Kitten constantly vomitting. Checked twice by vet, operated to check intestine. Please read

[RandomUser1234]

Hi everyone.

I'm at a loss here, and hoping someone could help me, as i'm quite worried for my kittens health.
On saturday, my kitten (5 months old), started vomitting. At first it was only a puddle of her food and a puddle of clear liquid, but a day or so after, she started vomitting many times. I removed her food, so she just kept vomitting clear liquid (up to 5 times a day, but usually in/between a timespan of 4-5 hours).

I had her checked out by the vet on monday. They said the feel something hard in the intestine, but can't tell what it is. The x-ray didn't show anything, so they send me home. I made sure to give her only small quantities of food during the day. It seemed to get better for 1 day, but then started again. On wednesday, i brought her to another vet. They checked her, said there is something hard in her stomach and did another x-ray. I can't remember if they saw something on the x-ray or not, but they decided to operate her, because they had the suspicion of a foreign object blocking her intestine. They opened her stomach, but before actually opening the intestine, they apparently noticed that it was only gas, so they only "pressed" it out without opening the actual intestine (i had her neutered, since they opened her stomach anyway). They said it seems to be an intestinal infection of sorts.
I picked her up yesterday. Gave her the normal food she usually eats, fast forward to 2 hours ago, and she started vomitting again. She has vomitted 4 or 5 times nows in the span of 2 hours now. At first her food, then only clear liquid.

I will give the vet a call when they open, but i'm not sure how much they can/will help at this point. They might suggest i bring her to get checked again, but i'm not sure if that is contra-productive at this point. Not only is she recovering from the OP, but the original problem is also still there.

I do have a few questions:
Can a cat develop suddenly allergies against a specific food/ingredient, that would trigger such an agressive reaction from one day to another?
I thought maybe i got a bad batch of the dry food, but my other kitten eats the same, and she is fine.
Could me only feeding her dry-food cause this? The reason for this is: After i bought her, she had diarrhea for around 1 week. I had her checked at the vet, and they didn't find anything. Shortly before getting her checked, i switched to the dry food the previous owner was already feeding her, and it seemed to get slightly better. The vet suggested i only give her this specific dry food for a month.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[javannalynn]

have they checked her esophagus? I have a cat that vomits often and he has a condition called megaesophagus. it took us a while to come to the diagnosis but once they did an x-ray of the esophagus it was easy to see what the issue was. It is not very common in cats so might not be something the vet thinks of. hopefully, this is NOT the case as it has been a hard road with my Toby cat but definitely something to look into.

 

[RandomUser1234]

I don't think an x-ray was done around that part of the body. However, is that something that can suddenly develop? She is 5 months old now, and up to a few days ago, she didn't ever vomit or anything. I looked it up (only quickly, by no means am i knowledgable about it). From my understanding, the condition usually triggers regurgitation instead of vomiting. In my cats case, it's definitely vomiting, as she shows signs of nausea prior to throwing up (licking lips, heaving etc.)

 

[Bacon]

So it could be the food, maybe an allergy. I know this is going to sound rediculous, but my cat a horrible hair ball issue and she constantly vomits if I dont give her the hair ball control treats or the hairball control liquid that comes in a tube. I got hairball control cat food, but that did not work. She literally would vomit 3 or 4 times a day. Sometimes a hairball, most of the time just clear liquid. Once I started giving her the hairball control liquid/treats she stopped. I am not saying this is what yours has, but it could be a possibility. I have been told that if your cat is vomiting, clear liquid is the least concerning color to have, so at least there is that. It could also be IBS, and maybe that is why they put him on the special cat food, to see if it stops. My vet said as long as she is eating, drinking and going to the bathroom normally, she is not in complete danger and might just have a sensitive stomach. It was just a hairball sensitivity, but I was told to start on stomach sensitive food when I initially took her to the vet.
Oh...also check for roundworm. Those guys migrate when they are in the larval stage, and end up in the lungs. The cat then hacks them up and swallows them, effectively sending them to the gut. Kittens are prone to having them. The dewormer also only works on adults, so if there is an egg that lays dormant for a bit, a later treatment might be needed.
Good luck! I am sure you will find a solution.

 

[RandomUser1234]

What i'm curious to know is if a food allergy can develop from one day to another (and so extreme).
I have always looked at the vomit, and haven't seen hair once. She is long-haired and likes to clean herself a lot, so it would make sense, but again, i think if that was actually the issue, i'd have seen hair at least once.
I had her stool checked 1 month ago when she had diarrhea problems, and no worms were found. But as you mentioned, it might be possible that the worms developed now.

I gave the vet a call earlier, and was told to just feed her very small portions and see how it goes. I already tried that a few days ago, without success, but i guess i can't do much else. I'm not convinced that is the issue though.

 

[Bacon]

I also did not see hair, it was only on occasion that I would see a hairball. It was most of the time just clear liquid. I was extremely concerned by the number of times she would do this.
As for the allergy, I dont know, as I have only had a dog with IBS and with him he just had diarrhea really really bad until I switched his food. Maybe she is eating a plant or something around the house which could make it worse everytime she gets into it.
However, if you do want to try thw hairball route, just get the greenies treats for hairball control and follow the directions on the back. You will know with in a day or two if that was it as my cat instantly stopped. And to further solidify she had a hairball sensitivity, I forgot to give her her normal amount of treats for a few days and by the 3rd day she was hacking up clear fluid again and she had been good for weeks.
Worse case scenario is your cat gets some treats for a few days. Keep us posted with what happens. I'll keep trying to find solutions if needed.

 

[RandomUser1234]

I'm a bit reluctant to try any new foods/treats right now, because of the operation and her stomach problem in general. That being said, i will still try and get these treats (or similiar if i can't find them), tomorrow. If i see no improvement in the next few days, i will try and give her some treats to see if it gets better. But since they had her belly open, i think they wo

 

[Bacon]

No that makes sense. She has definitely been through quite a bit and needs some r and r.

 

[javannalynn]

I don't think an x-ray was done around that part of the body. However, is that something that can suddenly develop? She is 5 months old now, and up to a few days ago, she didn't ever vomit or anything. I looked it up (only quickly, by no means am i knowledgable about it). From my understanding, the condition usually triggers regurgitation instead of vomiting. In my cats case, it's definitely vomiting, as she shows signs of nausea prior to throwing up (licking lips, heaving etc.)

yes everyone says regurgitation but i watch Toby and he also heaves, side chews (turns his head and chews air) and lip smacks often. i have actually argued with vets because i still think he is vomiting but i have seen the x-rays and he has megaesophagus. it can develop suddenly or can be congenital. could also be a symptom of something else. its just something to look into if they are not finding a reason for the vomiting.


did the vet try giving her cerenia? they have it as a shot for cats. it stops nausea for 24 hours. it was how we started diagnosing Toby. when the anti-nausea stuff didn't work. although he was a baby then now I give it to him on his worse days and it helps. they have it in pill form for dogs and I just give him a quarter of the tab. It's an RX.

 

[RandomUser1234]

I see. It's definitely something i will keep in mind, in case the blood test will show no results.
I don't think they gave her anything against the nausea at all.

 

[LTS3]

Your vet can consult with a veterinary school to get more input on your cat's issues. Ask your vet to do this.

 

[waddle]

I think it could be the food. I recently had a problem with food causing vomiting and diarrhea in one of my cats. As soon as I stopped it she was better. Tested it again after a few days and she started throwing up again. She hasn’t vomited once since I stopped the food for good.

 

[RandomUser1234]

Well, in my opinion, my vet should first check the blood and stool. I don't know why they did an operation without checking blood and stool in the first place. I have no clue about medicine in general, but the vet said that my kitten made a "good general impression", so it wasn't that urgent yet. The fact that there was nothing in her intestine just shows me that this has to be some virus/bacteria, which surely they would have seen if they did the blood-test and or other tests, before operating. Especially since they can just feed her with an infusion, since i had brought her there already.

Food: I started feeding her some cooked chicken with broth since yesterday evening. At first she wasn't eating, but around 02:00 AM she finally ate the quite small portion i gave her. Sadly, she had to throw up around 08:00 AM this morning. However, this time it was only stomach liquid, so it seems the chicken itself was already digested. The liquid had a slightly red-ish tint, which i guess means some blood is mixed in there. At first i was worried about this, but i'm guessing this is probably just her stomach/esophagus being irritated from all the vomiting.
I have feed her some more chicken just now. She is hesitant, but eventually eats it. I will continue to feed small portion of chicken and broth throughout the day, and monitor her.
At this point, i wonder if the vomiting is triggered from her stomach/esophagus being irritated that much, and she might actually isn't sick anymore. Maybe some stomach protection/anit-nausea medicine would help, but i'm honestly not sure at all.