Cat vomiting on and off for the past month and a half! Any similar experiences?

[peanutbutter7]

Hi everyone,

I know that there are a million "cat vomiting" threads, so I apologize for adding another one. I just wanted to share what we're specifically experiencing and see outcomes from people who have had similar experiences.

Starting in October (likely October 8th), our cat Luna has been vomiting on and off. She is a 2.5 year old standard issue cat, who hasn't really had any health problems until now. We also have a 1.5 year old cat named Arlo. We were on vacation, they had a cat sitter (who I am not confident did the best job), and when my husband got home, he noticed that there was vomit on the floor. The cat sitter had left the previous evening and my husband got home in the morning so there was around 12ish hours that they were home alone. She threw up around 3-4 times over the course of that week, so we took her to the vet. They said that since she looked good, and was acting totally normal, it could be something transient. She got some fluids and cerenia, and we were told to keep her on a bland diet for a few days.

Then she was good until last Thursday, November 9th. She threw up in the morning, and then she threw up almost every time she ate something that day into Friday morning, so we took her to the vet again. This time we got imaging done (x-rays), and they didn't find an obstruction, so they gave some cerenia, fluids, and a bland diet again and advised that if she threw up again in the next 24 hours to go to the emergency room. She had no other symptoms, was acting perfectly normal, and her physical exam was fine.

After she was able to keep food down, but then on Monday we realized that we didn't think she had defecated for a few days. She was still acting totally normal, but we just didn't see the amount of poop that we normally see when we are cleaning their litter boxes. So Tuesday, we went back to the vet, who said that she surprised to see Luna looking so healthy and behaving normally because usually if a cat hasn't pooped for 4 days, they have more symptoms. She wondered if maybe she was using the bathroom somewhere else or we didn't realize one of the poops were hers (always possible). She offered imaging, but we declined that day and decided to start with stool softeners and if she didn't poop still we'd bring her back the next day for imaging.

Well she pooped Tuesday night which was great! And all was good for 1 day where she wasn't vomiting and was pooping, until this morning she vomited again at around 8 am. I am giving her a few hours before giving a little bland food to see if she can keep that down, and if not she goes back to the vet for bloodwork and most likely an ultrasound.

The options on what's going on when there's chronic vomiting seem to be:
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Something with her liver or kidneys
- Maybe she's grown intolerant to her dry food? We typically give her both wet and dry food, but yesterday was the first day since last week we started introducing her dry back in
- Cancer? My old cat, Peanut, had chronic vomiting and was diagnosed with lymphoma, and I'd be beside myself if that was the case again

Does anyone have any experience or thoughts? Sometimes it's just nice to hear other people's experiences! Thank you so much for reading this!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. It could be a food intolerance, but the randomness of it would seem odd unless there is a variety of different foods you feed her and one or more of them is causing the issue. That being the case, chart the food(s) she ate on the days she threw up to see if there is a pattern. She could also be randomly getting into/eating something in the house, which is causing digestive upset.

When she throws up, is it immediately after eating or some time that passes before? Is the food undigested? Does she only throw up the dry food? If so, you might want to eliminate that dry food from her diet for a while and see if that stops the vomiting. It could also be that she is eating the dry food too fast, causing her to regurgitate it if she is throwing up immediately after eating. It may have bothered her stomach enough, which could cause her to throw up additional times until her systems settles down from the vomiting.

Given that you can't be sure she wasn't pooping, you need to find a way to monitor her so you know for sure. Some people use baby cams focused on the litter box(es) so they can see the cats coming and going and who is using it/them.

She's pretty young for IBD to develop, but that doesn't make it impossible. The bloodwork does need to be done to see if anything shows up from that aspect. And with cancer - vomiting is not really a good indicator. I have a cat with lymphoma and - knock-on-wood - she does not throw up. So, every cat is different in terms of how cancer affects them. Also true of IBD.

It doesn't hurt to have the ultrasound done, as maybe it will give some clues to the possibilities. But don't be too shocked if that doesn't really point to anything specific either. If it doesn't, that is good, even if it won't help you to resolve her issues. At that point, if you haven't found any pattern to the foods she is eating and when she throws up, I am guessing the vet would recommend a novel protein diet in case it has to do with one of the proteins in her current food. They could also suggest a sensitive stomach diet, instead.

 

[Kris107]

When she throws up, is it immediately after eating or some time that passes before? Is the food undigested? Does she only throw up the dry food? If so, you might want to eliminate that dry food from her diet for a while and see if that stops the vomiting. It could also be that she is eating the dry food too fast, causing her to regurgitate it if she is throwing up immediately after eating.

This was my first thought and question I'd ask too... I've had a few cats over the years who did this with dry food. It goes in compact, but once it gets moist, it expands a lot and then up it comes.

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. Not a vet, but if this was my cat. I would stop all dry, as long as she will eat canned. Also would be a good idea to do some bloodwork. Consider starting a novel protein diet like rabbit or venison and feeding only that. I would also pursue an abdominal ultrasound with a board certified veterinary internal medicine specialist. Ultrasounds are very subjective, so you want a vet that has had additional education and experience doing them. The ultrasound can show if the internal lymph nodes are enlarged or if there is thickening of the intestines. These are things that won’t show up on X-ray. It is important to get this under control because the constant inflammation can lead to more serious diseases.

Please keep us posted.

 

[three4rd]

Following this thread with interest. Starting to think there ARE a milion cat vomiting threads scattered throughout the internet!