Cat vomiting white foam and doesn’t want to eat

[ChunkyKat]

So I have a 8mo cat who started vomiting white bubbly foam (small piles) on Thursday morning. She vomited about 6 times throughout the day and stopped. She did not eat at all but was drinking water. I also gave her a bit of unflavored pedialyte that day to help rehydrate her.

Friday she continued to not want to eat but there was no more puking. Still drinking water. I thought it may have been a stuck hairball so I gave her some tuna flavored hairball gel followed by some melted butter and petroleum jelly and a half of an anti-nausea pill (vet prescribed) to try to move things along but she still hasn’t coughed anything up or used the litter box to expel anything.

She’s definitely not feeling well as she’s hissing at my other cats that go near her. She lets me pet her and pick her up though, I checked her stomach and it doesn’t feel bloated. Pressing on it doesn’t make her cry out. Her bladder doesn’t feel full (have experience with blocked kitties before), and she’s not straining in the litter box as far as I can tell. She’s licking her lips occasionally like she wants to throw up but doesn’t. She’s not having trouble getting comfortable or laying down either. She may be constipated but I never seen a cat vomit white foam if they’re constipated so I have no idea.

She just looks sad, I don’t know how to explain it, and she doesn’t have her usual kitten energy. There’s absolutely nothing she could’ve eaten that’s poisonous. I think the worst she could’ve ate was a crumb off the floor.

I’m going to make a vet visit ASAP although I’m afraid I won’t be able to afford x-rays/ultrasounds if we need them as we just drained our “cat savings” for a 3 grand hospital stay for my other baby and our regular vet that accepts payments won’t have an appointment til Wednesday and I don’t know if she will be okay until then! Just so worried and paranoid as I just lost one of my babies to heart failure and I don’t want to lose another one.

Does anyone have a similar experience or can give me advice on what to do? Should I try feeding her a bit of wet food?

 

[maggiedemi]

Hi. Do you use clumping or non-clumping litter? How often do you change it? Just wondering because when I used non-clumping and didn't change it often enough, this happened.

 

[ChunkyKat]

Hi. Do you use clumping or non-clumping litter? How often do you change it? Just wondering because when I used non-clumping and didn't change it often enough, this happened.

I use clumping and have an automatic cycling litter-bot so one box is always clean and the regular boxes get cleaned daily.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. So sorry to hear she isn't feeling well, and think taking her in to the vet is the right thing to do. I doubt you will get away without at least an x-ray as the vet will surely want to look for something that might be stuck in her digestive tract. Can't your regular vet take her in as a walk-in? If the vet has technicians, they should be able to handle an x-ray without direct involvement of your vet - or, if there are multiple vets in the practice, one of them should be able to 'squeeze' her in.

She might not throw up the hairball, if there is one, or expel it as quickly as you might hope. But, if what you gave her doesn't seem to be making any noticeable difference in her behavior, it could be that it is not a hairball. She does, however, need to eat - at least a bit. Can you try something as basic as baby food meats (no onion, garlic, etc.) and see if she will eat that? Sometimes, for reasons I don't understand, a cat will more readily eat off a paper plate when they are sick or otherwise reluctant to eat.

 

[Sugar Plum]

I agree about the vet. IME this is often related to food allergies or other digestive tract problems, but only a vet will be able to tell for sure.

 

[dkb817]

Cats do sometimes vomit when they’re constipated, depending on just HOW constipated they are. The concerning thing to me would be that she isn’t eating (though if she’s throwing up when she does it, I can understand the reluctance). When my Megacolon kitty was refusing to eat, the vet told me to pretty much let her eat whatever I could get in her (with the obvious exceptions of garlic and other poisonous foods), so I ended up scrambling eggs for her every day until she started eating again.

i would say to give her miralax in the future to keep things moving - but it sounds like you may be on your way to an enema to get things moving again. Like the others said, your best bet will be to get the kitten to a vet ASAP

 

[MissClouseau]

I think the vet would first ask for a blood test before ultrasound/x-ray. If the situation is about an infection which the blood test would tell, antibiotics will help. But the source of the infection may or may not need ultrasound afterward.

Maybe call your regular vet and ask where you can take your cat in for a blood test at least so the cat can be put on (the right) antibiotics if it's needed?

Right now Fortiflora (on wet food with a simple formula) might encourage eating and help as probiotics too. The whole box is expensive but where I live vet clinics sell individual little bags and not the whole box.

 

[ChunkyKat]

Small update:
It did seem she was just constipated. She is now eating and getting back to normal. Definitely keeping an eye on her and if there’s no more improvement she’ll have a vet visit, but for now I’m not too concerned. Thanks for all the advice.

 

[dkb817]

I’m glad she’s feeling a bit better - I would hesitate to brush off constipation as nothing though, especially if it’s an ongoing issue and not just a one-off.
a vet visit (or at least calling and asking or sending an email) might still be in order.

 

[Sugar Plum]

Maybe try offering her wet food too, if you don't already. This can help with constipation.