Zoe is vomiting

[Zac and Zoe's Mum]

Hi everyone

My cat Zoe has been vomiting for the last couple of days, within about 45 minutes of eating or drinking anything. She makes this dreadful wailing noise just before she does it.

Zoe does have a rather long medical history - amyloidosis of the liver and now kidney disease. Amyloidosis is an incurable condition where an enzyme - amyloid - grows on the affected organ - usually the kidneys but in Zoe's case the liver. The big danger is that the liver can hemorrage and she may bleed to death. She had a bad bleed a couple of weeks ago and spent 4 nights in hospital. She had to have 2 blood transfusions, but she pulled through and her blood readings are all normal again.

Back to the vomiting. Straight after the first episode (Saturday) we took her to the vet - I'm not taking any chances with this little girl. He wasn't too concerned. He did a blood test (normal) and gave her an enema (poor Zoe!) which produced a normal stool. We took her home and all seemed OK.

Next morning she was sick again. Being Sunday, it was the emergency vet this time. They kept her in last night on IV fluids and she was doing well. They did complete blood tests and they seemed OK (kidney and liver values just over 'normal', but better than last time they saw her). She ate last night and again at breakfast, was active and alert so we brought her home.

Almost as soon as she got home she had a drink and was then sick again. About an hour later she did it again.

Back to the regular vet. He gave her an anti-nausea shot and told us to keep her off food for the rest of the day. But she just had a drink and brought it up again!

She's asleep at the moment, and I'm not immediately worried about dehydration due to last night fluids. I thought I'd try Pet Talk to see if anyone had any ideas about what could be causing this.

[Emeraldgreen]

I'm sorry to hear that your girl is sick. Is there anything you can think of that has changed in the last few days in her environment? Has she been around any other animals or caught any, like a bird or a mouse? Do you have neighbours that could be using pesticide or are there any plants she could have munched on that might cause her to be sick? Has her food changed at all or has her water source changed? Are there any stressful things going on around her, like moving or a new cat?
I'm just trying to think of everything I can that might cause her to be sick, other than big things that a vet or blood work might pick up on.
My cat had been sick for a few days as well and is just getting better today. My vet suggested chicken baby food in small amounts. Perhaps when the fasting period is over that your vet suggested, maybe you could try this. It really seems to have helped my cat begin to come around, along with syringing 1-2ml's of water into her mouth at a time every 20 minutes up to 20 mls to keep her hydrated. Maybe you could try syringing water after her fast is over as well and hopefully she'll be able to keep it down.
Please keep us updated. Praying Zoe feels better very soon!!

[Zac and Zoe's Mum]

Hi Emeraldgreen

Thanks for the reply - I'm glad to hear your cat is getting better. I can't think of anything that has changed recently. We do have a new kitten (I must post some pictures of her!) Zoe isn't that keen on her, but she's been here 2 months now and plays happily with our other cat Snowy leaving Zoe alone. She isn't allowed outside, except on strictly supervised walks around our garden, so it can't be pesticide. She does like to nibble grass, and I know this makes cats sick, but she's always done that. Anyway she hasn't got access to grass at the moment.

The strangest thing is that she spent 18 hours in hospital and wasn't sick once, even after eating and drinking!

My vet suggested chicken as well. We're going to cook her a little mushy rice and mix some chicken through it. that should be nice and bland.

At least she isn't acting ill. Apart from the vomiting she seems perfectly happy.

[Emeraldgreen]

You know, when you mentioned the grass thing, it reminded me of hairballs. I can't believe I left hairballs out of my last post! A few of my cats really struggle with hairballs while my other ones are just fine. The ones that have the issue are real grass grazers and it does seem to help them bring up the hairballs. I wonder if Zoe hasn't had access to the grass, maybe it has been more difficult for her to bring up an 'offending' hairball.
My cat Tiger often gets quite ill for a few days if he has a hairball. He throws up everything, food and water and just sleeps alot and looks really miserable. Then, sometimes 4 days later, he finally throws up a monster hairball. He is a long haired cat.
I hope that it is nothing more than a hairball and that within a few days Zoe will be back to her normal self. But if she isn't, I hope the vet can get to the bottom of it!

[Zac and Zoe's Mum]

She does get hairballs from time to time, but she's never had a problem bringing them up - right in the middle of our cream carpet, usually . She also used to eat far to much at once, especially dry food, which also comes straight back up.

I'll suggest the hairball to the vet - he was thinking she might have some sort of bowel obstruction, but couldn't feel anything. Nobody likes to poke and prod Zoe too much because of the danger to her liver.

[Medusa]

I can't imagine what might be causing the vomiting. I just wanted to wish Zoe a speedy recovery and that, hopefully, you'll be able to figure out what's causing the vomiting. As for the wailing before vomiting, both my Puddy and Yodie do that. I think it's because they really hate to vomit. They're not in pain but it sure sends chills down my spine and, when I hear it, I think "Uh oh, that's the vomit cry." I sure hope Zoe feels better soon.

[columbine]

Smudge is a longhair, and upchucks the occasional hairball, but since the vet suggested adding a bit of fiber to his canned "treat food" he has them less often, and they're smaller. I think some of the ingested hair is being passed through. He's certainly a lot more comfortable in the litterbox, anyway (he used to be constipated all the time). I think the only kind of drugstore fiber supplement that's been proven safe in cats is psyllium (which is the usual generic fiber stuff) but some cats enjoy a bit of canned pumpkin mixed into their food. A few like it just plain!

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm sorry to hear that Zoe is so sick. I hope that she'll start feeling better soon. I'll keep her in my thoughts and prayers. Please continue to keep us updated about her.

[Zac and Zoe's Mum]

Thankyou all for your kind thoughts .

Good news - we think the mystery is solved!

We've been keeping detailed notes on her food and water intake, as well as when she is sick. When we showed them to the vet this morning he noticed a pattern. She seems to be getting sick after eating one of her favourite (make that ex-favourite!) foods - seafood and chicken mornay. He thinks she has developed an allergy to it. This explains why she wasn't sick in hospital. It's now been 12 hours since she last vomited and she's managed to eat about 100g of food in that time (a nice beef dish!).

[Moesha]

Excellent news! She'll forget all about that other food in no time. So glad she is doing better.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm glad to hear that you now know what was causing her to become sick. Now hopefully she'll start feeling better and stay that way.

[Lorifrances]

Your cat's behavior reminds me of mine. I was feeding my cat the Senior Nutro dry food and he started that kind of vomiting that you described. I wonder if you considered his food? My cat is now eating of all things just a store brand Purina Naturals and is doing FAR better.

PS Just saw the update post, so it was the food! Wow, that's kind os interesting as that confirms what I expected with my cat. I'd also been giving him a turkey/giblets Fancy Feast that really made him vomit. A food allergy...hmm.

[GILL]

We had a similar problem several of our babies were vomiting often. Usually soon after eating. We noticed a pattern. One food had several tossing. I will not say the name, but it was a very expensive brand of canned food “all natural human style”. We have since switched to a cheaper brand. The canned and the dry food are what ever on sale. We do mix regular dry with a hairball food. Now even with 12 in house we only have one or two tosses a week.

[Medusa]

One food had several tossing. I will not say the name, but it was a very expensive brand of canned food “all natural human style”.

You may be doing us all a service if you tell us the brand name so that we don't feed it to our furkids and possibly have them suffer the same reaction.

[kittykatharine]

That is so wonderful that you think you have solved the mystery. I know that is the biggest relief in the universe. Best of luck to you and your babies!