Cat Still Throwing All Food Up, No One Can Help

I’m not going to lie, the past four months have been a real eye opener for how the doctors in the veterinarian work their practices.

I posted on here about a month ago about my cat, she has horners syndrome in her left eye, nausea, and vomiting after eating, we were told after treating for infection, that it was most likely caused by a brain tumor or some sort of cancer.

After an MRI
After a spinal tap
After SEVERAL EKGs
After bloodwork multiple times
After seeing an ophthalmologist
After xrays of her chest and throat
After a 4 day hospital stay with IV
After an endoscope
Steroid injections
Anti nausea meds
After asking EVERYONE
After being referred to 10 different “specialists”
After getting back from an internal specialist:

My cat is now anorexic, she gags at almost all food, she sits hunched over a the time and hides behind the couch a lot. She is super hungry, but every time she eats even a single bite, after 30 seconds or so she starts throwing it right back up.

I’m being told she has pancreatitis, and IBD. They ruled out any obstructions, and masses, any they said she doesn’t have any cancer, no lymphoma or brain tumors.

So now I’m here, sitting with my cat, and she can’t eat anything? Are you kidding me?

Last night she threw up her KMR, which has never happened. She has now tried, and vomited:

Baby food
Purées
Turkey, raw and cooked
Chicken raw and cooked
Redi whip
Stomach sensitive wet food
Tuna
Salmon

Now the part that has me messed up even more. After getting back from her last hospital stay, she ate solid food for two days right after, and she hasn’t had solid food in probably a week before that. 3rd day from being home from the hospital, I ween her off her pain meds, and she starts gagging at her food, by the 4th day of being home, she is back to throwing everything up that she eats.

She now has PTSD with food. She will walk up to it and start feeling sick just looking at it. I can tell something is really not right.

I’m sick and tired of people telling me to go to the vet, or a different vet. I’ve now spend almost 15 grand in 4 months to be told my cat just has IBD and pancreatitis. I drove over 3 hours one way to see one of the “specialists”.

Why can no one help me? I need to feed my cat or she will die.

My last resort is a feeding tube, which I can’t afford after everything she’s been through. There has to be SOMEONE that can help me figure out why she can’t eat or help me figure out how to keep her food down. The vets are just seeing my poor sick cat as a money machine, and my heart is breaking.

She is currently on prednisolone, which I am not believing is helping, and the pain meds I just got refilled yesterday are called buprenorphine.

So after listening to everyone’s advice, and obeying all doctors orders, and getting each scan and test done that I didn’t have money for in the beginning, my cat is worse now. The internal specialist told me to get back with her in a week or so how my cat is doing on these meds, but also told me she only has a week or so to live if she doesn’t eat. Wtf?

Give this vet hospital a shot: Referral Services • MSPCA-Angell They do consults for vets so you'll have to ask your vet to call. Internal medicine would probably be best. It would help if your vet has all your cat's records from the other vets, too.

I am really feeling for you and your poor cat
If there was some improvement after the last hospital stay is there some way you can figure out why that was? Presumably she was on fluids and maybe some kind of anti inflammatory?

Erinlinkcappy said:

If there was some improvement after the last hospital stay is there some way you can figure out why that was? Presumably she was on fluids and maybe some kind of anti inflammatory?

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I agree with you. There must have been something she was on that was making her eat and feel better. Once those meds wore off, it seems like she got worse, from an outsiders point of view.
I'm extremely sorry for what you're going through and I'll keep you two in my prayers.

Unavailabill said:

I’m not going to lie, the past four months have been a real eye opener for how the doctors in the veterinarian work their practices.

I posted on here about a month ago about my cat, she has horners syndrome in her left eye, nausea, and vomiting after eating, we were told after treating for infection, that it was most likely caused by a brain tumor or some sort of cancer.

After an MRI
After a spinal tap
After SEVERAL EKGs
After bloodwork multiple times
After seeing an ophthalmologist
After xrays of her chest and throat
After a 4 day hospital stay with IV
After an endoscope
Steroid injections
Anti nausea meds
After asking EVERYONE
After being referred to 10 different “specialists”
After getting back from an internal specialist:

My cat is now anorexic, she gags at almost all food, she sits hunched over a the time and hides behind the couch a lot. She is super hungry, but every time she eats even a single bite, after 30 seconds or so she starts throwing it right back up.

I’m being told she has pancreatitis, and IBD. They ruled out any obstructions, and masses, any they said she doesn’t have any cancer, no lymphoma or brain tumors.

So now I’m here, sitting with my cat, and she can’t eat anything? Are you kidding me?

Last night she threw up her KMR, which has never happened. She has now tried, and vomited:

Baby food
Purées
Turkey, raw and cooked
Chicken raw and cooked
Redi whip
Stomach sensitive wet food
Tuna
Salmon

Now the part that has me messed up even more. After getting back from her last hospital stay, she ate solid food for two days right after, and she hasn’t had solid food in probably a week before that. 3rd day from being home from the hospital, I ween her off her pain meds, and she starts gagging at her food, by the 4th day of being home, she is back to throwing everything up that she eats.

She now has PTSD with food. She will walk up to it and start feeling sick just looking at it. I can tell something is really not right.

I’m sick and tired of people telling me to go to the vet, or a different vet. I’ve now spend almost 15 grand in 4 months to be told my cat just has IBD and pancreatitis. I drove over 3 hours one way to see one of the “specialists”.

Why can no one help me? I need to feed my cat or she will die.

My last resort is a feeding tube, which I can’t afford after everything she’s been through. There has to be SOMEONE that can help me figure out why she can’t eat or help me figure out how to keep her food down. The vets are just seeing my poor sick cat as a money machine, and my heart is breaking.

She is currently on prednisolone, which I am not believing is helping, and the pain meds I just got refilled yesterday are called buprenorphine.

So after listening to everyone’s advice, and obeying all doctors orders, and getting each scan and test done that I didn’t have money for in the beginning, my cat is worse now. The internal specialist told me to get back with her in a week or so how my cat is doing on these meds, but also told me she only has a week or so to live if she doesn’t eat. ***?

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I'm SO sorry you are going through this. I can't even imagine.

Unavailabill said:

I’m not going to lie, the past four months have been a real eye opener for how the doctors in the veterinarian work their practices.

I posted on here about a month ago about my cat, she has horners syndrome in her left eye, nausea, and vomiting after eating, we were told after treating for infection, that it was most likely caused by a brain tumor or some sort of cancer.

After an MRI
After a spinal tap
After SEVERAL EKGs
After bloodwork multiple times
After seeing an ophthalmologist
After xrays of her chest and throat
After a 4 day hospital stay with IV
After an endoscope
Steroid injections
Anti nausea meds
After asking EVERYONE
After being referred to 10 different “specialists”
After getting back from an internal specialist:

My cat is now anorexic, she gags at almost all food, she sits hunched over a the time and hides behind the couch a lot. She is super hungry, but every time she eats even a single bite, after 30 seconds or so she starts throwing it right back up.

I’m being told she has pancreatitis, and IBD. They ruled out any obstructions, and masses, any they said she doesn’t have any cancer, no lymphoma or brain tumors.

So now I’m here, sitting with my cat, and she can’t eat anything? Are you kidding me?

Last night she threw up her KMR, which has never happened. She has now tried, and vomited:

Baby food
Purées
Turkey, raw and cooked
Chicken raw and cooked
Redi whip
Stomach sensitive wet food
Tuna
Salmon

Now the part that has me messed up even more. After getting back from her last hospital stay, she ate solid food for two days right after, and she hasn’t had solid food in probably a week before that. 3rd day from being home from the hospital, I ween her off her pain meds, and she starts gagging at her food, by the 4th day of being home, she is back to throwing everything up that she eats.

She now has PTSD with food. She will walk up to it and start feeling sick just looking at it. I can tell something is really not right.

I’m sick and tired of people telling me to go to the vet, or a different vet. I’ve now spend almost 15 grand in 4 months to be told my cat just has IBD and pancreatitis. I drove over 3 hours one way to see one of the “specialists”.

Why can no one help me? I need to feed my cat or she will die.

My last resort is a feeding tube, which I can’t afford after everything she’s been through. There has to be SOMEONE that can help me figure out why she can’t eat or help me figure out how to keep her food down. The vets are just seeing my poor sick cat as a money machine, and my heart is breaking.

She is currently on prednisolone, which I am not believing is helping, and the pain meds I just got refilled yesterday are called buprenorphine.

So after listening to everyone’s advice, and obeying all doctors orders, and getting each scan and test done that I didn’t have money for in the beginning, my cat is worse now. The internal specialist told me to get back with her in a week or so how my cat is doing on these meds, but also told me she only has a week or so to live if she doesn’t eat. ***?

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How is your cat? I'm so sorry you're going through this. I can't even imagine how you must feel. Sending positive vibes your way.

Let's put our heads together and get the cat fed? :-)

I'm not a vet, or a nutritionist to be clear. I understand fully about a sick cat not eating - been-there-done-that. Not fun at all and scary as helk!

Biggest hugs. My heart is breaking for you in so many ways. I'm so sorry this is happening to you and your kitty. I'm so very sorry.

Have you tried:
Kitten glop?
Pedialyte?
Eggs?
Broth or Plain bone broth? (nothing at all spice wise at all)

SOS @Furballsmom

Sending good vibes your way and I'll try to think of more things for you to try to get baby some food down.

I didn't even notice the original post was the end of January. I hope the kitty is doing better. U Unavailabill any news?

Perhaps try an acid reducer like famotidine or omeprazole? But honestly, that doesn't sound like it.

Ondansetron is an anti nausea med that can help cats. (Women take it for morning sickness). Cerenia can also help with nausea, but some folks on this site have had bad experiences with it.

The question is if she would even keep those meds down long enough for them to work.

Is there any blood in her vomit?

I'm so sorry to hear this. Please keep us updated.

How is your cat doing? I read both your threads because I have a cat with a similar mysterious issue at the moment--vomiting and no appetite--though not the eye issue. I am so sorry you are struggling. My cat has been greatly helped in the short term by a combination of several things: (1) administration of IV fluids to address dehydration (lots of vomiting can result in a dehydrated cat), (2) an anti-vomiting medication called Cerenia, and (3) an appetite stimulant called Mirtazapine. These are common treatments that should be available through a vet, though I note that you can also administer hydration fluids at home. With my cat, it has been important to have both the medications at the same time, so the cat is both stimulated to eat, and can digest the food without vomiting it up. This treatment approach is to address the immediate issue of no eating and get the cat stable, but it does not give you a diagnosis. For my cat, I have heard gastroenteritis, IBD, food sensitivity/allergy, toxicity (from an ingested toxin), among other things. The lack of answers is frustrating--I know! I am currently getting my cat stable to buy time to do further testing.

Your other thread contains some good suggestions about special diet and acid reflux. I have stopped the chicken diet that my cat normally consumes and she is eating rabbit at the moment. I am also going to get some bone broth that was recommended in this forum and try that.

I wanted to add one thing about the medications that I mentioned. Mirtazapine comes in a transdermal cream that is easily applied inside the ear. A vet can administer a Cerenia injection, but they send you home with a Cerenia pill. I had problems getting my cat to swallow the Cerenia pill, because she would immediately vomit it up. So I am having a compounding pharmacy make a Cerenia transdermal cream... apparently, yes, they can do that.

Unavailabill said:

I’m not going to lie, the past four months have been a real eye opener for how the doctors in the veterinarian work their practices.

I posted on here about a month ago about my cat, she has horners syndrome in her left eye, nausea, and vomiting after eating, we were told after treating for infection, that it was most likely caused by a brain tumor or some sort of cancer.

After an MRI
After a spinal tap
After SEVERAL EKGs
After bloodwork multiple times
After seeing an ophthalmologist
After xrays of her chest and throat
After a 4 day hospital stay with IV
After an endoscope
Steroid injections
Anti nausea meds
After asking EVERYONE
After being referred to 10 different “specialists”
After getting back from an internal specialist:

My cat is now anorexic, she gags at almost all food, she sits hunched over a the time and hides behind the couch a lot. She is super hungry, but every time she eats even a single bite, after 30 seconds or so she starts throwing it right back up.

I’m being told she has pancreatitis, and IBD. They ruled out any obstructions, and masses, any they said she doesn’t have any cancer, no lymphoma or brain tumors.

So now I’m here, sitting with my cat, and she can’t eat anything? Are you kidding me?

Last night she threw up her KMR, which has never happened. She has now tried, and vomited:

Baby food
Purées
Turkey, raw and cooked
Chicken raw and cooked
Redi whip
Stomach sensitive wet food
Tuna
Salmon

Now the part that has me messed up even more. After getting back from her last hospital stay, she ate solid food for two days right after, and she hasn’t had solid food in probably a week before that. 3rd day from being home from the hospital, I ween her off her pain meds, and she starts gagging at her food, by the 4th day of being home, she is back to throwing everything up that she eats.

She now has PTSD with food. She will walk up to it and start feeling sick just looking at it. I can tell something is really not right.

I’m sick and tired of people telling me to go to the vet, or a different vet. I’ve now spend almost 15 grand in 4 months to be told my cat just has IBD and pancreatitis. I drove over 3 hours one way to see one of the “specialists”.

Why can no one help me? I need to feed my cat or she will die.

My last resort is a feeding tube, which I can’t afford after everything she’s been through. There has to be SOMEONE that can help me figure out why she can’t eat or help me figure out how to keep her food down. The vets are just seeing my poor sick cat as a money machine, and my heart is breaking.

She is currently on prednisolone, which I am not believing is helping, and the pain meds I just got refilled yesterday are called buprenorphine.

So after listening to everyone’s advice, and obeying all doctors orders, and getting each scan and test done that I didn’t have money for in the beginning, my cat is worse now. The internal specialist told me to get back with her in a week or so how my cat is doing on these meds, but also told me she only has a week or so to live if she doesn’t eat. ***?

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Unavailabill said:

I’m not going to lie, the past four months have been a real eye opener for how the doctors in the veterinarian work their practices.

I posted on here about a month ago about my cat, she has horners syndrome in her left eye, nausea, and vomiting after eating, we were told after treating for infection, that it was most likely caused by a brain tumor or some sort of cancer.

After an MRI
After a spinal tap
After SEVERAL EKGs
After bloodwork multiple times
After seeing an ophthalmologist
After xrays of her chest and throat
After a 4 day hospital stay with IV
After an endoscope
Steroid injections
Anti nausea meds
After asking EVERYONE
After being referred to 10 different “specialists”
After getting back from an internal specialist:

My cat is now anorexic, she gags at almost all food, she sits hunched over a the time and hides behind the couch a lot. She is super hungry, but every time she eats even a single bite, after 30 seconds or so she starts throwing it right back up.

I’m being told she has pancreatitis, and IBD. They ruled out any obstructions, and masses, any they said she doesn’t have any cancer, no lymphoma or brain tumors.

So now I’m here, sitting with my cat, and she can’t eat anything? Are you kidding me?

Last night she threw up her KMR, which has never happened. She has now tried, and vomited:

Baby food
Purées
Turkey, raw and cooked
Chicken raw and cooked
Redi whip
Stomach sensitive wet food
Tuna
Salmon

Now the part that has me messed up even more. After getting back from her last hospital stay, she ate solid food for two days right after, and she hasn’t had solid food in probably a week before that. 3rd day from being home from the hospital, I ween her off her pain meds, and she starts gagging at her food, by the 4th day of being home, she is back to throwing everything up that she eats.

She now has PTSD with food. She will walk up to it and start feeling sick just looking at it. I can tell something is really not right.

I’m sick and tired of people telling me to go to the vet, or a different vet. I’ve now spend almost 15 grand in 4 months to be told my cat just has IBD and pancreatitis. I drove over 3 hours one way to see one of the “specialists”.

Why can no one help me? I need to feed my cat or she will die.

My last resort is a feeding tube, which I can’t afford after everything she’s been through. There has to be SOMEONE that can help me figure out why she can’t eat or help me figure out how to keep her food down. The vets are just seeing my poor sick cat as a money machine, and my heart is breaking.

She is currently on prednisolone, which I am not believing is helping, and the pain meds I just got refilled yesterday are called buprenorphine.

So after listening to everyone’s advice, and obeying all doctors orders, and getting each scan and test done that I didn’t have money for in the beginning, my cat is worse now. The internal specialist told me to get back with her in a week or so how my cat is doing on these meds, but also told me she only has a week or so to live if she doesn’t eat. ***?

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Sounds familiar-try sub-cu fluids

Similar response from my cat and can only treat with regular sub Q fluids at home. Doubt it's the same, but her reaction is the same when she's been without fluids for too long.

I agree with finding out EXACTLY everything that was done at the vets office, where she ate for 2 days after coming home.
If it was the fluids, which can help with many eating issues, you can try sub-Q fluids at home. I did sub-Qs with my cat for 3 years when he had CKD, it's not as bad as you would think.
I'm not sure I understood this correctly, but it seemed like when she was on pain meds, she ate better? I wonder if she has some sort of pain response when she eats that makes her vomit. Kinda like when someone has severe celiac disease or or other painful gastro condition. I don't know if this disease exists in cats but there is a rare condition where ANYTIME food is ingested, the smooth muscles of intestines go into spasms and it is very painful and will cause vomiting. This can happen with IBD, but this one is different. I'm SO SORRY, I can't think of the name of it!!! (I'm going to try to find the name of what I'm talking about and come back) Have they tried giving her anti-spasmodic medication?
Is there a possibility she has maybe developed a severe allergy? I would look at all her food and see what, if any, common denominator is included. It could be something like gluten, or ALL "usual" proteins. I wonder if feeding her rabbit, duck, kangaroo or anything exotic would work?
Maybe go to the butcher and get a fresh whole rabbit or duck and get them to grind it up and see if she can eat that? Or go buy a frozen dead mouse (usually sold for feeding snakes) and see if she can eat a mouse? You can get them in different stages of life, like "pinkies" where they are newborn and very small with no fur yet on them.
I wonder if she may have a condition where the stomach will not empty into the intestines properly, and where by the intestines have difficultly passing food thru. It's called Gastroparesis.
I'm just pulling stuff from every nook of my brain that I can. If nothing else, it might give you a light bulb moment for something different. I will come back if I think of anything else that might help.

I'll be thinking of you and your kitty. So sorry you're going thru this.

Chronic Intestinal Pseudo-Obstruction is one from of smooth muscle disorder.

I wonder if she may be having esophageal spasms as well? If the spasms and pain only show while or right after she eats, it won't show on x-rays or imaging unless they image the area right after eating, while she is having an attack.

Bird said:

(1) administration of IV fluids to address dehydration (lots of vomiting can result in a dehydrated cat), (2) an anti-vomiting medication called Cerenia, and (3) an appetite stimulant called Mirtazapine. These are common treatments that should be available through a vet, though I note that you can also administer hydration fluids at home. W

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Sorry, I can't edit my posts yet, so I wanted to make the correction to my earlier post. I wrote "IV fluids" but I meant subcutaneous fluids of course. Sorry. My cat became moderately dehydrated after only one week of vomiting. I have administered subcutaneous fluids at home previously (different cat) and it's totally doable at home, even by someone who hates needles like me!

Time for an update.

Again, thank you to everyone for replying and suggesting food and offering help, I greatly appreciate it. You guys are great.

For starters, I want to say I have learned far more from the people of this forum than I have from any of the professional vets I’ve now spent over 10,000 dollars in 4 months on across the entire state.

Cali is doing better now, but she’s not better.

I now try and feed her every 2-3 hours.

I have been trying turkey, which she tries to eat, but it seems to be really hard for her to chew and swallow food, (possibly a nausea issue?) so she drops the pieces out of her mouth as she tries to eat and eats so slow she just gives up usually.

The only thing that has been keeping her alive is KMR. I feed it to her at midnight, 2 or 3am, then 5am, then again at 8 before work. My girlfriend has been helping a lot in the evening with making sure she always eats at least a little KMR.

It’s very frustrating because with the KMR, she almost never wants it, turns away from it, so I’ll walk over to her and she will turn away again, repeat for 15 minutes and I can eventully get her to lap it up.

In the middle of the night it’s usually easier because she is sleeping and she will eat the KMR without much fight because she doesn’t want to get up from her deep kitty slumber to walk away from the food.

Her appetite is fine, she asks for food constantly, but as soon as almost any food is put in front of her she walks away.

She wants the weirdest things like burgers, we were eating the other day some burgers we cooked up and she was climbing on me trying to get some (she rarely does that lately,) I did not give her any though, because I’m scared to feed her anything at this point. She hasn’t thrown up on over a week and I don’t want to ruin that.

My next step is probably trying to find different proteins like people have suggested. I can’t find rabbit in my town or even turkey really. It’s my goal next week to try and find some rabbit.

My questions are should I be cooking this meat or trying a raw diet, I feel like when she eats cooked meat she does fine, I’ve had her throw up semi raw turkey before.

My other question is the doctor suggested a hydrolyzed diet from Royal Canin, should I just not even try that, because is the dry food possibly one do her issues??

Esophagitis was what the doctor was saying she needs tested for next but I’m done with tests. I’m kinda at a dead end here, but I’m going to make sure she keeps eating KMR if nothing else.

You and your kit have been through a terrible lot, I feel for you both and am awe struck by the way things have gone.

In many countries you can get decent (though that depends on what she can handle) cat food on the net. Check with Chewy.com, and by individual brand names, and Amazon. Read the reviews, things seem to go wrong often in packing and shipping at Amazon, I don't know why. These places provide canned and dry foods. They deliver. Canned comes in all textures.

If you've already decided it's not allergies skip this part. If not, taking a break from vet appointments will give you a chance to try allergy elimination diets. Because why not? I'm sure your kit's as tired of vets as you are. You can do the allergy search on your own. Or not, I'm sure there are vets who will be more than happy to help with it.

I'm not saying she has an allergy. But it is a thought. Our vet tried to say our cat had IBD, but we decided to see if it was allergies first. It was - chicken, which is in most cat food. That makes it look like IBD because they throw up almost everything.

At this point, I think you should feed her whatever she wants to eat. Even if it's a burger at least it's food. She might throw it up, but she might keep it down. If she can keep burger down repeatedly you could try slowly adding supplements to cooked ground beef. Have you tried butter? Some cats really like butter and if she's one of them you could mix a little melted butter in the KMR to get her to eat. It's not the healthiest but I don't think healthy food should really be of concern right now. Sardines and smelt are super stinky but might be enticing. At the very least you could turn them to mush and mix it with KMR.

I have IBS and GERD and sometimes I physically can't swallow food or drink. I try and have to spit it back out because I just can't make it go down. I'm also nauseous like all the time. If I was a cat and didn't understand the importance of eating or have the ability to choose my own food I would probably starve. I found Omeprazole to help a bit and it aids in healing any existing throat damage. It may be worth asking the vet about.

Rabbit-based foods are made by Instinct and Merrick, which are relatively easy to find at PetSmart/Petco but can also be ordered online. One of the Merrick rabbit foods also contains chicken—just fyi, if you want to avoid chicken. Read the ingredient labels before buying. You might try lamb too. The prescription hydrolyzed diets come in a canned, wet version.

My cat Dusty is experiencing some of the same issues. She wants to eat, gives the hungry signals, but won’t eat. About a week ago she was chewing food but then letting it drop out of her mouth. Same as your cat! These poor babies. They want to eat.

Have you tried beef? Also are you waiting to offer more food after they throw up? My cats has to wait at least an hour or he will just vomit again.