cat vomiting....

[m935]

My cat is 7 and in the last 2 or 3 months he has vomited his food 3 times within a few hours of eating - all of it. Just a huge clump of undigested nasty food.

He has NEVER done this before. He seems/acts healthy and normal.

What could this be? I have been spraying apple cider vinegar in his food every day.

thanks....

 

[strange_wings]

Your vet would have to help you figure this one out, ultimately. Since it's a few hours later instead of shortly after eating it sounds like a digestive problem. Do you know if when this happens whether he was running around a bunch or had gotten stressed out?

 

[otto]

I agree, this warrants a vet visit. could be a food allergy, could be hairballs could be something else.

Why are you putting vinegar on his food?

 

[kittyl0ve4]

Originally Posted by otto

.

Why are you putting vinegar on his food?

I was wondering the same thing??

 

[stephanietx]

I'm another one who is encouraging you to talk to your vet about this. It could be anything from hairballs to being allergic to a change in the way the food is made. Has anything changed within the last couple of months at your house? Have you switched foods?

 

[m935]

The vinegar is for health benefits and tick/flea prevention. Read it on internet - even on this site actually.

He DID have a hairball last night! I always give it to him a hairball remedy after he starts "coughing". Ive never seen him actually cough up a hairball though. He only attempts every so often and the gel seems to work.

But like I said - he just started throwing up lately. Although I have a dog.... and uh she got to the mess this morning before I could - so it IS very possible this happens more than Im aware of also.

OH and you know what... I did change his food. I did so over like 2 months... hes now pretty much on the new food. So could this mean that he's allergic to it and I have to switch back???

THANKS!

 

[stephanietx]

It could very well mean that something in the food is causing gas in his tummy. Pretty much the only way cats deal with a gassy tummy is by vomiting. What did you switch from and what are you feeding now?

 

[m935]

Well he had crystals like 4 years ago and was on Hills CD for awhile. Then I switched from Royal Canin (after about a year) to Purina RX. The difference in cost was the reason. But, if he is having problems because of the switch....

This would be dry food - he has done very well on purina wet food.

thanks....

 

[penstemon]

This one caught my attention. We have a similar problem with Kato, our Bengal cat. Occasionally he will vomit up his meal usually with in hour after eating. I have never seen hairballs.Usually he will be tired after eating and sleep a lot. Next meal he is fine. This last period he vomit 3 days before taking to the vet. Blood work showed one of his liver hormones was elevated. The vet put him on metoclopram and he didn't eliminated and was still vomiting. The vet changed his food to a special diet. This time he was x-rays showed he had one large gas bubble from stomach to anus. He was given fluids and an enema. Cat lax went home with him. He has been fine since we brought him back. Just before this happen this time we had odd weather low 80's and the next day it went to 105 degrees, next day back to the low 80's again. No hairballs ever seen, no answer to elevated liver hormones. My husband is again taking him for walks as not going was stressing him out. I would love to know what is happening. I am gradually putting him back on his original food giving him more of the moist food. We got another water fountain and I add ice to it each day to keep it fresh. He is drinking a lot of water.

 

[ldg]

Unfortunately, you need to get him to a vet.

I know it's expensive, but maybe you can look into care credit? There are just so many things it could be.

From your post I couldn't tell if he's eating wet food or dry food. I assume he had struvite crystals - that's what c/d used to be for. However, the formula was changed to create a neutral pH, as many cats went on to have problems with caclium oxalate crystals. Most food not technically requiring a prescription by a vet work to acidify the urine. The current thinking is if struvite crystals are still a problem, this may help - but the real goal is to keep the urine as dilute as possible, so feeding as much wet food as possible rather than dry is really the goal. That said, dry is cheaper, and when you buy wet, basically what you're paying for is a lot of water. You can take the dry prescription food and mix it with water and microwave it and turn it into wet mush.

....just a sidebar with info on how to help avoid UTI issues.

As to his tummy - when it's hairballs, they usually throw up just shortly after eating. They feel hungry, so eat the dry food, which expands in the tummy, but the hairball is blocking its passage into the normal progress of the digestive system, so they vomit up undigested food. But if this were the cause, it should not occur hours later - the food should be digested.