Evidence-based medicine research published at the end of December 2013 indicates that too many pet parents and vets think some vomiting is "just the cat," when, in fact, it may be a sign of small bowel disease, or developing small bowel disease. Contrary to intuition, "chronic" vomiting is not a problem based further up the GI system.
Discussion of the published piece:
http://www.veterinarypracticenews.c...c-vomiting-in-cats-isnt-normal-after-all.aspx
http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.co...ng-cats/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/832271
http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/vetmed/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=831497&pageID=4
The study abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24171376
Notable:
Also
Finally,
From the study results, that 25% of cats (26 cats) that were just there for an annual examination that the author felt that vomiting should be investigated further?
Discussion of the published piece:
http://www.veterinarypracticenews.c...c-vomiting-in-cats-isnt-normal-after-all.aspx
http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.co...ng-cats/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/832271
http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/vetmed/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=831497&pageID=4
The study abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24171376
Notable:
A study of 100 cats with a history of chronic vomiting, weight loss, chronic diarrhea or a combination was recently accepted for publication by the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.1 The authors, whom I led, concluded that chronic small bowel disease likely is the cause of these clinical signs in hundreds of thousands of cats.
Chronic vomiting, present in 73 percent of the cases, is so common that many veterinarians and cat owners have made excuses for it.
The top four reported to me over the years are:
* He eats too fast;
* She has a sensitive stomach;
* It’s just hairballs; and
* "He’s just a puker,” to quote one of my clients.
Also
Bold, my emphasisAnother notable finding in this study is that vomiting of hairballs is really not as normal as we have thought. The vomitus of many of the cats contained hair or hairballs more than 50 percent of the time.
I hypothesize that formation and vomiting of hairballs are due primarily to hypomotility of the small bowel. Instead of moving aborally at the normal speed, hair moves slowly, resulting in hairball formation.
I am convinced that the vomiting of hairballs is a sign of chronic small bowel disease if it occurs twice a month or more in any cat; or if it occurs once every two months or more in shorthaired cats; or if it occurs in cats that are not fastidious groomers, i.e., presented with many mats in their hair coats or with heavy dandruff.
Finally,
About 25 percent of the cats in the study were presented for an annual examination. I begin my annual examinations with the client completing a history form that asks about several clinical signs. Vomiting is the most commonly reported clinical sign and is often accepted by the client as insignificant based on one or more of the excuses listed above.
From the study results, that 25% of cats (26 cats) that were just there for an annual examination that the author felt that vomiting should be investigated further?
And the owners of those 26 cats had considered the vomiting insignificant.Twenty-six cats in the study were evaluated as part of wellness examinations. Each of these 26 cats had clinical signs of CSBD [chronic small bowel disease], but the owners did not consider the signs to be clinically important. Explanations provided by the owners for the signs included that the cat ate too fast, was typically nervous, had a sensitive stomach, had hair balls (ie, trichobezoars), or had always had these signs and thus the cat was considered clinically normal. Of these 26 cats, 16 had chronic enteritis, 8 had lymphoma, and 2 had lymphoma and mast cell disease.