Has anyone else had a cat with chronic vomiting?

[KittyKat99]

My cat recently turned 11 and started vomiting 6 months ago. No diagnosis yet. She usually vomits every 3 days. Though she occasionally has bad days where she vomits 5 times in one day. Sometimes she vomits up her food soon after eating but other times it's just a small amount of bile or something because it's 12 hours after she just ate.
She still has a big appetite. In fact she eats way more. But she has gotten so skinny. She used to weigh 4.5kg and now she's only 3.3kg.
She was at the vet yesterday and they cleaned her teeth and pulled out one of her fangs that had broken off a while ago and was rotting. She did a vomit this morning though. I'm hoping it's just from the drugs in her system but it's looking like the vomiting isn't from her dental issues.
They also did a full blood test which I'll hear the results of at an appointment next week. (She had a blood test in March and they said they were great, "surprisingly good for a cat her age"). But I've switched vets and this vet is making sure she checks the boxes so they give results for thyroid, cholesterol and all the optional things vets can ask when sending out blood test to the lab.
Oh and she stopped eating biscuits a few months ago. I wonder if she will start eating then again soon now her teeth are fixed.
I'm interested to hear if anyone else has had this problem with their cat and what the diagnosis ended up being. I'm worried she has cancer.

 

[LTS3]

Ask the vet about the possibility of IBD or other gastrointestinal issue. Those are common in senior cats and won't show up on blood work. IBD and many gastrointestinal issues can be managed with diet and medicine. If it's cancer, there is a chemo drug you can give. Here's some info about the differences between IBD and cancer: IBD or Cancer? – IBDKitties Both are diagnosed via a biopsy.

Instead of biscuits, can you feed your cat wet food instead? That's easier on the teeth and healthier for cats overall.

 

[Astragal14]

My cat with IBD had similar issues with vomiting, regurgitating and bile vomits. He's 9 and we've been managing it with diet and supplements for a years, and only a few medications when needed.

However, you may have several different possibilities with your kitty. I hope this is related more to dental issues than IBD or cancer, but you'll have to get the results from your vet and go from there.

First, regarding your cat's current condition - did they give her an antibiotic after her tooth extraction? If they did, I recommend giving her a probiotic for the duration of the antibiotic plus one week (separate the antibiotic and probiotic doses by a few hours). I'd also ask your vet about giving her a B12 injection during next week's appointment. It should be inexpensive and can help her GI system since she's been vomiting for a while now.

Second, which issue(s) started first? If her broken tooth preceded her vomiting and weight loss then it's possible the tooth extraction could help resolve a lot of this. A broken tooth could lead to decreased food intake, which could cause problems in her GI tract and result in persistent vomiting and weight loss. It's also possible that she's consuming less food overall due to the vomiting, even though it may seem like she's eating more. But if the vomiting and weight loss started before she broke her tooth then it is more likely that you're dealing with a GI issue.

Third, you've described a few different types of intestinal symptoms. One is regurgitation, which is bringing up undigested food, this is more common right after a meal and is different from vomiting, which is bringing up digested food. The bile vomits are stomach acid; these usually happen on an empty stomach (too much acid in an empty stomach leads to nausea, so cats vomit to get rid of the acid and the nausea). You can help reduce bile vomits by having less time between eating and thereby avoiding a completely empty stomach. So that may be smaller, more frequent meals or changing snack times.

Good luck at your cat's appointment next week. Please give an update and let us know how she is doing.

 

[KittyKat99]

Thank you for your response. It's very helpful!
The tooth was broken off before the vomiting started. The first vet I took her to looked at her teeth but said it doesn't look bad and wouldn't cause the vomiting.
I wasn't happy with that vet and took her to one further away that was reccomended to me. She is great and on the first appointment said her teeth need cleaning because there was really bad buildup on her teeth and the broken tooth is rotting.
I actually bought some probiotic powder months ago in the hope it would stop the vomiting. It didn't work but I will give her some after the antibiotics. I hadn't thought of that. They gave me antibiotics and a painkiller to give her.

 

[KittyKat99]

Ask the vet about the possibility of IBD or other gastrointestinal issue. Those are common in senior cats and won't show up on blood work. IBD and many gastrointestinal issues can be managed with diet and medicine. If it's cancer, there is a chemo drug you can give. Here's some info about the differences between IBD and cancer: IBD or Cancer? – IBDKitties Both are diagnosed via a biopsy.

Instead of biscuits, can you feed your cat wet food instead? That's easier on the teeth and healthier for cats overall.

Yes Im feeding her wet food instead. She eats 2 or 3 cans a day. I'm also giving her poached chicken breast which she's obsessed with. She ate the entire breast in the last 24 hours. It usually lasts 2 days at least. And I started giving her lactose free cream 2 weeks ago in the hope it will put some weight on. Wish I thought of that months ago

 

[LTS3]

Probiotics only help keep the bacteria in the gut healthy and happy. It won't do anything for vomiting. There is a medicine the vet can prescribe to help with the vomiting and any nausea, Cerenia. You can ask the vet about that. Your vet would still have to determine the cause of the vomiting and treat that.

 

[stephanietx]

I had a chronic barfer many years ago. Found out she couldn't tolerate any fish flavored canned foods. Stopped giving her fish and stuck with only turkey, rabbit, and chicken and she stopped barfing.

 

[KittyKat99]

Probiotics only help keep the bacteria in the gut healthy and happy. It won't do anything for vomiting. There is a medicine the vet can prescribe to help with the vomiting and any nausea, Cerenia. You can ask the vet about that. Your vet would still have to determine the cause of the vomiting and treat that.

Thank you I will ask about that. The first time I took her to the vet they gave her an injection to stop her vomiting and she didn't vomit for almost 2 weeks. But they said it only lasts 24 hours, so I don't know if that was what stopped her from vomiting for that long. I don't know what that injection was called.
It's hard because almost every cat disease has vomiting as a possible symptom!
I'm happy I found this forum because I've learned a lot already.

 

[KittyKat99]

Yea I was desperate when I hoped probiotics might cure her. I read a review where a cat was close to death but probiotics saved them. I knew it was prob fake but I'm like well I'll try it anyway!

 

[KittyKat99]

I had a chronic barfer many years ago. Found out she couldn't tolerate any fish flavored canned foods. Stopped giving her fish and stuck with only turkey, rabbit, and chicken and she stopped barfing.

Interesting. My cat does used to only eat the fish flavoured wet food. Though she has become way less fussy the last few months and will eat the chicken and beef ones. She even eats the jelly ones which she used to refuse to eat. She only ate the saucy ones

 

[LTS3]

Yes Im feeding her wet food instead. She eats 2 or 3 cans a day. I'm also giving her poached chicken breast which she's obsessed with. She ate the entire breast in the last 24 hours. It usually lasts 2 days at least. And I started giving her lactose free cream 2 weeks ago in the hope it will put some weight on. Wish I thought of that months ago

Limit the chicken to no more than 10% of the diet to avoid nutritional imbalance. If you want to make the chicken a bigger part of the diet, you need to add supplements. EZComplete is one popular pre-mix / supplement that turns plain meat into a complete diet.

For weight gain, try kitten milk replacer or a high calorie gel supplement like NutriCal. Your vet may have other suggestions.

Thank you I will ask about that. The first time I took her to the vet they gave her an injection to stop her vomiting and she didn't vomit for almost 2 weeks. But they said it only lasts 24 hours, so I don't know if that was what stopped her from vomiting for that long. I don't know what that injection was called.

Cerenia is available in an injectable form. That might have been what the vet gave.

 

[KittyKat99]

Just an update to say she hasn't done a vomit for over 4 days now! So I have hope the vomiting might have been caused by her teeth. She did one early in the morning after her day at the vet. But maybe that was from all the drugs in her system.
I will update in a couple days and I get her blood test results.
This might help someone in future who has a cat with the same problem.

 

[KittyKat99]

Update

I got her blood test results and it looks like she has early stage kidney disease.
It's weird because her kidney function numbers were in the normal range.
But there is one section on the blood test that can predict future kidney disease and that was very high. (Normal range is max 20 and her number was 32).
Weight loss and anorexia is a symptom of kidney disease and she definitely has that. She only weighs 2.5 kilos now . At the start of the year she weighed 4.5.
So I have put her on a strict diet of special renal food. If that doesn't work she might need medication.
The test also mentioned "occasional Dohle bodies" which is a sign of a toxic change.
So I've got to get a urine sample. If her wee is too watery their may be toxins building up.

 

[furmonster mom]

Chronic Kidney Disease (ckd) is quite common and also manageable with diet and supplements. There are several threads and articles here on the subject, though I don’t have the links handy, I’m sure somebody who does can post them for you.

There is a lot of info out there, but it boils down to controlling the phosphorus levels through diet and phosphorus binders. For myself, I feed a homemade raw diet and used Niacinamide as a binder. I also support the liver with Milk Thistle, as the liver is the first defense to the kidney.

Do the research, talk to your vet. With a good plan, it’s possible to manage this for a while.

 

[KittyKat99]

Chronic Kidney Disease (ckd) is quite common and also manageable with diet and supplements. There are several threads and articles here on the subject, though I don’t have the links handy, I’m sure somebody who does can post them for you.

There is a lot of info out there, but it boils down to controlling the phosphorus levels through diet and phosphorus binders. For myself, I feed a homemade raw diet and used Niacinamide as a binder. I also support the liver with Milk Thistle, as the liver is the first defense to the kidney.

Do the research, talk to your vet. With a good plan, it’s possible to manage this for a while.

Thank you!
Its relief to finally know what's actually wrong with her now.
So now I need to start researching.
Good to know it can be managed. Her weight loss had been really worrying.

 

[LTS3]

This web site has a ton of info on managing kidney disease: Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease - Everything You Need to Know to Help Your Cat There's a support group there, too, if you wish to join.

 

[KittyKat99]

Thank you so much!