Resident kitty vomiting after bringing home new kitten

[KittyKitty00]

Hi everyone - I have a sweet 6-year-old female kitty who has been queen bee (only kitty) with us since she was a kitten. We decided to adopt a 7-month-old female kitty and brought her home from a shelter Friday night. New kitty is currently confined to the master bathroom. New kitty came with a kitty cold (URI), some vomiting and diarrhea, and some fleas.

Resident kitty vomited three times on Monday, not at all on Tuesday, and then four times today. The first vomit looked pretty normal for her, including some partially digested food. Subsequent vomitings were more liquidy/foamy and today they were all green/yellow or orange/yellow. She ate a little bit of her kibble this morning but definitely nothing this evening. She half-heartedly ate a treat this afternoon. She will play with us a bit, and if she weren't vomiting, her behavior would fall in the range of normal.

I called the vet and they made an appointment for us tomorrow afternoon. I'm just wondering if it could be stress over the new kitty or if she could possibly have picked up a bug from the new kitty, since I saw a fair amount of liquidy vomit from that kitty initially as well. The difference there is that new kitty was still eating and drinking normally and resident kitty has a loss of appetite. We've kept the cats separated, but new kitty did dart out a few times and the cats accidentally saw each other face to face. The first vomiting for resident kitty happened before that, though. But I wonder if we could have spread something when we forgot to wash our hands a couple of times between kitties. The lady at the shelter said vomiting in cats isn't usually contagious, but some things I've read online seem to indicate something different.

I'd love some advice on the whole situation if anyone has any. I'm worried about my resident kitty and really don't want to put her through the trauma of a vet visit with lots of tests if she might possibly recover well at home. It just seems too coincidental for her to have a serious issue right after the new kitty comes home when she's always been healthy before. But I don't know how long I can safely watch and wait. Thank you!

Sorry, I realize I cannot ask for specific medical advice regarding my kitties. I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced something like this after bringing home a new kitty, even if the cats are still (mostly) separated. And in general, is it theoretically possible a new kitty could pass on a vomiting bug to a resident kitty?

 

[Alldara]

Yes the bug likely passed to your resident cat. If she's passing a hydration test, I would just ask the vet for some recovery food and ask your vet tech at what point she should come in.

Keep her calm, and provide a box for her to sleep in by her choice. Research has shown that providing cats a comfy box can help speed recovery time as they feel safe and stress hormones reduce.


This is more for future reference for you :
I noticed you said 'mostly' separated. So 100% yes it can pass along. That's why a quarentine period of 2 weeks is recommended, as a cat cold or flu can incubate in the cat for 2 weeks and it's never recommended to start intros until after illness has passed. Many cat colds can also be passed from one to the other by humans! Handwashing between touching the cats for the quarentine period reduces this risk.

I also recommend any resident cats be 2 weeks out from their cat cold-flu vaccine before bringing a new cat home.

 

[IronCladLou]

You mention that the kitten is being isolated in your master bedroom. If your resident cat normally spends time in there with you and if it regularly sleeps with you it could be a source of a lot of stress. We isolated in a spare bedroom/office. Cardboard on the door gap for a week. Started site swapping and then slowly opening the gap up. After that a baby gate and then a tall pet gate ($$$). Just take it slow.

 

[KittyKitty00]

Yes the bug likely passed to your resident cat. If she's passing a hydration test, I would just ask the vet for some recovery food and ask your vet tech at what point she should come in.

Keep her calm, and provide a box for her to sleep in by her choice. Research has shown that providing cats a comfy box can help speed recovery time as they feel safe and stress hormones reduce.


This is more for future reference for you :
I noticed you said 'mostly' separated. So 100% yes it can pass along. That's why a quarentine period of 2 weeks is recommended, as a cat cold or flu can incubate in the cat for 2 weeks and it's never recommended to start intros until after illness has passed. Many cat colds can also be passed from one to the other by humans! Handwashing between touching the cats for the quarentine period reduces this risk.

I also recommend any resident cats be 2 weeks out from their cat cold-flu vaccine before bringing a new cat home.

Thank you, this is super helpful. Resident kitty has found herself some soothing, comforting spots to hang out, including cuddled up next to me, and nestled in a soft hide-away my daughter created for her in her room. Kitty is still barely eating, but is drinking normally and even jumped, ran, and pounced for a little playtime this morning. However, she did vomit again this morning. It's good to know about the tummy bug being passed from kitty to kitty, especially as the shelter person said those bugs are not usually contagious. It just seems too suspicious to see these symptoms right after new kitty comes home.

I hadn't heard of a hydration test before so I googled it. Is it the one where you gently pinch the skin on the back of the neck and see how quickly it rebounds? Or is there a different one?

 

[KittyKitty00]

You mention that the kitten is being isolated in your master bedroom. If your resident cat normally spends time in there with you and if it regularly sleeps with you it could be a source of a lot of stress. We isolated in a spare bedroom/office. Cardboard on the door gap for a week. Started site swapping and then slowly opening the gap up. After that a baby gate and then a tall pet gate ($$$). Just take it slow.

Oh, yes--we would never take away resident kitty's master bedroom access (poor thing)! In fact, she jumped into bed and cuddled with me all night long the other night. It's only the master bathroom that she can't get to now. It's unfortunate, as she liked going in there also, but there is really no spot in the house that wasn't already "hers," so we had to pick something. Unfortunately, we don't have a spare bedroom (wish we did!). But the master bath is quite roomy and seems to have been a good choice for new kitty. Thank you for the tips on the transition! I am definitely eager to try these, but know that I need to wait until new kitty is better from her kitty cold and we figure out what's going on with resident kitty's vomiting. Then we'll move forward very slowly.

 

[Mygoodkitty]

I hope your resident kitty starts feeling better soon. God bless

 

[Alldara]

K KittyKitty00 Yes the pinch test is the one!

See if you can get some recovery food. Any vet should have a few cans you can buy. It's really helpful when they have a tummy bug and aren't eating much.

Are you feeding new cat the same food as the shelter was? Changing food can also aggrivate the tummy.

 

[KittyKitty00]

Thank you! We're at the vet now (for resident kitty) and I will ask about the recovery food if he doesn't suggest it. New kitty is totally back to normal now, and yes, we sought out the identical dry and soft food the shelter had been feeding her (one of the kinds was out of stock but I managed to track some down via Doordash). Hoping both kitties will be fully healthy soon!

 

[KittyKitty00]

I hope your resident kitty starts feeling better soon. God bless

Thank you for your kind thoughts. I've never seen her sick like this before and it makes me really sad. Hoping the vet can help!

 

[Alldara]

Thank you! We're at the vet now (for resident kitty) and I will ask about the recovery food if he doesn't suggest it. New kitty is totally back to normal now, and yes, we sought out the identical dry and soft food the shelter had been feeding her (one of the kinds was out of stock but I managed to track some down via Doordash). Hoping both kitties will be fully healthy soon!

Let us know how it goes!