Violent Vomiting 45 Mins After Eating.

Hi all,

I'm new here. I need help. My 4 year old rescue cat Boots keeps being violently sick not long after eating.

Back story: she's got FIV. We rescued her 2 years ago. She already had a litter while she was a stray and since she's been spayed. She is a short hair domestic indoor only cat. Very chatty, friendly and likes to have her coat brushed. Basically doesn't look or act like she has FIV (according to our local vet). Since we got her we've fed her with a timer because she needed to eat little and often due to being underweight. I was feeding 1/2 sachet of Felix wet food 4 times a day. No dry food at this point because we were advised that her teeth may not take the crunching.

In January 2018 she got a bad case of cystitis. This was cured with antibiotics. I put this down to eating a whole packet of Dreamies, being constipated because of this and then stress.

In June 2018 for reasons beyond me she started throwing up her food shortly after eating. I did some research. I made her bowl higher for her so she wasn't bending her neck. I stopped feeding her with set times, I changed the feeding times on a daily basis so she wasn't anticipating the food. I also made the portions smaller but more often. This didn't help. So I took her to the vets 3 days later and she gave her an injection of Cerenia solution, told me to stop feeding Felix wet food, to switch to something more natural, gave me 4 sachets of Royal Canin wet Sensitivity food and a tube of Defurr-um paste for hairballs. That evening she was a bit drowsy but back to normal. No sick, no problem eating. So I slowly introduced Canagan mixed wet food, gave her the furball paste once a week and thought she was cured.

July 2018 comes (one month after the first vet visit) and she starts being sick again 30 - 45 mins after eating. I've not changed anything, she's still having the Canagan about 6 times a day in small amounts with the timer. She drinks water, she's acting fine. But the vomit is projectile and the food isn't really digested. And it comes up with a watery yellow bile sometimes as well. Back to the vets. Same injection. But she wants to try and treat her with gastro issues. So I get told to purchase Royal Canin sensitivity dry and switch some of her wet food meals to that. So I do. She goes home after the injection. She is absolutely fine again and now has the dry food as well. Her teeth are apparently fine so no need to worry.

We are now in August 2018. Exactly one month after the second visit. The cat has been throwing up her dry and wet food again just like the previous two months. We're into the second day of it and I'm at a loss. I don't know what is happening. I tried last night feeding her three little biscuits of Royal Canin as she hasn't eaten for 24 hours. 45 mins later they were on the floor.

Do I take her to the vets for a monthly jab of Cerenia? Could it be something more serious? How long can she survive with just water if I try and wait it out and introduce boiled fish or chicken slowly? I literally don't know what to do and I need some advice please. I am going to call the vets now as well but thought I could do with some extra opinions.

Thank you so much for reading.

Boots's Mum.
England

Its quite dangerous to wait it out with a cat, and eating. They can get fatty liver fairly quick, 48 hours with a cat not eating and you are in the danger zone.

Long term she will need cat food, for the vitamins and minerals. Sort term feed her what ever she will eat to get her going again.

I would recommend that she have a vet visit. Best of luck to her, and do keep us updated!

I've booked an appointment for this afternoon. I will see what plan C is and let you know. The issue is that no matter what I feed her when this is happening just comes straight up again. I've tried plain fish or chicken in the past but it just gets thrown back up. Always hardly digested as it hasn't had a chance to start. Poor girl! I'm hoping that I don't have to get her injected with Cerenia on a monthly basis. To me that seems like masking the problem rather than dealing with the underlying issue.
Thanks for the reply

You can try with just pedialyte, or even just water with a little honey or white caro syrup in.
In small portions but often, to be more sure.

It is no long term solution, but will keep her alive a couple of days.

Goats milk is mild - may be worth a try. If successfull, it may be for weeks.

Has Boots lost weight since this problem started? How much? And what’s her ideal weight?

You are right about the Cerenia just masking the primary problem, that being why is she vomiting to begin with? She’s a bit young for Inflammatory Bowel Disease but that still has to be considered, as does pancreatitis. Other things, too, I am sure. Did you ask your vet about that? If your vet is unwilling or unable to work Boots up for a digestive issue, it’s time to change vets.

Meanwhile, it is very important to get food into her so she doesn’t get hepatic lipidosis.

Good luck today, please let us know what the plan is. Also, can you post a photo of Boots? We love photos

Thanks all. It's been a fun afternoon. So we went to the vets. I told them the story since the last visit. She didn't seem too worried because she thought she had been throwing up for much longer. She said it could be down to the FIV making her super sensitive. But that doesn't explain why its been monthly for the past three months. So she has had another injection so that she can actually eat something. And blood samples have been taken to run some tests. We will get the results on Thursday. I will keep you posted.

Since she has been home she's eaten half a sachet of wet food in two sittings. And drank some water. She's been licking her wounds (where the blood was taken) and acting perfectly normal still. She's kept her food down and seems a lot happier.

To answer your questions. I asked the vet about her weights. She was 3.75kg in Jan. Went down to 3.4kg in June and today weighed 3.5kg. So she seems to have gained weight. That could be the change in diet recently. But I'd like to get her back up to 3.75/3.8 ideally.

I did ask the vet about the other scarier possibilities. She said the blood tests should show if there are any liver or serious problems. But I need to wait.

The other option is getting a tablet form of Cerenia that I can give her at home. If the blood tests come back with no signs of any underlying issues would it be safe to assume that Boots is just extra sensitive because of her FIV? And because we know that Cerenia settles her nausea, would it be sensible to give her the tablets to avoid the trauma of her being sick once a month and having to drag her to the vet for a stingy injection? I don't know the long term affects of taking Cerenia. I know that it is more commonly used for car sickness in dogs.

Thanks for all your wisdom every one. It's much appreciated. Also... I hope this convo helps someone else one day. I know that I often stumble across old forum threads that help me out with various things.

Glad she is doing better this afternoon! She is a pretty little black girl. I hope she continues to improve. I dont know anything about the medication, but im sending her my best wishes!

Blood test results came back today. There is nothing to report. Only her antibodies are slightly high, which is apparently normal for cats with FIV. So it is a mystery why she has these episodes.

I've been given a tablet form of Cerenia to give to her when she starts to be sick again like this. Obviously I won't be making her take them all the time. Only when it gets the point where she hasn't eaten for 24 hours and there is no sign of it settling.

The tablets aren't licensed for cats in the UK. Not sure about anywhere else in the world. So they have not done any trials with cats and Cerenia. But hopefully it works and I won't need to take her back until she gets her next annual jab.

If anyone does have any experience with the medication I will happily take your advice on board.

I just want Boots to be happy

All the best x