a vet and Neutrophils low

[TeaMatcha]

Hi all,

My cat vomited out partial undigested kibbles three hours after her lunch. Brought her to the vet and did blood test. Everything seems fine except for her Neutrophils is a little low. Doctor says that it seems as if she is having a viral infection in her guts and that could be one of the cause of why the Neutrophils is low. Organ and pancreas all normal. Red blood cell is a little high but doctor says that it could means that she's a little dehydrated due to the vomiting.

Doctor gave her an anti nausea spray to spray into her mouth if she's vomiting and to monitor it further. Doctor mentioned that it could be that she's eating too fast or too much hence the indigestion or it could be because she's running around after eating.

My cat have the tendency to run around after her lunch (4 grams of kibbles) but she seldom vomit. The only time she vomit was last Friday after she ate and ran around. But today, she ate at 10am and vomited at 1.30pm, hence I'm worried and brought her to the vet.

While at the vet clinic, I learnt that recently there's lots of sudden vomiting and diarrhoea cases that the clinic is seeing.

I'm bringing my cat back in three months to recheck on her Neutrophils to see if it's back to normal.

My questions will be:
1) What viral infection could cause the Neutrophils to be low? I understand that bone marrow issues could cause it as well hence the doctor suggested to bring my cat back in three months time to recheck on the Neutrophils. Doctor says that for the viral infection (not sure what viral infection, she does sneeze occasionally but no watery eyes or nose discharge. Maybe some stomach viral infection?), there's no antiviral medication so just let it run it course.

2) How long does it takes for kibbles to be fully digested? Three hours later of consuming the kibbles, she vomited out some partially digested kibbles.

3) Could the vomiting be due to her running around after eating? If yes, shouldn't the vomiting occur immediately? Why does it happens three hours later?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Low neutrophils can mean many things, from viral infections like FeLV or FIV, but can also be caused by stress, other types of infections/inflammation, and even a B-12 deficiency, just to name a few possibilities. If the vet wants to recheck it in 3 months, the count must not be terribly low, so that is good.

If your cat swallows kibble whole, it will take longer for the food to be digested, so I suppose in some cases it is reasonable to assume it could still be at least partially undigested after 3 hours. I guess it would be possible for her to vomit due to running around after eating, but I tend to agree with you that it would seem that would cause her to throw up more closely to when she ate.

I would try to feed her less at one time (but more often, so the overall amount is the same) or use a slow feeder dish so that she eats more slowly and see if either help reduce the vomiting incidents. You can even use a golf, or similar type, ball to place in her dish so that she has to eat around it, which would slow her down a bit.

If there is a particular meal that she tends to vomit after, it could be tied to the length of time that has passed since her previous meal. Stomach acids can build up and cause stomach upset, which can lead to vomiting.

 

[TeaMatcha]

Hi. Low neutrophils can mean many things, from viral infections like FeLV or FIV, but can also be caused by stress, other types of infections/inflammation, and even a B-12 deficiency, just to name a few possibilities. If the vet wants to recheck it in 3 months, the count must not be terribly low, so that is good.

If your cat swallows kibble whole, it will take longer for the food to be digested, so I suppose in some cases it is reasonable to assume it could still be at least partially undigested after 3 hours. I guess it would be possible for her to vomit due to running around after eating, but I tend to agree with you that it would seem that would cause her to throw up more closely to when she ate.

I would try to feed her less at one time (but more often, so the overall amount is the same) or use a slow feeder dish so that she eats more slowly and see if either help reduce the vomiting incidents. You can even use a golf, or similar type, ball to place in her dish so that she has to eat around it, which would slow her down a bit.

If there is a particular meal that she tends to vomit after, it could be tied to the length of time that has passed since her previous meal. Stomach acids can build up and cause stomach upset, which can lead to vomiting.

Here's her result for the Neutrophils thanks for the reply. I'm feeding her 12 grams kibbles with freeze dried chicken added up to 15 grams for breakfast around 3.30am. She will eat half, walk around and come back for the other half later on, but she will definitely finish it by 5.30am.

For her lunch, it'll be 4 grams kibbles that'll dispense from the automatic feeding machine at 10am.

Dinner time will be at 6.30pm when I'm back from work. Dinner will definitely be wet food. As she doesn't like wet food, she will always only finish half or 3/4 of it. Around 8.30pm, we will give her some kibbles with freeze dried chicken again.

Not sure if this timing doesn't work for her but it has been a year plus since we stick to this routine.

I'm thinking to reduce the amounts of kibbles for her breakfast to 10 grams instead and for lunch it'll be reduced to 3 grams instead.

I'm not too sure if I should readjust her lunch feeding time from 10am to 9am. For lunch, she don't seems as enthusiastic for it, when the automatic machine dispense the kibbles, she will rather sleep instead of getting up to eat. Hence I'm not sure if she'll eat the food if I change the timing to 9am.

Please ignore the low platelets count as the doctor retested it earlier on, just to be on the safe side, her platelets is on the normal range.

 

[FeebysOwner]

The only real spread between meals is the one from 10A to 6:30P, but it doesn't sound like that is when she is throwing up. So, you are going to give her less food on the assumption she is eating too much? How is her weight?

If there is a variation in proteins/flavors that you feed her, the next thing to check is what she is eating when she throws up to see if there is any correlation.

If you have past blood work records, you can compare them to see if she runs on the lower side with neutrophils all the time, or if you see a trend downward over a period of time. If the latter, that might be worth sharing with your vet. Most vets will compare the most current blood work to the previous one, but I don't think it is common that they compare many past results unless they are looking for a trend.

 

[TeaMatcha]

The only real spread between meals is the one from 10A to 6:30P, but it doesn't sound like that is when she is throwing up. So, you are going to give her less food on the assumption she is eating too much? How is her weight?

If there is a variation in proteins/flavors that you feed her, the next thing to check is what she is eating when she throws up to see if there is any correlation.

If you have past blood work records, you can compare them to see if she runs on the lower side with neutrophils all the time, or if you see a trend downward over a period of time. If the latter, that might be worth sharing with your vet. Most vets will compare the most current blood work to the previous one, but I don't think it is common that they compare many past results unless they are looking for a trend.

Yup, that wasn't when she's throwing up. I'm not too sure if her running away crazily or drinking too much water a few hours after lunch could be the cause of the vomiting or no There isn't any variation as her lunch and breakfast consist of the same things which is sciene diet kibbles and freeze dried chicken. It's just the grams given to her that's different. Breakfast will be 12 grams kibbles as she's the more hungry during that timing and lunch will be 4 grams kibbles as she wants to sleep through the whole day so she doesn't seems so excited for lunch. Sometimes she can takes up to 1.5 hours to finish that 4 grams. My concept for lunch is for her to at least have some food in her tummy while she waits for me to get home to feed her dinner. Last time, we used to not give her lunch but her gastric couldn't take it and ended up vomiting clear liquid which doctor diagnosed it as gastritis.

Anyway, after looking through her previous blood test, her NEU results was 3.06 (2.30 - 10.29 K/UL) on June 2023. Current is 1.97 (2.30 - 10.29 K/UL). Her NEU on July 2022 was 2.24 (2.30 - 10.29 K/UL), which was indicated as low by her regular doc. Her doc mentioned it last year that it's fine for the NEU to be low. But this current new doc that's covering to her regular doc says that it's not a concern for now but it means something is going on such as viral infection.

On November 2021, her NEU is within normal range. It's 3.99.

Her platelets always seems to be on the near low range (it's within normal range but on the lower side), is there any way for it to be increase?

I guess I'm just don't understand what's wrong with my cat as her bloodtest shows that everything is fine. Pancreas is normal, kidney/liver/protein/blood sugar, all seems normal and yet she's vomiting.

 

[TeaMatcha]

The only real spread between meals is the one from 10A to 6:30P, but it doesn't sound like that is when she is throwing up. So, you are going to give her less food on the assumption she is eating too much? How is her weight?

If there is a variation in proteins/flavors that you feed her, the next thing to check is what she is eating when she throws up to see if there is any correlation.

If you have past blood work records, you can compare them to see if she runs on the lower side with neutrophils all the time, or if you see a trend downward over a period of time. If the latter, that might be worth sharing with your vet. Most vets will compare the most current blood work to the previous one, but I don't think it is common that they compare many past results unless they are looking for a trend.

She's weighting at 4.3kg. 2 years old, turning 3 on April 2024.

I'm not sure if I gave her too many food or no, hence I'm thinking to try and reduce a gram or two from her breakfast and lunch to see if that helps.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I am not a vet but wonder if there is really any true connection between the low neutrophil count and the vomiting. Both a low neu count and lowered platelets can be related to auto-immune disorders, and/or viral conditions such as FeLV and FIV, but I am not sure if these numbers would bounce around depending on if there is a flare up of a viral condition. And I don't think for the most part that off-n-on vomiting is a common side effect.

I would focus more on the food for a possible cause for the vomiting. You might also ask the vet if your cat might be heading toward another bout of gastritis, or a lesser version of it - and if that can affect neutrophils. Perhaps something like gastritis can trigger a viral flare up? Also, find out what kinds of viral conditions your vet thinks might be involved, and if there is any testing that could be done to confirm or rule them out.

You might also look into immune boosters for your cat if there is a viral condition going on. I know one that is touted on this site is DMG (N-Dimethylglycine). I don't believe they would be harmful to a cat regardless of their immune system.
Amazon.com : VETRISCIENCE Vetri DMG Liquid, 30mL Dropper - Supports Immune System, Stamina, Skin Irritation, Watery Eyes, and Performance for Dogs and Cats : Pet Antioxidant Nutritional Supplements : Pet Supplies

 

[TeaMatcha]

I am not a vet but wonder if there is really any true connection between the low neutrophil count and the vomiting. Both a low neu count and lowered platelets can be related to auto-immune disorders, and/or viral conditions such as FeLV and FIV, but I am not sure if these numbers would bounce around depending on if there is a flare up of a viral condition. And I don't think for the most part that off-n-on vomiting is a common side effect.

I would focus more on the food for a possible cause for the vomiting. You might also ask the vet if your cat might be heading toward another bout of gastritis, or a lesser version of it - and if that can affect neutrophils. Perhaps something like gastritis can trigger a viral flare up? Also, find out what kinds of viral conditions your vet thinks might be involved, and if there is any testing that could be done to confirm or rule them out.

You might also look into immune boosters for your cat if there is a viral condition going on. I know one that is touted on this site is DMG (N-Dimethylglycine). I don't believe they would be harmful to a cat regardless of their immune system.
Amazon.com : VETRISCIENCE Vetri DMG Liquid, 30mL Dropper - Supports Immune System, Stamina, Skin Irritation, Watery Eyes, and Performance for Dogs and Cats : Pet Antioxidant Nutritional Supplements : Pet Supplies

She's Felv and FIV negative. Tested her when she's so months old and retested her last year too. Actually there seems to be a lot of digestive issues in cats nowadays, at least in Singapore. Met quite a number of owners with the same issues with their cats. I gave her lactulose earlier on as she have some left over from her previous vet visit. Her poop seems to be hard and passing very little by little since last week hence I gave her some lactulose to see if that will helps her feel better. No vomiting for today