Healthy Cat Suddenly Vomiting A Lot

[aquisces]

Hello everyone,

Excuse the long post! I get long winded in forums, especially about my fur babies. I was going to make a post soon about adopting a new kitty since the death of my Hanzee in November. But I had another question about him first that was a bit more pressing.

A little bit of history. He is almost 15, my husband and I took him in from his parents who are about to move to Hawaii. He is old and very, very big but not overweight. Just big boned. We adopted him exactly a week ago and I took him to the vet this past Monday, where we did full tests just to make sure he didn’t have any underlying health issues (I’m scarred since all of my troubles with Hanzee), and he passed all of his tests with flying colors and the vet said he was in awesome shape. The only issue is that he has stiff hips and can’t turn around to clean his back so it gets dandruffy and lots of loose hair. Today I went to PetSmart and asked the groomers what they would recommend for this and they said a slicker brush and some waterless shampoo. He was very content with the brushing and only slightly perturbed by the waterless shampoo spritz, rub, and towel dry.

Rewind a tad. In the wee hours of this morning he threw up some chewed up food. Not very much, and he went and ate some more food immediately afterwards, went back to sleep. We brushed it off that he had just eaten too much before bed.

He was fine all day until after I gave him his waterless bath at about 2PM. About 15 minutes after giving him the ordeal, he started smacking his lips so I knew he was nauseous, then about five minutes later he threw up the largest amount of cat vomit I’ve ever seen produced in one go. No bile, all chewed up food, what looked like a couple days worth honestly. He poops regularly and in large amounts though, so I’m not worried about a digestive issue really. Anyway, I withdrew food and all but a little dish of water, because I know that eating immediately on an upset stomach can make things worse in people and animals. He went to wear his food should be and whined at me, but eventually left and went to his cat bed and made biscuits and lay down. About 10 minutes later he got up and got sick again, this time just a little bit of food-colored liquid, which I assume is more water than bile? Hanzee always puked up bile and it was yellow. Now he is sleeping in his bed again but he doesn’t seem to feel himself. He’s the most affectionate cat I’ve ever met, and he’s not really interested in being pet or given attention right now. He’s just been moving about the apartment and sitting down in different places before laying down again.
To recap, a rough timeline:
1AM: throws up a little bit of chewed up food, eats more.
2PM: waterless sprits bath.
2:30PM: huuuuuge amount of chewed up food vomited up. food withdrawn. lay down for nap.
3PM-ish: small amount of water food-colored substance thrown up.
It’s now 4:23, he’s sleeping, maybe occasionally smacking his lips.

I’m really worried that he could have licked the dry shampoo residue off of his back somehow and that it’s made him sick. There were no warnings on the bottle and a quick google search didn’t reveal any similar problems.... it’s GNC hairball and shedding control waterless shampoo. Now, I know this likely isn’t the problem, since when he first got sick today at like 1AM, he hadn’t had a bath yet. But could it have made it worse? If not, what could be the problem? Do kitties just have upset stomachs some days? I don’t think he has eaten anything strange, he’s inside all the time and we don’t leave small things laying around that he might eat. My vet is closed for the weekend, or I would call her and ask these things. For now I will monitor him and see if things get better throughout the day. I’ll put more food out this evening if he seems to improve today. Thanks in advance for any insight. <3

 

[Furballsmom]

I'm so sorry that's happening to you both!

He’s just been moving about the apartment and sitting down in different places before laying down again.

Do you have another vet you could call, or a 24-hour emergency vet that you could talk with? I personally wouldn't use the spritz again - the brush should do the job just fine. My Big Guy isn't stiff but our air is dry and he gets dandruffy in the same area. (we've used a fish oil supplement with some luck addressing that issue).
However, back to the main point. Are you using the same food he was getting before? Is the water at your place the same? Are you using air fresheners, scented candles, spray cleaners, strongly scented laundry soap and/or dryer sheets?
Edit; is the litter you're using the same?

 

[maggiedemi]

Could it be a hairball trying to come up? Do you have any hairball paste or treats?

 

[aquisces]

Thanks so much for your reply! I’m sure there is a 24-hour vet in the area that I can find if things keep it up or worsen. He’s still sleeping, seemingly comfortably, now. He’s stopped smacking his lips also.

Those are things I should have included, my bad! Yes, we’ve kept those things all the same. My mother-in-law sent all of her cat stuff with us, so it’s the same food, same litter, even the same food bowl. We use the litter boxes we had with Hanzee but he didn’t have any communicable diseases and we did clean out the boxes with bleach and then soap and water anyway, to be safe. As to the strong scents, not really. We don’t burn candles, we don’t spritz air freshener, and we don’t use very strong detergent. Just Tide original scent and some snuggles fabric sheets. I am actually burning a vanilla tart in a tart warmer right now because the cat vomit and his extremely smelly poops have made it a little... potent in our main room, but it is the first time I’ve ever burnt anything in this apartment at all actually, so that couldn’t have *made* him sick. I’ll turn it off now though so it doesn’t make things worse, I didn’t even think of that.

Of course I suppose it could be a hairball. He doesn’t bathe himself very much (the poor old guy was also kind of smelly, hence the shampoo spritz) so it wouldn’t be my first guess, but I could try a hairball treat when he wakes up and see if it helps! I don’t have any on hand but PetSmart is a 2 minute drive from my house. However I do have some cerenia (sp?) anti-nausea pills! I could give him that.

Also, in the future, I’ll probably refrain from the spritz. His dandruff was really severe as he was an outside cat his whole life before coming to us, and I don’t think he had ever even been brushed before, so after this initial brush and bath combo I think/hope we can keep it under control with just the slicker brush.

 

[Furballsmom]

Bless your heart - hang in there! Let us know how things go - I'm not sure a hairball would cause the smelly poop, but in any case, hopefully the hairball treat helps. I don't have any experience with anti-nausea pills so I can't speak to that. It just seems like kind of a dramatic reaction to be the stress of the move?

 

[furmonster mom]

This sounds like a blockage of some sort to me... either a hairball or something else. Hairball seems likely given his dry coat. Consider that if there is a blockage such that the stomach can't handle what's going in, then it's only got one other way to go! The restlessness could be because his abdomen is sore, either from a blockage or from the vomiting. It's hard for a cat to get comfortable when their tummy is upset.

I really only see a couple options here; you can either wait to see if he coughs up a hairball, or go to a vet and get an x-ray to see if it's another kind of blockage. I wouldn't let the condition continue for more than 48 hrs, though. Blockages can create a domino effect of problems.

Something to consider for his dry coat - add some eggs to his meals. You can try over easy in a bit of unsalted butter, soft poached, or you can make "egg soup": separate whites & yolks, cook whites and chop to bits, add back to yolks, keep in 'fridge, serve a teaspoon with meals.

 

[aquisces]

I also wonder if perhaps he is overeating? I try to keep an eye on his portions, but in any case he loves food. He’s not too interested in people food but loves his cat food and goes at it like he is starving 100% of the time so he eats fast and he eats all of the food in his bowl. He’s also certainly less active since his move inside, so could this be a possibility?

Could also be a delayed reaction to the move. He seems to love the change but is a BIG change for an elderly gentleman such as himself. I imagine it would wreak a little havoc on his body.

I’ll keep an eye on him, his litter box usage, his mood/appetite, and of course, whether or not he vomits again, and I will definitely call a vet if this persists. If I were a real Mom to a human child I would be a helicopter mom, so I definitely won’t put off necessary treatment. As for an update at the moment, he’s still sleeping, right now I’m just happy he hasn’t woken up nauseous yet again. (I attached a picture of the big guy. He did open his eyes to glare at me as the floor creaked and disturbed his beauty sleep when I got close to him. But he’s sleeping again now.)

 

[aquisces]

Update again: he’s still sleeping but purrs when I walk by. Also I called my mother-in-law and asked if she’d had this problem with him before and she said “Only when he over-eats on his dry food.” So I’ll still keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t have some kind of larger problem but it looks like I just need to monitor the chunky monkey’s food intake even more strictly.

 

[aquisces]

Update after a few days! Keecha didn’t vomit any more after the last time I reported here. His appetite is back, he’s active, is back to enjoying affection (including belly rubs), and has been pooping regularly so I’m not worried about blockage anymore! Pretty sure he just overate. So I’ve been doling our his daily allowance of 2/3 cup 1/6 cup at a time throughout the day so that he doesn’t gorge himself.