Vomiting issue, no other symptoms - has anyone experienced this too?

thelittlewraith

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Hi all, hope everyone is keeping safe in these challenging times!

I'm just looking for some potential insight on a health issue - I'm in contact with my vet, but for obvious reasons getting my cat in for a visit might be challenging. Of course if necessary I'll work something out.

Maggie is 2 and half ish, long hair calico. Two weeks ago she regurgitated a small amount of undigested food, which I didn't think much of. A few days later, she vomited more substantially - yellow mush, some food, a small clump of fur. It's not a true hairball in the "fur tube" sense. Since then, she's been vomiting every 3-4 days, sometimes less, sometimes more, sometimes with clumps of fur. I emailed my vet and they thought it was probably hairballs, so since Thursday (March 18) I've been giving her some Laxatone as recommended, but it hasn't made any difference (yet?). I've also stepped up the brushing, but I'll admit I wasn't very on top of it before all this.

She's on a high fiber diet and has been using the litterbox regularly. She's eating and drinking as usual, and frankly overall doesn't seem that bothered. She's been pretty clingy, but she's usually very attached to me. I've been working from home so I think she's just enjoying the attention. She doesn't seem lethargic or really to have any other symptoms.

I guess my question is - has anyone else experienced anything similar? She grooms herself a lot, and it is springtime, so I'm still hoping it's hairballs. But there hasn't been a ton of fur in her stool that I could tell, and I would have thought the laxatone would kick in by now.

I'm prepared to take her to the vet if need be, but if anyone has anything reassuring to offer, or a similar experience to share to ease my anxiety a bit, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!
 

maggie101

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My cat Maggie is short haired and throws up spit and fur 4x a week. I am also guessing hair ball since my vet could not find any anything wrong. I feel like I am repeating what you wrote with the same cats name!
 

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If a long haired cat licks a lot and you aren't seeing much hair in their stool, then I'm betting there is a hairball stuck in pipes somewhere along the way, which might account for the frequent vomiting the way you are describing. All I can tell you for sure is that I give my medium haired boy a Vet's Best Hairball Relief tablet , and if he's got one stuck in him, it will make him toss it up. Works like a charm. Wish it would make him send it out the back end, but alas, doesn't happen that way. But at least he can get it out. If I don't miss a day giving these, he usually doesn't have any issues. It's when I miss a day that then he will upchuck one :rolleyes2:
 

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It is actually not normal for a kitty to have hairballs. Is she eating dry or wet food? If she's eating dry, consider serving smaller portions. Also, add wet food if possible. This increases water content and helps things keep moving. It could also be a reaction to the food.
 
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thelittlewraith

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My cat Maggie is short haired and throws up spit and fur 4x a week. I am also guessing hair ball since my vet could not find any anything wrong. I feel like I am repeating what you wrote with the same cats name!
what a weird coincidence! so you took your maggie to the vet? what sort of tests do they do?

If a long haired cat licks a lot and you aren't seeing much hair in their stool, then I'm betting there is a hairball stuck in pipes somewhere along the way, which might account for the frequent vomiting the way you are describing. All I can tell you for sure is that I give my medium haired boy a Vet's Best Hairball Relief tablet , and if he's got one stuck in him, it will make him toss it up. Works like a charm. Wish it would make him send it out the back end, but alas, doesn't happen that way. But at least he can get it out. If I don't miss a day giving these, he usually doesn't have any issues. It's when I miss a day that then he will upchuck one :rolleyes2:
hmm ok, thanks for the input. i wasn't sure what it meant for her not to be pooping out fur. i'm hoping it's just a hairball. maybe i'll give that a shot since the laxatone doesn't seem to be having much of an impact.

It is actually not normal for a kitty to have hairballs. Is she eating dry or wet food? If she's eating dry, consider serving smaller portions. Also, add wet food if possible. This increases water content and helps things keep moving. It could also be a reaction to the food.
I have read that it's not normal, which is why I've been so concerned recently. she eats dry food; not ideal, but she became constipated last summer on her previous diet (wet food) so we've been on a high fiber one since. i've also read that cats can develop allergies to their food, do you think she'd be throwing up more regularly if this were the case? aside from back to back instances of vomiting today/yesterday, she's been vomiting every three or four days.

my area has also just declared that all non-essential services are being closed starting wednesday, so i'm hoping this doesn't mean my vet office is shutting down. otherwise it'll be the emergency vet, and I wouldn't know at what point to take her in....
 

stephanietx

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It's possible that you are overfeeding her. I would cut back on her food servings. Go to scheduled feedings, smaller offerings and don't let her free feed. See if that helps. Constipation can also cause vomiting because there's nowhere for the food to go.
 
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thelittlewraith

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I don't think she has a constipation problem...I usually feed her twice a day and not huge amounts, but I might try to increase feedings and reduce meal sizes and see if that helps, thanks. she does drink plenty of water, so i'm not super concerned about that.
 

stephanietx

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Could you add in some wet food with a little pumpkin? Does the rx food come in a wet food variety? That might help as well.
 

maggie101

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My Maggie does it in the morning before eating her food. Once it dries up you cant tell she threw up because it blends in the carpet. I dont remember what if any tests the vet did. She is a healthy 9 pd cat very playful that does clean herself a lot. Only eats canned. The gooey stuff doesn't seem to help much so I am exploring
20191101_181801-COLLAGE.jpg
 

stephanietx

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Sounds like her tummy might be upset kind of like indigestion. Does she eat overnight or late in the evening the night before?
 

mrsgreenjeens

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maggie101 maggie101 , yes, that kind of vomit is what often happens when they have an excess of stomach acid built up. Feeding a little right before bed time can sometimes help with that. Or giving 1/4 of a Pepcid A/C. AT least that what helped our older kitties when that happened to them.
 

maggie101

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maggie101 maggie101 , yes, that kind of vomit is what often happens when they have an excess of stomach acid built up. Feeding a little right before bed time can sometimes help with that. Or giving 1/4 of a Pepcid A/C. AT least that what helped our older kitties when that happened to them.
I used to give pepcid to my cat Peaches. I never thought of giving it to Maggie but it makes since. Thanks
 

maggie101

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Hi all, hope everyone is keeping safe in these challenging times!

I'm just looking for some potential insight on a health issue - I'm in contact with my vet, but for obvious reasons getting my cat in for a visit might be challenging. Of course if necessary I'll work something out.

Maggie is 2 and half ish, long hair calico. Two weeks ago she regurgitated a small amount of undigested food, which I didn't think much of. A few days later, she vomited more substantially - yellow mush, some food, a small clump of fur. It's not a true hairball in the "fur tube" sense. Since then, she's been vomiting every 3-4 days, sometimes less, sometimes more, sometimes with clumps of fur. I emailed my vet and they thought it was probably hairballs, so since Thursday (March 18) I've been giving her some Laxatone as recommended, but it hasn't made any difference (yet?). I've also stepped up the brushing, but I'll admit I wasn't very on top of it before all this.

She's on a high fiber diet and has been using the litterbox regularly. She's eating and drinking as usual, and frankly overall doesn't seem that bothered. She's been pretty clingy, but she's usually very attached to me. I've been working from home so I think she's just enjoying the attention. She doesn't seem lethargic or really to have any other symptoms.

I guess my question is - has anyone else experienced anything similar? She grooms herself a lot, and it is springtime, so I'm still hoping it's hairballs. But there hasn't been a ton of fur in her stool that I could tell, and I would have thought the laxatone would kick in by now.

I'm prepared to take her to the vet if need be, but if anyone has anything reassuring to offer, or a similar experience to share to ease my anxiety a bit, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!
So how is your Maggie doing? Does she vomit right after eating? If not what time? Normally dry food will make your cat constipated so I'm surprised it hasnt.
 
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thelittlewraith

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maggie101 maggie101 thanks for asking - there doesn't seem to be a pattern to her vomiting that I can tell. She hasn't thrown up since Monday, but I don't think that means anything.

Normally I'd agree about the dry food, but my Maggie's dry food is a prescription high fiber specifically to prevent constipation, which she's been on since last summer when she did have a bout of constipation.

The (somewhat) good news is that my vet called last night and I'm going to bring her in this afternoon. I'm expecting that we may need to do some blood work if the physical exam doesn't turn anything up, so fingers crossed it goes ok!
 

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Hi all, hope everyone is keeping safe in these challenging times!

I'm just looking for some potential insight on a health issue - I'm in contact with my vet, but for obvious reasons getting my cat in for a visit might be challenging. Of course if necessary I'll work something out.

Maggie is 2 and half ish, long hair calico. Two weeks ago she regurgitated a small amount of undigested food, which I didn't think much of. A few days later, she vomited more substantially - yellow mush, some food, a small clump of fur. It's not a true hairball in the "fur tube" sense. Since then, she's been vomiting every 3-4 days, sometimes less, sometimes more, sometimes with clumps of fur. I emailed my vet and they thought it was probably hairballs, so since Thursday (March 18) I've been giving her some Laxatone as recommended, but it hasn't made any difference (yet?). I've also stepped up the brushing, but I'll admit I wasn't very on top of it before all this.

She's on a high fiber diet and has been using the litterbox regularly. She's eating and drinking as usual, and frankly overall doesn't seem that bothered. She's been pretty clingy, but she's usually very attached to me. I've been working from home so I think she's just enjoying the attention. She doesn't seem lethargic or really to have any other symptoms.

I guess my question is - has anyone else experienced anything similar? She grooms herself a lot, and it is springtime, so I'm still hoping it's hairballs. But there hasn't been a ton of fur in her stool that I could tell, and I would have thought the laxatone would kick in by now.

I'm prepared to take her to the vet if need be, but if anyone has anything reassuring to offer, or a similar experience to share to ease my anxiety a bit, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!
Pure pumpkin at your grocery store. Our cat had same problem gaging wheezing. Cat is too fat. So changed from dry to Hills wet and added pure pumpkin until I got him to approx 2 parts pure pumpkin to 3 parts wet! Pumpkin very low cal too! After 2 weeks problem has improved 90%. Losing weight not gaging. Might need rx from vet called Cerenia. Vet gave 4 tablets 16 mg. Give cat 1/4 pill when he starts gagging vomiting! Pills have lasted 2 months bc cats gagging is so infrequent now! Pure Pumpkin amazing!
 
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thelittlewraith

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So Maggie's blood work came back totally fine - no kidney/liver/pancreas problems, and no abnormal cell count that would indicate infection. Her physical exam was good too, no obstructions that they could tell. The vet is going to call the internal medicine specialists at the lab to see if they have any ideas, but right now it seems like it could be a diet issue (which would be weird, given that she's on a gastro one already) or some anatomy problem. I'd rather not go down the rabbit hole of ultrasounds and xrays if I don't have to, but I guess we'll see.

He hasn't mentioned hairballs at all again, so I guess that ship has sailed?

Feeling a bit lost - part of me is relieved that nothing is seriously wrong with her organs, but not having answers is stressful.
 

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Hi Maggie's Mom!
My cat, Otto (9 years old), has had same issue for months now. He has some minor kidney issues and asthma that is well-controlled with prednisone (hence some kidney issues).

Other than the puking, he is fine and eating/drinking and pooping/peeing and playing.

I've done bloodwork, ultrasound, and changed his food to one (dry, again) that is supposed to help with sensitive stomach and has helped--he had been puking every day or every other day, now it's every few days, sometimes a week. But something is not right! So, my lovely vet sent me this response when I recently emailed her:

"The next blood work I would recommend on Otto (while keeping everything else the same since the frequency of vomiting HAS decreased) is GI panel to measure his vitamin absorption and his ability to do so. This test is $555.75. Yeah, I know, it's insane. While I have no control on how the lab sets their pricing, it could be a valuable test. It also could be completely normal and we are back to where we are now....the reality of diagnostics sometimes....can be very frustrating so I feel for you.

The other option is going in surgically and collecting intestinal biopsies and having them sent off to see if there is anything structurally wrong with the intestines that was too small to visualize on ultrasound.

This is not the end result. Otto's blood work has had consistent elevation in BUN (blood urea nitrogen) the past 3 blood draws. Sometimes this can be indicative of a GI ulceration that is aggravated and can cause vomiting secondarily. We could try some supportive medications to help coat his GI tract (kind of like pepto bismol for humans) and also some anti-vomiting medications for a couple weeks and see if we notice a difference. Let me know if you're interested in trying that."

So, I don't know! Might cough up the $ for the additional bloodwork just to rule stuff out. If that doesn't show anything, I wonder if the surgical exploration (really don't want to do that) would show potential ulceration? Ugh.

Was Maggie's bloodwork the GI panel?

Let's keep in touch and see what we find out!

(Otto had been on a renal-specific diet, but is now on Royal Canin hydrolyzed protein diet)
 
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thelittlewraith

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Hi electra electra ! I'm sorry you've been going through this with Otto for so long, that sounds incredibly stressful. Has he had any long term negative effects?

I don't actually know much about the blood work as I haven't seen the actual results, just had a phone call from my vet (who thankfully is also wonderful), but I don't believe it was a GI panel, just a standard check for major issues.

Interestingly, the diet Otto is now on the one my vet also mentioned for Maggie. I'm usually a bit hesitant to admit to it on this site for fear of getting eviserated, but the RC hydrolized protein food was brought up in case she had a food sensitivity to the proteins in the gastro response food (or whatever its called). Have you found the new food helping at all?

Let's definitely keep in touch! I'd actually love to know how you manage the stress/anxiety of dealing with unknown illnesses, because I think I am doing a poor job of it.
 

electra

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Hi electra electra ! I'm sorry you've been going through this with Otto for so long, that sounds incredibly stressful. Has he had any long term negative effects?

I don't actually know much about the blood work as I haven't seen the actual results, just had a phone call from my vet (who thankfully is also wonderful), but I don't believe it was a GI panel, just a standard check for major issues.

Interestingly, the diet Otto is now on the one my vet also mentioned for Maggie. I'm usually a bit hesitant to admit to it on this site for fear of getting eviserated, but the RC hydrolized protein food was brought up in case she had a food sensitivity to the proteins in the gastro response food (or whatever its called). Have you found the new food helping at all?

Let's definitely keep in touch! I'd actually love to know how you manage the stress/anxiety of dealing with unknown illnesses, because I think I am doing a poor job of it.
Hi! Thanks for your empathy! I haven't seen any ill effects in him--he seems completely happy and healthy when he's not having his puking episode! And after he pukes, he wants to eat!

The new food has definitely helped. Before it, he was puking almost every day. Now it's every few days or up to a week.

Sorry that your Maggie is going through it, too! I really have no idea what it is. But he really NEVER puked before this started happening. I feel like it's not completely a diet thing, though I don't know. I will keep you posted! Going to write vet back asking what she'd do if it were her cat...I'm not someone who would spend thousands of $$ on my cat (in a life or death situation), but I definitely don't want him to be in pain, or ill. Also, I don't want to be cleaning up puke for the rest of our time together! ;)

Talk soon--
 
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thelittlewraith

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Maggie is the same way - in fact, she threw up just this morning (sigh) and then, after a quick cuddle, immediately went to go eat and seems in fine spirits.

I may give the new food a shot before we go to ultrasounds, unless the internal medicine specialist comes through with any pearls of wisdom. But we'll see.

Talk soon!
 
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