Lucy and her vomiting

[joeynox]

Hello heres little 13yr old Lucy's story.

Lucy has always had a vomiting issue and my wife took her to the vet who ran a bunch of tests and just  she shes fine and gave her fluids. the vomiting started getting slightly worse so we took her to  the humane society of NYC  where she had a chest xray , abdominal  ultrasound ,PLI  and urinalysis which all came back pretty normal. the vets said they think  she has bad  food allergies, IBD or the possible start or lymphoma but he doubts its #3 because all her tests  dont point to it.  he told me to feed her a LID food  and also prescribed the Z/D canned food

I put lucy  on natural  balance LiD canned food because i read good things about it  and  she still vomits on it just not as frequent. After doing more research  into the ingredients in these canned cat foods  found that even  through the food is better for her there's Carrageenan in it. so  the hunt for a canned for with out Carrageenan  has been very  difficult. I havent tried the Z/d food because i have to buy  the case and if she doesn't like the food then im stuck with wasting a lot of money and will have alot of cat food and nothing to do with it.

​I recently tried the earthborn holistic mackerel  which she loves but she  vomited on that 2 days about . Then i noticed she started scratching her nose  and being that i only had the Natural balance LID in the house i tried giving her that instead of the mackerel she now just looks at the  NB LID venision  and walks away. 

Today she went to use the litter box and after producing a small bowel movement  she vomited  as she was standing out of the litter box. She Vomited all fluids  and ALOT of fluid. its amazing what that little 7 pound girls belly  can hold.After vomiting she went and drank  alot of fluids, this isnt the first time shes vomited  coming out of the litter box either.

what should i do?  I also have fortiflora but havent used it because when she originally was at the vet last month he said hold off giving it to her just in case she doesnt need it and I cant call him because  its the humane society of nYC .Theres like 10 vets and you  cant get them  on the phone.

Should i just  try  the Z/D food? Shes not on any meds. 

I plan on scanning her tests results and will  post them  so others who know more about these issues can possible give me some more in site. 

The reason I use the Humane Society is because their prices are amazing here in NYC plus they are good vets. Ive been to  5 other local vets and have had terrible experiences with my other 16 yr old baby boy who recently was put down with having  bladder cancer. 

 

[vball91]

Unfortunately, most tests for IBD are inconclusive, even biopsies. Based on the test results and what your vet has said, I would assume she has food allergies and IBD and try to get her on a very limited ingredient novel protein diet. I would agree with trying to avoid carrageenan. There are carrageenan free canned foods listed in this thread.

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/240335/canned-food-without-carrageenan-or-guar-gum

Would you consider a raw or home-cooked diet? It is a lot easier to control the ingredients and do food trials when you prepare the food yourself. Raw has been known to help many IBD cats. There's a great Raw & Home-Cooked Cat Food forum here with very knowledgeable people who can help you figure out how to balance the food correctly. It may seem daunting at first but it's not hard.

One last thing, does she have any constipation issues? Her vomiting during or after use of the litter box can be a sign of straining during elimination.

 

[joeynox]

 she was  making normal bowel movements util today when she   stepped out of the box and vomited EVERYWHERE. it has happened in the past and when it did she became dehydrated because she vomited all her fluids. im not sure how to tell if shes constipated .She doesnt seem like shes pushing very hard but im not really sure. Shes a little cat .

 

[vball91]

Regarding constipation: what is the quality of her stool like? Small and very hard? Or more tootsie-roll like?

 

[denice]

It does sound like constipation.  Constipation can both cause a kitty to vomit from the straining and cause nausea.  This does sound like IBD especially if nothing has shown up on lab work.  My kitty has constipation with IBD, I think most people think of diarrhea being with IBD.  My vet told me that with IBD it can be a motility issue caused by the thickening of the intestinal walls.  Your kitty may be turning her nose up at a food that she was previously eating because she didn't feel well after eating it.  The food may or may not have been a direct cause of her feeling bad but that's the connection that she has made.

If your going to go the commercial food route you will want to get as simple of a food as possible in a novel protein.  A food that is as close to just meat and supplements as you can find.  One of the good ones is Hounds and Gatos but they have very limited store sales, most people have to order it online.  

http://www.itsapetslife.com/category.cfm/pets/Cat-Food/brand/HOUND AND GATOS   you can buy single cans here instead of having to buy a whole case.

http://houndgatos.com/

Wild Calling is another good food that is widely available in pet store.  It does have brewers yeast in it which the hounds and gatos doesn't.  It also doesn't identify the type of liver that is in the food.  Hounds and Gatos uses duck liver.

 

[joeynox]

@vball it was small and similar to rabbit poop? Not a normal bowel movement.it was also very dark.

@denice I was looking into h&g but they have Xanthum gum in their foods and I read somewhere that its similar to guar gum and should also be avoided by cats with digestive issues. I'm trying to do as much research as I can because the vet bills pulled up into the thousands for Lucy and willow (rip 11/2013) and I can't take her back right now.

she was always on a kibble diet and since October I switched her to wet but finding the right food is such an issue. I'm thinking about trying raw but my wife is very hesitant . She's worried about bacteria and those things.

 

[denice]

You could go to a cooked diet to eliminate the concerns about bacteria.  There are threads for that as well in the raw forum.  I understand about the vet bills.  My kitties first flare was when he was 18 months old.  Because of his age and atypical symptoms there was six years of vet hopping which included two hospitalizations.  The last time that he was really sick I went to a different vet and she diagnosed him correctly.  He had fatty liver at that point so a third hospitalization and he came home with a feeding tube.

I never did figure out a trigger for Patches.  I tried different foods as well as eliminating possible triggers in the environment.  I also ran Feliway diffusers constantly and never did figure out what the trigger was for his flares.  He is now on a small daily dose of a steroid.

 

[joeynox]

i went to petco and bought a bunch of canned instint lid and other instinct food. also bought the instinct lamb  frozen raw bites.   the problem is since she vomited  on wednesday morning she really doesnt want to eat. she did eat a few maybe 6 pieces of the raw bites. but wont eat anymore. also she tried to lick them up instead of chewing them. she always does this with her food but i dont understand it

 

[vball91]

If I am reading right, Lucy has not really eaten at all since Wednesday morning? I think she needs to see a vet. Something is not right with her. Not sure if it's the constipation or what, but cats cannot go long without food as they are at risk of developing fatty liver disease.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

 
i went to petco and bought a bunch of canned instint lid and other instinct food. also bought the instinct lamb  frozen raw bites.   the problem is since she vomited  on wednesday morning she really doesnt want to eat. she did eat a few maybe 6 pieces of the raw bites. but wont eat anymore. also she tried to lick them up instead of chewing them. she always does this with her food but i dont understand it

If she is licking at the raw lamb, then feel free to add water to it to make it soupy, or at least make it lickable.  I used to feed Primal raw beef and salmon and I ALWAYS added water to it because it just seemed terribly dry.  For my little Diva who can manage to chew treats by not her food in a bowl I add LOTS of water

From the sounds of her "rabbit pullet", that's constipation.  She may be dehydrated still, which will add to her constipation issues, which may be why she isn't interested in eating.  However, as Vball pointed out, she has got to eat, and eat a fair amount, or you risk the chance of her getting Fatty Liver Disease, which is what  happened to Denice's cat.  (AND one of mine)  Denice's cat survived

.  Mine didn't

.   So, even if you have to syringe feed her, that's what you have to do.  Your issue is going to be, though, WHAT to feed her, since she is throwing up

.  Did you get any Instinct Rabbit?  I haven't heard of many cats being allergic to rabbit, so you might try that.  You can water it down do it will go into a syringe, than slowly feed it to her.  Not too much at any one time or it will come right back up.  Here is a video on syringe feeding:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/227858/syringe-feeding-lucky-video-if-your-cat-is-not-eating.

 

[joeynox]

she's licking the food and ate very little. She has a vet appt but its the for Monday.i can't get one sooner unless I go as an emergency to the hospital and that's an issue. Where can I buy these syringes? How long is too long? My cats vet is in Manhattan and I'm in the Bronx . I have a vet 4 blocks from me but will never take another animal there. Worst vet known to man by everyone I know who has gone there including me and my wife. Terrible experience.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

You can get syringes pretty much anywhere that has a pharmacy.  Just ask the pharmacist.  They might even give them to you if you tell them what they are for.  I would say she shouldn't go any longer than 36 hours at the most without eating.  (Its already been that long, hasn't it, since she did any substantial eating?)  Can you get her to eat any treats or anything?    Even baby food would be ok as long as it's meat only (no spices, onions, garlic, vegies).  Some people even feed low sodium meats from the deli in a crisis.  Or you could try cooking up something.  Boneless Chicken thighs might work.  I don't know what she is allergic to though.  If grains, then you're ok with chicken.  You could try just poaching a boneless thigh in plain unseasoned water and then shredding it up and giving her that along with some of the water, once it has cooled.  Maybe she'll eat that on her own.  Or, cats usually LOVE Fortiflora as a topper.  It's like kitty crack.  Try sprinkling some of that on top of the new food and see if she'll eat. 

Keep in mind that she is probably constipated, so you also need to get her to drink as much as possible.  you can try adding just a little tuna juice to her water to induce her to drink.  Also, if you have any Miralax around, you can give her 1/8th to 1/4 teas. twice a day to get things moving.  It might take a couple of days though, and, of course, you have to get it in her.  It doesn't gel up, so you can just mix it into her food IF she'll eat, or mix it into a tiny bit of tuna juice/water if you can be assured she'll drink it all, or syringe it into her after dissolving in a little water (we used to do this method with one of ours).

Keep us posted!

 

[joeynox]

I got syringes but all they had were small ones that go to 10ml. I just bought some other food that I know she used to live but I stopped feeding her because it contained carenageen .taste of the wild. She licks all the liquidy stewy juice but didn't really eat any of the junks. She drinks plenty of fluids.she ate a few pieces if the raw lamb bites Thursday and ate maybe a table spoon of instinct duck. Friday (today) she wanted my chicken cutlet so I gave her a little piece of just meat and she ate it but.it was a very very small piece and didn't want anything after that. Now I just tried some taste of the wild and she just licked up all the juices. Is it possible besides the constipation something is wrong with her.teeth from vomiting? I have like 30 cans of different flavored foods and some dry food which she also nibbled on but very little. Could this be just because shea constipated and her belly is upset so she won't eat? I guess if she doesn't start by tomorrow I'll try the assisted feeding.

 

[joeynox]

This is very frustrating. Thank you for the help.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I know how frustrating this is

.  Believe me, I've been there

. 

You can use those 10 ml syringes if that's all you've got.  You'll just need to either use several, or keep refilling them.  But remember, you want to go slowly anyway and not fill her up too quickly or she may throw up anyway, so perhaps those will be ok until you get to the Vet. 

It's possible eating causes her pain now, but I'm not suspecting it's in her teeth, although that's certainly a possiblity, but not a probability.  She could even have developed pancreatitis, which is very painful, although I don't personally have any experience with it with my cats.  Several members are experience it with that cats right now though, so you could do a search to see what they are saying.  That could be why she has almost stopped eating. 

Did you try putting some FortiFlora on some food to entice her to eat?  Is she keeping everything down that she IS eating?  Is she normally a thin or overweight cat?  Reason I ask is that the chances of her getting Fatty Liver Disease are worse if she is overweight.  I guess that's why stray cats can get away without eating (or eating less) and not get it.  Once they get it, they literally CAN'T eat and have to be force fed until their livers recover. (Feeding tubes are usually installed, which makes it a lot easier to do this.)   This is also know as Hepatic Lipidosis, if you do any searching on it.  So...keep checking her for any yellowing (jaundice) in any spots where her fur is thinner, usually between her eyes and ears, also sometimes you can see it in their ears.

 

[joeynox]

She ate some call of the wild salmon earlier but then immediately started scratching. So Seafood is definitely part of some food allergy. I later tried some instinct rabbit and she ate a decent (notfull) amount. Hers a little video of her eating . She continued eating after I stopped recording. Is it normal for her to eat the way she does? Normally the food is in her bowl but I was desperate and I was trying bowls dishes putting food flat then raising it. My kitty that pasted away a few months ago chewed his food.,he was a sloppy eater but he chewed. Lucy doesn't seem to chew or bite to lift her food.

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?res...01&authkey=!AK1WMfAQnUD8o_s&ithint=video,.mp4

 

[joeynox]

She's very thin. She is a petite lady. About 7pounds. We rescued her, we were in a park at night and someone left her in a box with a can of food and she was very skinny and have had her since. About 11 years now. No I didn't try the fortiflora , my wife didn't want me to try it just incase it upsets her more or something.i spoke to the vet about this a few months ago but her belly makes very loud gurgling sounds . The only way I can describe it is when you r really hungry or if u ate something and you get a stomach ache . Sounds like blurpa,gurgles,fizzing .

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Well, it definitely looks like she is having issues with her mouth

  However, that being said.  My old girl (just turned 14 this month)  acts almost the same way when she is eating whenever she runs across the teeniest little chunk in her wet food, although she eats treats with no problem, so with her, it's some sort of kookie behavioral issue, I think.  She gets seen regularly by our Vet and has great teeth and no mouth issues

  So what I do for my little one is put her food in my Magic Bullet with either some water or a little egg white from the carton (which has lots of protein in it but sometimes she refuses to eat).  Then I blend the heck out of it to make is as smooth as possible so she can just lick it all up.  This works very well for both of us.  (BTW, sometimes it's so soupy it's like milk, other times it's creamier like a milkshake...she doesn't seem to care one way or another.  And I use a saucer as her dish so the sides aren't too high that her whiskers touch them.  I also raise her dish by setting on a bowl)

I'm so GLAD she ate for you last night

.  Even if it wasn't a full serving, at least it was something

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

How's Lucy?  What did the Vet say? 

 

[joeynox]

Hi the vet is doing another round of blood tests and checked her mouth but sais everything seemed fine. No tooth or gum issues. He said that she's eating is a great sign . He went over her xray and ultrasound from last month again with another vet and both seemed confident nothing is there. Just now my wife called me and said my little girl vomited after making a small bowl movement again. My wife said it was a medium sized amount of.fluid that came up but not as large as what happened last week. I'm guessing she's constipated . I started giving her the fortifora which she loves . Is there anything I can buy from a Walgreen or mom.and.pop pwtshop to help with constipation? My wife said she seemed like she was pushing alot then her Lucy nuggets popped out(small amount) and as she walked out of the box she sat for a minute then vomited. She's been drinking plenty of fluids and I've been adding some water to her canned instinct rabbit and l.i.d turkey

thank you for asking