I had a similar experience a few weeks ago with one of my 10 year old cats, Lion, that might provide you with another option to explore.
Your poor kitty has had some pretty stressful experiences with her earlier injuries. It may be that something is happening to her now because of those injuries. When she was vomiting did the vet take any x-rays?
The reason I ask is that Lion started vomiting as well, so badly that he wasn't able to keep anything down. I took him to the vets who thought it might be a hairball that had moved into the intestines so was slowing down the processing of his digestive system. We gave him lactullos and laxanip to try and get the hairball/stool to move. Lion has suffered from constipation before, and one of the symptoms of severe constipation is vomiting - there is nowhere else for the food to go except back up the route it came.
A day later he stopped vomiting but also stopped trying to eat and became extremely lethargic. Another trip to the vets, and this time she took x-rays. His colon was completely full - no room for anything else! She gave him an enema and nothing happened. She gave him another and the colon began to empty. It took several hours. He came home on an appetite stimulant, an anti-nausea drug and metronidizole. He ate and kept it down, but he was still very uncomfortable around his tail and rear end, more so than just from having the enema. We had noticed on the xrays the year before when he was constipated that he had arthritis in his spine along with several processes that had 'cracked' due to the arthritis. I asked the vet to check his spine in these new xrays and yes, it appeared that the arthritis had got worse. Because of this, the vet determined that his full colon put pressure on the nerves that came out of the spinal cord around his hips and tail so that it hurt too much for him to have a bowel movement - and he didn't. He held it in, thus becoming constipated, which then led to the vomiting.
The vet felt that a pain killer might be useful, and while there is a lot of controversy with the use of metacam (an NSAID), we felt that it was a worthwhile risk because he appeared to be in such pain and was definitely not a happy animal. Lion is a 16 1/2 lb Maine Coon so she started him on a small dose of .14 ml for 2 days then .07 ml 3 times a week afterwards. The side effects (kidney damage) have been noticed at higher dosages so she hoped that these lower dosages would be enough to help the pain but not trigger the negative kidney responses cats have to NSAIDs. Well, within a day Lion was back to his old self. I can't believe the difference and realize that he must have been in pain with the arthritis for a while as he is now much more active and playful and runs around again like he used to do. His 'old 'personality has returned rather than the quieter, withdrawn one he had become. Fortunately, he seems to be handling the Metacam well, although we are checking kidney function on a regular basis. He is also receiving a stool softener - 1/8th tsp of miralax mixed into his food once a day so he isn't getting constipated and is having regular bowel movements. He also hasn't vomited since.
The reason for my story is to suggest that perhaps due to her prior injuries your cat has pain issues in her spine, possibly arthritis, that are affecting her digestive system. If she is getting constipated and not having regular bowel movements because it hurts for her to go, then she could be vomiting because the colon is full and stool isn't moving through as regularly as it should.
Of course, it may not be what is causing her vomiting, but it is something to consider as a possibility and investigate. I would not be at all surprised if she doesn't have some sort of arthritis issues due to her earlier injuries.
Good luck!
Your poor kitty has had some pretty stressful experiences with her earlier injuries. It may be that something is happening to her now because of those injuries. When she was vomiting did the vet take any x-rays?
The reason I ask is that Lion started vomiting as well, so badly that he wasn't able to keep anything down. I took him to the vets who thought it might be a hairball that had moved into the intestines so was slowing down the processing of his digestive system. We gave him lactullos and laxanip to try and get the hairball/stool to move. Lion has suffered from constipation before, and one of the symptoms of severe constipation is vomiting - there is nowhere else for the food to go except back up the route it came.
A day later he stopped vomiting but also stopped trying to eat and became extremely lethargic. Another trip to the vets, and this time she took x-rays. His colon was completely full - no room for anything else! She gave him an enema and nothing happened. She gave him another and the colon began to empty. It took several hours. He came home on an appetite stimulant, an anti-nausea drug and metronidizole. He ate and kept it down, but he was still very uncomfortable around his tail and rear end, more so than just from having the enema. We had noticed on the xrays the year before when he was constipated that he had arthritis in his spine along with several processes that had 'cracked' due to the arthritis. I asked the vet to check his spine in these new xrays and yes, it appeared that the arthritis had got worse. Because of this, the vet determined that his full colon put pressure on the nerves that came out of the spinal cord around his hips and tail so that it hurt too much for him to have a bowel movement - and he didn't. He held it in, thus becoming constipated, which then led to the vomiting.
The vet felt that a pain killer might be useful, and while there is a lot of controversy with the use of metacam (an NSAID), we felt that it was a worthwhile risk because he appeared to be in such pain and was definitely not a happy animal. Lion is a 16 1/2 lb Maine Coon so she started him on a small dose of .14 ml for 2 days then .07 ml 3 times a week afterwards. The side effects (kidney damage) have been noticed at higher dosages so she hoped that these lower dosages would be enough to help the pain but not trigger the negative kidney responses cats have to NSAIDs. Well, within a day Lion was back to his old self. I can't believe the difference and realize that he must have been in pain with the arthritis for a while as he is now much more active and playful and runs around again like he used to do. His 'old 'personality has returned rather than the quieter, withdrawn one he had become. Fortunately, he seems to be handling the Metacam well, although we are checking kidney function on a regular basis. He is also receiving a stool softener - 1/8th tsp of miralax mixed into his food once a day so he isn't getting constipated and is having regular bowel movements. He also hasn't vomited since.
The reason for my story is to suggest that perhaps due to her prior injuries your cat has pain issues in her spine, possibly arthritis, that are affecting her digestive system. If she is getting constipated and not having regular bowel movements because it hurts for her to go, then she could be vomiting because the colon is full and stool isn't moving through as regularly as it should.
Of course, it may not be what is causing her vomiting, but it is something to consider as a possibility and investigate. I would not be at all surprised if she doesn't have some sort of arthritis issues due to her earlier injuries.
Good luck!
