My 11y/o cat is vomiting foam and has watery diarrhea...

[queenof3]

Hello, all. I have a situation: my 11 y/o cat is vomiting but it's white foamy liquid that's coming out. Could it be bile? She had  this morning, which she vomited up a while after. She ate nothing after that, and had a foamy vomit a few hours later, and another foamy vomit about two hours ago. Now the vomiting is accompanied by diarrhea. At first, the diarrhea was greenish, now it's watery with mucus. She's alert, walking around, but shes not eating and shes vomiting and having diarrhea. I think I have to take her to the hospital.

Baby has a history of vomiting since she was a kitten, but only now it has become more frequent. Last year she had a complete work up as well as an abdominal sonogram. Her vet at the humane society of NY was not able to find anything wrong with her, so Baby was put on a diet that is for sensitive stomachs. It's a gastric diet from  Purina, called EN and it's not the best food but it seems to have controlled her vomiting somewhat. She still vomits but it's not so frequent. She has also lost weight - she used to be about 16 pounds but now she's about 10 pounds. This occurred last year and while we would like to think it was because we switched her to wet food, it's not so. Something is going on but we just can't figure it out. Her weight has since been stable at about 10 pounds. Her mental state is the same as it always was, she hasn't changed throughout any of this.

At the moment, she's ok but im wondering what could be causing this problem. I live with my siblings and sometimes they are careless about the products they use around the house and on themselves. Could it a chemical she's come in contact with or something she ate off the floor? I guess I won't know exactly but im worried for her. 

What could greenish diarrhea mean? The vomiting accompanied by diarrhea is very unsettling for me because I feel like it could be something that she ate and her body is now trying to get rid of it. Can anyone offer their two cents? what should I do at this point? she's alert and walking around so I don't know if I should wait until the morning to bring her to the vet or just take her to the hospital now...

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

If this were my cat, I would take her immediately to the Emergency Vet.. Foamy vomit can be a sign of poisoning. I am not sure about green diarrhea. Cats can become dehydrated very quickly when they are vomiting and having diarrhea too. Is your cat an indoor only cat? Has anyone sprayed any chemical, bug spray, or mopped the floors with some cleaning product, etc. Or is it possible the cat ate some leaves off a plant?

Has your cat ever had a check up at the vet that included a full blood panel? That might shed some light on the vomiting issue. Over how long a period of time did your cat lose 6 pounds. That kind of weight loss can be critical in a cat. I urge you, take her to the vet and try to get some answers.

I do hope you can determine what the problem is and get her treated so she can be okay. Keep us posted.

 

[stephanietx]

Another vote for the ER Vet, or at least call them.

 

[queenof3]

All my cats are indoor. I don't have any plants in the house because I fear they'll get into them. I am very careful with house-hold cleaners and only use them in the bathroom. The door to the bathroom is always closed, the toilet lid is always down, the cabinet containing the cleaners is always shut and not easily opened. I rather not use a variety of cleaners but my sister insists on using them and I've warned her many times about this issue. However, she only uses them to clean the tub and the wall tiles, or so she says. She uses her perfume generously and so does my younger brother. I have carpeting in the house and even though it gets steam cleaning every three months, it's a sink for all the fallout perfumes. I am currently working on resolving this issue.

Baby lost all that weight last year over a period of 3-4 months. During that time we switched her to wet food. At first we didn't realize what was going on but I took her to the vet when I caught on. She gets yearly check ups like the rest of my cats. She had a full blood panel to determine the cause of her vomiting followed by an abdominal sonogram. Everything was normal. A few months after this work-up, she had dental cleaning and had another blood work including some tests that were meant to address the vomiting issue. Again, nothing showed up. The vet then gave me a few choices of foods good for cats with sensitive stomachs and intestines. I put her on Purina EN gastric food and her vomiting completely stopped. It started several weeks later but it was not frequent. Currently, her vomiting is still there but it's not frequent. I would say once in a while, maybe once in 2-3 weeks and other times once in 4 weeks. She used to vomite daily or every other day or every two days.

Baby is currently alert, she's walking around the house. She's not vomiting now but she just had diarrhea and it looks white liquid. I will post a photo.

Unfortunately baby is not the only one with the diarrhea. Two of my other cats have it also. Their's is not so liquidy. They all eat different foods so I don't think it's the food. Maybe it's the treats? They all eat the same treats: freeze dried chicken. I've noticed some pieces are wet in the core, they're not completely dried. I don't give those pieces to my cats. So it's either the treats or it's some kind of chemical agent.

The others are eating and playing, Baby is the only one refusing to eat. I'm watching her right now. If she gets worse in the next few hours, I will bring her to the ER.

 

[queenof3]

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• queenof3
• Aug 31, 2015

 

[queenof3]

The diarrhea looks tinged in the photo with what could be blood, but it's not. I checked closely. It's solid poop.

I'm calling the ER now.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

queenof3

I am so sorry you are going through this. I hope you get some answers and that your cat will be fine. One thing that comes to my mind is this. You say they all eat different foods. You say two of your other cats have the diarrhea.

Questions:

How many different foods are being served to the cats?
Do you separate them when you feed them to keep them from eating each other's food?
Do you take up the excess food when they are finished?

My reason for asking these questions is that their stomachs may stay upset from eating so many different kinds of foods if they have access to each others bowls.

I know when someone decided to change foods, it should be done not all at once, but gradually to keep the cat from getting sick.

This is just a thought I had that might be considered in trying to determine what is causing this problem. Please keep us posted as you look for an answer to this problem so we will know how things are going.

 

[stephanietx]

@QueenOf3 how is your baby today?

 

[queenof3]

Baby was my first cat and because I was so inexperienced, I free-fed her dry food (Nature's variety for indoor cats and Anova). As time went on, she started gaining weight and I thought it was not good for her. So at the vet's recommendation, I introduced her to wet food. We went through many different foods trying to figure out what she likes, but she always wanted dry food. It took me three years to convince her to eat wet food, and she settled on fancy feast. She lost all that weight when she went on fancy feast entirely. I would not say that her weight loss was because of the wet food because it happened so fast (over 3 months). At this time, her vomiting became more frequent. We had a whole work up done but the vet was not able to find anything. Now Baby is on gastric-sensitive food (EN, Purina) and she likes it and she seems to be doing good. She finishes a 5 ounce can each day but if you show her dry food, she'll prefer to eat that instead. She weighs 10 pounds now.

I have 3 other male cats and Baby doesn't like any of them. When it's time for Baby to eat, she's fed in a separate room with the door closed so she can have her space and eat peacefully. We feed her small frequent meals, allowing her to finish a can a day. If I give her too much food at once, she vomits, so she has to be fed smaller meals. Once she's done, her dish is removed.

My 8 y/o male cat, Odie, has a history of urinary blockage. At age 3 he became completely blocked and had to have surgery done. After that, he was put on SO urinary dry food. He only eats that. He is also fed separately.

The youngest two, Iggy and Inky, are both 1 y/o, and we adopted them as kittens. I didn't want to put them on dry food because of my past experience with Baby and Odie so I only gave them wet food. They eat Instinct by nature's variety. They eat together.

So Odie is the only one on dry food and they all love and prefer his food, which is kept in a secure place for this reason. Im guessing it's salty because after eating a few kibbles, they run to drink water. I feed them all separately and no food is left around. Odie and Baby do not like Iggy and Inky's food so if they walk away from their food, I leave it out for about 30 minutes and then remove the dishes.

Let me just say that it is so much work feeding them separately and catering to their individual needs. I am a college student myself and if I didn't have help from my mom and sisters, I don't think i'd be alive.

 

[queenof3]

Baby is doing much better now. I didn't take her to the ER last night because after I posted the photo above, she had zero vomits and diarrhea. Since then, she is alert, interactive, and walking around the house. At 7 am she asked my mom for food but my mom wasn't sure if she should be fed so she didn't feed her. At about 10 am, Baby came in the kitchen to ask for food again. When I offered her regular EN food to her, she got upset and walked away. Could it be the food? Inky is the only other who has soft poop at the moment (an improvement from the diarrhea). He loves eating and sometimes I've seen him licking her food plate even though there's nothing in there. I  think it could be the food. When I offered her Fancy Feast, classic chunky chicken, she immediately perked up and wanted to eat. So I gave her a little bit. After eating, she came out to get a drink of water, which I thought was a positive sign.

As of yet, I have not taken her to see a vet. She's her regular self at the moment, and there's no vomiting or diarrhea. I have stopped the EN food and contacted the merchant regarding a potential problem and they said they are looking in to see if this batch is ok or not. If she starts again, then I will definitely bring her in to see a vet.