Cat with beginning kidney failure now throwing up every day

danteshuman

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So a bit of background:

Salem is a senior 16 years old. He lives with my mom because he refused/hated moving with me. So I took a kitten she wanted to get rid of to have less cats & she agreed to let Salem retire at her house. At the time we both thought he would live 6 months. He had lost a lot of weight since Dante’s death. We are just trying to keep him comfortable & happy untilit is time to let him go. He is happy at my mom’s & my stepdad has been his favorite person before I moved out.

Salem drinks lots of water& is fed lots of wet food (more often since the pandemic.) She also feeds him lots of lickable treats/gravies. He is peeing OK.

Today she told me he is throwing up water every day. How concerned should I be? Is he hurting? Is there some kind of wet food he can eat that easier for him to digest? Would less or no fish be better? The reason he gets fed lickable treats is because every one is just happier when he eats anything. He has gained back some weight since being fed 3-4 meals a day. He now looks healthier.

My first thought was “is it almost time to put him down?” The thing is no one wants him to suffer. I know throwing up water is often throwing up bile for cats. Does he need a vet visit for his recent tummy troubles? It has been going on for about a week.

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-Cory-

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I can't answer dietary questions, but I'd say it's time to go to the vet. The question is whether you think he'll get much out of the stress of whatever diagnostics they might run. You know him best and how engaged he still is with life. I'd say that's a good indication of what path to take. I'm sorry he's having issues.
 

Nadine L.

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Is it possible he is drinking so much water his body can't hold it? We had a cat with renal failure and gave her fluids subcutaneously. That helped for a while. I agree with your other reply about taking him to the vet.
 

FeebysOwner

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Hi. So sorry about what Salem is going through. Does he throw up any food at all? When does he throw up this 'water'? Right after drinking, or at other random times? If immediately after drinking water, it is possible that he has overloaded his belly with water. If it were bile it wouldn't be clear in color- it would more likely be yellowish or greenish in color.

I'd call the vet and ask about the vomiting clear liquid and any kidney-related fluid issue just to see what they say. I presume he is being monitored by the vet given what I deem to be his recent early kidney failure diagnosis, so the vet might be able to make some determinations about the next steps with just a call from you. The subQ fluids, as suggested above, might be the answer.

I have a 16+ yo, so I am kind of biased, I guess. But, that age is not yet old enough to go directly to euthanasia, especially since you said Salem is only in the beginning stages of kidney failure, and has actually made some positive progress with his overall health. There are likely steps that can be taken to help him out for now. If he is not throwing up food, that is all the better.
 

Mrsty1203

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I recently went through similar situation with my 19 1/2 year old cat. When the vet first said she was developing kidney disease at 17 years old, she said the most important thing was to keep them eating to combat the cycle of nausea. She gave me mirtazapine. I struggled getting the pills into her so then had the vet order a flavored liquid through a compounding pharmacy. It was expensive but worth it! I was easily able to mix this into her food and she ate it. She hadn’t started vomiting yet so to me this gave us 2 1/2 more years with our girl. She never got into the vomiting cycle and it also helped keep her weight up until she was diagnosed with thyroid disease.
 

susanm9006

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Yes, definitely vet visit. A senior cat can have multiple things going on and he may have something else that is treatable. With kidney disease he should also be on a special diet and it also may be that all those treats are causing Issues.
 
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sivyaleah

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The throwing up of bile is usually controllable via medication. Most likely cause is having nausea. It does not on it's own indicate you needing to think of end of life scenarios.

It does sound like there is an underlying health issue causing this so seeing the vet is extremely important particularly at his age. There's several reasons this could be happening; diabetes, kidney disease and an overactive thyroid all of which are common in older cats, sadly.

Only a vet will be able to address this completely. But yes, wet food would be the best choice right now as kibble is hard on older cats more delicate systems.
 
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danteshuman

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Well I was there for a day & night. I didn’t see him throw up. I will have to talk to my mom about it. Ask her when he is throwing up, is it after he has drunk water and if it has color. I will also suggest a visit (along with possibly some antinausea medication.)

He has always been a water loving cat that drank lots of water! So much so that I had them run a blood panel on him at just a bit past a year old, just to make sure he wasn’t drinking so much due to diabetes, kidney issues or another underlying health cause. He got a clean bill of health back then when he was young.

No he is not on a special diet. He is still playful (when the younger cats are not around to hog the toys.) Feeding him apart from the younger cats (now 2 years old) has helped. Lots of wet food seems to help.

It still seems like it is not the time to say goodbye, yet. At least I hope it is.
 

MamaKat9

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Hi. So sorry about what Salem is going through. Does he throw up any food at all? When does he throw up this 'water'? Right after drinking, or at other random times? If immediately after drinking water, it is possible that he has overloaded his belly with water. If it were bile it wouldn't be clear in color- it would more likely be yellowish or greenish in color.

I'd call the vet and ask about the vomiting clear liquid and any kidney-related fluid issue just to see what they say. I presume he is being monitored by the vet given what I deem to be his recent early kidney failure diagnosis, so the vet might be able to make some determinations about the next steps with just a call from you. The subQ fluids, as suggested above, might be the answer.

I have a 16+ yo, so I am kind of biased, I guess. But, that age is not yet old enough to go directly to euthanasia, especially since you said Salem is only in the beginning stages of kidney failure, and has actually made some positive progress with his overall health. There are likely steps that can be taken to help him out for now. If he is not throwing up food, that is all the better.
I have had cats with kidney failure live up to 3 years with daily subQ treatments. I feed them a kidney diet or if they do not want that I feed them whatever they will eat (boiled skinless chicken and the chicken water that creates, canned tuna fish in water, kitten food). Kidney failure is VERY common and cats can live comfortably with varying stages of kidney failure if you monitor them. I agree euthanasia should be your last thought after you have tried to treat the symptoms. If you had not mentioned the kidney issue I would have gone with a possible obstruction given the copious fluid vomit.
 
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