IBS ? Puking daily

[Georgesmom]

My cat is 11 . He’s been to the vet and they did labs for everything , thyroid , diabetes , all the stuff . I really thought he had thyroid issues but they said his labs are normal . The only thing left to do was an ultrasound and I don’t have funds for that right now . He likely has IBS basically . Here’s what’s happening though is he pukes daily almost . Usually food . Sometimes watery stuff or grass . I have Guinea pigs and they eat hay and the hay falls on the floor . I try to keep it swept up daily but George will eat the bits if he finds any like grass basically and later he pukes . But it’s not the cause of all his puking . I’ve seen him literally go eat his dry food and then less then 15 min later puke it up . Like he gorges sometimes . I have his food spread out on a flat tray so he can’t gobble it as fast .
But lately this is happening every morning . It’s like in the early hours of the morning he goes and eats , poops a super smelly one in the litter or on the floor in front of the box and then pukes somewhere.

it’s getting tiresome . My kids step in the puke and we have to watch every morning or get woken to puking or super smelly poo .

He was doing better for a while . He eats Purina tender selects . I had gotten some sport mix from TRC and it seemed like his puking increased . We stopped that and went back to Purina and his tummy seemed better . I’ve gotten Purina gentle stomach which has almost the same ingredients as Purina tender selects and slowly mixed it in . He seemed fine but now he’s puking again when he wasn’t for a while .
He gets canned food , just a tablespoon every evening and morning . He is being very picky about that and won’t touch it unless it’s fresh from a new can . Most of the time won’t eat it. I have two teenage cats who will gobble up what he won’t eat so it doesn’t go to waste . I always feed him his canned food separately so he gets a good chance to eat it . He will eat the dry if he doesn’t eat the wet anyway . He seems to like the dry . It’s only the puking in the wee hours of the morning or if he gorges though so I’m not sure why this is going on . Maybe he forgets to eat for too long at night and gorges .. he sleeps with me and he’s next to me almost all night until around 6 and then I hear the puking so I don’t know if he’s went out and ate too much pukes and comes back or what . He always acts hungry for his wet food in the morning but if it’s a can previously opened he turns up his nose and I’m not opening a fresh can daily as we don’t go through it that fast . I’m not sure what’s truly going on and why . The vet was really no help

 

[FeebysOwner]

Ultrasounds aren't always concussive in determining IBS/IBD. So, you could consider it to be just that and try novel proteins as a starting point. IBS/IBD often is the result of food intolerances/allergies. However, there are other things to consider - and, you have pretty much listed them in your post.

More wet food and later at night than currently, if he will eat it. Feeding later at night might help if he is going too long without eating - causing him to scarf the food and then barf, or simply vomit because of the acid build up in his stomach overnight. Since your other cats like eating it, adjust their food so they can eat the rest of the can - just feed them less dry to offset the added calories of the wet.

An actual slow feeder dish or add a golf ball or ping pong ball to his dish so he has to eat around that, which will slow him down. Elevate his dish to help, as some cats tend to hold down their food better when not leaning over so far to eat. There are all kinds of things you can try first before having to buy an elevated dish - a thick book placed underneath the dish, for example.

If his stool is a bit dry, he could be straining, which can also cause a cat to throw up afterward. So, make sure he isn't experiencing a bit of constipation.

I don't know what your set up is with the guinea pigs but if it is a cage on a stand, buy or makeshift a large tray to fit underneath the cage to catch most of the hay fall-out.

I am sure others will come along soon with their own ideas!

 

[stephanietx]

He could be nauseous which is why he's not eating his food and why he's vomiting. I would ask the vet for an anti-nausea med such as Ondansetron (Zofran) which works better than Cerenia. Also, you may need an appetite stimulant and if the vet thinks it's IBD, then the normal treatment is a round of steroids for 10 days to help decrease inflammation. Pancreatitis often mimics IBD, so it could be that as well. The GI Panel labwork would show an elevated pancreas number and indicate pancreatitis. My IBD kitty started with pancreatitis and now we have IBD, but he's had gastro issues since he was 8 months old, so I'm not surprised.

IBD kitties need to eat only one kind of protein (not a blend) and free of gums and carrageenan. Instinct is a good brand to start with. He also needs to be eating more wet food than dry food and you need to monitor his intake. I'll tell you from my own experience that it often seems like you take one step forward and 2 steps back.

 

[Georgesmom]

I didn’t realize that about nausea. I just woke up to him getting out of my bed and puking on the floor next to the bed . It’s almost 5 am . It’s not like he’s gorged or anything. He ate canned food just before bed . He has dry out all night and I have no idea how many times he gets up to eat because I am asleep . It’s just so weird he wakes up out of bed to puke … it must be nausea but I don’t know why

 

[lisahe]

at least

I didn’t realize that about nausea. I just woke up to him getting out of my bed and puking on the floor next to the bed . It’s almost 5 am . It’s not like he’s gorged or anything. He ate canned food just before bed . He has dry out all night and I have no idea how many times he gets up to eat because I am asleep . It’s just so weird he wakes up out of bed to puke … it must be nausea but I don’t know why

Everything you write here sounds very familiar. When he barfs like he did this morning, waking you up, what comes out? Is it mostly a watery, frothy pool of liquid, maybe a little yellow or orange? If so, at least in our experience, most likely means he's hungry, often nauseous, too, as stephanietx suggested. It sounds like he has similar issues to our Edwina, who needs to be fed lots of small meals so she doesn't regurgitate her food, right after eating too much, or go hungry during the night. We use autofeeders at night. That usually prevents her from eating too much too fast or getting so hungry that she vomits stomach acid. Both our cats have done that same thing yours is doing: they seem to just wake up, hop down to the floor, and get rid of the stomach acid.

The smelly poop is (at least in my experience) most likely a sign that something in his food isn't agreeing with him. That could, in turn, be contributing to a vicious cycle of nausea and barfing... If it's the dry Purina Sensitive Stomach food that you're feeding him, the corn or wheat ingredients may be bothering him. We've seen similar symptoms (really stinky gas) from foods with potato. Most cats do best with lots of meat protein; carby ingredients can cause lots of stomach issues. Wet foods tends to have less carbs but watch out for ingredients like potatoes and peas, which aren't a cat's natural diet.

I'm sorry your vet isn't much help on this. Stomach issues can take a lot of trial, error, and patience to sort out.

 

[Georgesmom]

at least
Everything you write here sounds very familiar. When he barfs like he did this morning, waking you up, what comes out? Is it mostly a watery, frothy pool of liquid, maybe a little yellow or orange? If so, at least in our experience, most likely means he's hungry, often nauseous, too, as stephanietx suggested. It sounds like he has similar issues to our Edwina, who needs to be fed lots of small meals so she doesn't regurgitate her food, right after eating too much, or go hungry during the night. We use autofeeders at night. That usually prevents her from eating too much too fast or getting so hungry that she vomits stomach acid. Both our cats have done that same thing yours is doing: they seem to just wake up, hop down to the floor, and get rid of the stomach acid.

The smelly poop is (at least in my experience) most likely a sign that something in his food isn't agreeing with him. That could, in turn, be contributing to a vicious cycle of nausea and barfing... If it's the dry Purina Sensitive Stomach food that you're feeding him, the corn or wheat ingredients may be bothering him. We've seen similar symptoms (really stinky gas) from foods with potato. Most cats do best with lots of meat protein; carby ingredients can cause lots of stomach issues. Wet foods tends to have less carbs but watch out for ingredients like potatoes and peas, which aren't a cat's natural diet.

I'm sorry your vet isn't much help on this. Stomach issues can take a lot of trial, error, and patience to sort out.

When he puked this morning I got up and it was a hairball in some food that looked digested mostly .

this evening he turned up his nose at his fresh canned food . He can be so picky . One day like something the next not . I’m trying to sweep up the Guinea pig hay before bed so he doesn’t eat it . I suspect he would eat it like cats do when they feel sick .

 

[lisahe]

When he puked this morning I got up and it was a hairball in some food that looked digested mostly .

this evening he turned up his nose at his fresh canned food . He can be so picky . One day like something the next not . I’m trying to sweep up the Guinea pig hay before bed so he doesn’t eat it . I suspect he would eat it like cats do when they feel sick .

Well... This is hairball season in places where it's spring. Assuming that's the problem (if the clump of fur is fairly large and solid) the biggest first question is: Do you brush him? That can take lots of fur out of the system so it doesn't build up in the stomach. He could also have a motility problem that's slowing down his digestive system. Sometimes a little egg yolk (1/8 of a yolk to start is reasonable) will help. There's good advice here on hairballs:

How Best to Manage Hairballs

Hairballs are an early warning sign of a motility problem in cats. This article describes how best to manage hairballs.

www.foodfurlife.com

I'll mention again, as stephanietx did earlier, that since your cat is vomiting fairly regularly, what seems to be pickiness could likely be caused stomach upset and/or inflammation and/or constipation. If a cat's stomach hurts, the cat often just doesn't want to eat. If that's the case, you'll need to identify the root problem of the vomiting before you can get him to eat more readily. Constipation can also make cats seem picky because they just don't feel right. Our cat who gets constipated seemed picky about her food, too. She's done much better after starting her on Vet's Best Hairball Relief Tablets a couple years ago. Those contain a little fiber plus anti-inflammatory herbs that help soothe, too. We use another supplement, Feline Gut Soothe from Adored Beast, which helps both our cats' digestive systems a lot. The ingredients in those two supplements overlap a little and the combination works well for both of them.