What does these contractions mean? Video inside

MissClouseau

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At least since January (I don’t know before that) Hima gets at least one contraction like this after every meal. Not when she eats like a treat but even after less than half of a 80 grams wet food.

Is this gas? That’s what I see most likely as she seems to be comfortable and back to normal after she’s done. And if it’s just one, she doesn’t even lie uncomfortable like this.
 

di and bob

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Looks like hiccups to me too....she most likely is eating too fast, or swallowing without chewing. It is most likely hiccups if it is noticed just after meals. Is she under any kind of stress, like other cats, etc. that are hurrying her meal? She may have some sort of gidestive disorder too, but as long as it doesn't get worse it amy not need to be checked out right away. I would bring that excellent video into the vet the next time she is due to be examined.
 
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MissClouseau

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Looks like hiccups to me too....she most likely is eating too fast, or swallowing without chewing. It is most likely hiccups if it is noticed just after meals. Is she under any kind of stress, like other cats, etc. that are hurrying her meal? She may have some sort of gidestive disorder too, but as long as it doesn't get worse it amy not need to be checked out right away. I would bring that excellent video into the vet the next time she is due to be examined.
I would be surprised if it's hiccups. She doesn't eat fast in fact this one for example happened after I feed her with my hand, pate texture food so there wasn't even anything to chew. And she usually gets a single contraction, maybe two, several in a row like this is rare but when it happens she's always in a loaf position or something... like something is painful/uncomfortable, and once she's done with the contractions she changes that to a more relaxed position or just goes on with her day, strolling around, etc
 
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MissClouseau

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It looks like hiccups to me, too. Usually you see the loaf position when a cat has hiccups.
I see. Is it common? I wonder what it means that she gets them after every meal despite not eating fast. :think:
 

FeralHearts

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I'm not a vet but that does look like hiccups.

Have you tried changing her food? I wonder if something in the food is causing gas, meaning, disagreeing with her. When we don't 'fart' we 'hiccup' or 'burp' to get the gas out.

If she's not eating too fast then a food disagreeing with her would be my next guess.

I would take her in or email her Vet that video as di and bob di and bob said - that video is really well done and shows exactly what's happening.
 
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MissClouseau

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I'm not a vet but that does look like hiccups.

Have you tried changing her food? I wonder if something in the food is causing gas, meaning, disagreeing with her. When we don't 'fart' we 'hiccup' or 'burp' to get the gas out.

If she's not eating too fast then a food disagreeing with her would be my next guess.

I would take her in or email her Vet that video as di and bob di and bob said - that video is really well done and shows exactly what's happening.
I will absolutely show it to the vet. I don’t even know what I will do if it’s food intolerance.It was already a challenge to find her current foods ugh.
 

FeralHearts

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I will absolutely show it to the vet. I don’t even know what I will do if it’s food intolerance.It was already a challenge to find her current foods ugh.
I can relate to that one. I have an extremely picky eater kitty with a food allergy - and wow - yeah - no fun trying to change his food.

Ugh is right but maybe you'll get lucky! :-)
 
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MissClouseau

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I think F FeralHearts may be right - if she's not gulping her food, one of the ingredients may disagree with her.
noooooo :-( You are probably right. It’s just so frustrating because we don’t have as many foods in Turkey. Or variety of meat for that matter.
 
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MissClouseau

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I really wouldn't worry about trying to change food for hiccups.
I can’t even if I want to anyway. :-( Right now I can’t even find a second wet food that doesn’t cause bigger problems, let alone changing both dry and wet food.
 

FeebysOwner

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That could be burping too. Feeby, by no means, eats fast (takes over 1/2 hour to eat a meal) and yet I notice that she burps at least once when she is nearly finished. She does make a movement like the one in your video but I also can hear the burp most of the times as well.

I would think if Hima is having healthy regular stools - whether that is a hiccup or a burp - I wouldn't get too worried about her food unless there are other signs of digestive distress that come along.

Edit: Btw, Feeby does seem to 'burp' more after the first meal of the day, not sure if it is because of the longer duration of time that has passed from her last meal or not. But you might watch to see if Hima reacts as the video shows more at certain meals/times. Just in case it might give you hint as to why.
 
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MissClouseau

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Edit: Btw, Feeby does seem to 'burp' more after the first meal of the day, not sure if it is because of the longer duration of time that has passed from her last meal or not. But you might watch to see if Hima reacts as the video shows more at certain meals/times. Just in case it might give you hint as to why.
That's a good idea, thank you. I will do that until next week, then show the video to the vet, and update you all 🕵️‍♀️
 
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MissClouseau

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I came back with updates. Hope it helps others.

So after FeebysOwner FeebysOwner 's suggestion, I've been paying attention on these contractions and the timing more. While I'm not 100% sure, I didn't notice this happening more (only) in the mornings but I did notice,
  • It happens more with wet food than dry. She gets different wet foods, not always the same one. I'm curious why. She eats 40 grams wet food at most at one sitting but maybe it's still larger in amount in her stomach than dry?
  • She gets a singular contraction, maybe two after grooming herself as well. That one totally appears to be gas though. I actually heard a sound once.
I showed the video to three different vets at three different clinics today. Two of them are familiar with Hima. The third has never seen her, it's a clinic I buy Fortiflora and wet food from sometimes.

Vet 1: Her first guess is hiccups. But she said it could also be acid reflux (indeed it could be. Sometimes it looks like sje gets wet burps and swallows right back which happens to humans with acid reflux.) She also said if it was about a (serious) food intolerance there would be likely another instant symptom like gagging or regurgitation during the contractions. She suggested adding a very small amount of olive oil in her food, in case she has trouble digesting food. I asked her if gallbladder/liver issues could be a cause as Hima had/has a problem with them this year. She said it could be, something like (small) gallstones or biliary sand, but we would need ultrasound for that. (Hima was diagnosed with gallstones when she was hospitalized back in January so this was worrisome to hear but that diagnosis wasn't based on evidence, they didn't do ultrasound. They just eliminated other possible reasons for the abnormalities in her bloodwork and guessed-diagnosed with gallstones and put her on a ursodeoxycholic acid medicine back then. If we did ultrasound now and found gallstones/sand the only thing to do is to give ursodeoxycholic acid again and I'm not even sure if it works. I read vets prescribe that not by evidence on pets but that it works on humans.)

Vet 2: He said it very much looks like hiccups. I asked the same question to him "Why would she get hiccups after every meal?" he said why do some people burp or get hiccups more often than the others? It's not always known and some are just more sensitive.

Vet 3: He also said it could be both hiccups or gas and that there was no way to be sure but he suggested changing her food to Gastrointestinal food and see how it goes. Then for her to have a check-up. This is the vet who has never seen Hima by the way.

General conclusion is there is no way to be sure what this is but this alone isn't alarming, nor requires any change, but to be sure I can go ultrasound route and later endoscopy if I like. Which I won't get done anytime soon. I will try gastrointestinal wet food sometime next month though I don't think it will be better than her wet foods (simple formulas, no grain.)
 

FeebysOwner

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Thanks for the update! And, while it didn't resolve anything, no one seems to think it is overly concerning. That, in itself, is good news in the big scheme of things.

Based on a comment you made above, I did want to mention that when Feeby was eating strictly dry food, and even after I added some wet food to her overall diet, she did not burp (or hiccup, or what ever it is Feeby is doing). It was after she had been on a canned food only diet for a while that she started to 'burp' - for what that is worth...
 
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