Cat Pukes after eating...

Greetings to all.



I've got a young cat.. she's around 6 months old I would guess. Her mommy was an adopted stray and she lived with a family for the first part of her life. Well the family had problems with allergies and the cat.. so I took her in.

This is my first cat (I've had dogs before) and I'm still learning things on a daily basis.

Her problem is after she eats she pukes it right back up. I'd say within 10 minutes of eating. When I first got her she seemed a lil thin... but she didn't really have too much trouble eating. She puked a little here and there but nothing to worry about.

For around the past 2 days she's been puking right after she eats. I took her to the vet yesterday and have $200 in tests done with nothing but good results.

She has not had her shots yet because the vet wants to wait until she's gotten better to do so. They did give me some syrup to give to her ever 8 hours. I gave her NO food last night and a dose of her meds. This morning I gave her another dose and a very small amount of food.

Shortly after eating the food she puked it back up Most everytime she pukes it's been pretty much solid.. although once it was digested. This happens with both solid and soft food. I've tried several different brands.

I'm really not sure what to do.. I know I need to continue following the vets instructions but I'm just afraid that it's not working (its only been 24 hours so I may be over-reacting)

From what I read it could be a lot of things. A lot of friends have said it could be worms.. but the vet didnt seem to pay much attention when I mentioned that. I've also read it could be they are eating to fast. There was another post regarding this issue but that forum redirected me to this one.

I appolgize for the bad typing/spelling etc. I'm running on 2hrs sleep today. If I've failed to mention something.. just ask!

Below is a link to a picture album of my kitty. She's one of the sweetest things I've ever met. I just wish I could get her eating well so she can put on a little weight.



http://gallery.justchil.net/gallery/justchil_kitty

 

A couple more things I failed to mention.

They gave her some fluids under the skin (i'm not sure exactly what. i can look at the bill when i get home)

and.. she's around 5.5lbs

Oh yea.. and her name is Cali

 

What a beautiful kitty! She looks almost exactly like our neighbour's cat, which is my cat's mother

unfortunately I don't have any advice to offer... But hopefully someone else does. I hope Calio gets better soon!

 

Thanks for the kind words! She's a real sweetheart and even thought she's not feeling good.. you really couldn't tell by the way she acts.

More and more reading is leading me to thinking its worms.. but I'm pretty sure the tests the vet did yesterday would detect that.

I'll give the vet a call this evening just to confirm there were no signs of parasites in her tests.

 

Any worms-intestinal parasites should be detected by examining a stool sample. How long has she been with you? Do you have the momma cat also? What is her health like? Do you know exactly what tests were done at the vets? X-rays, FeLv/FIV, bloodwork. The fluids she was given was probably just some Lactated Ringers to help keep her hydrated temporarily, is she drinking okay? Any coughing, sneezing, discharge from eyes or nose?

Sorry...a lot of questions :?

 

I've had her for almost a month. I don't have the mom.

Her health seems great other than not eating well. She's a little thing but the vet said that's nothing to worry about just yet. She's very friendly as well.

I know they did and X-ray, blood, and felv/fiv tests. The medicine they gave me is called something like "Regina". The shot under her skin was to keep her hydrated.

She seems to be drinking just fine. No coughing or sneezing but every couple days she does get a little eye "crust". No major discharge.. just a very little amount.

 

:m23: and welcome! Your kitty is a cutie pie! Worms can cause vomiting as well as other problems. Hopefully, the problem will reslove soon.

http://www.kittencare.com/askKC_Vomiting.html#vomiting_food

 

Thanks!

This seems very close to the problem she is having:

"The overeating of dry food can cause vomiting. The reason is that dry food absorbs water and swells, this in turn causes your cat to vomit. (your cats’ eating of wet food as kittens may explain some things). Check the vomit for a semi-solid-partly-digested appearance. "

When I took her home the owner sent wet food. I'm assuming she's always had wet food. The problem may have started when I introduced dry food into her diet.(althought I'm unsure about this) At first I would just give her a very little bit mixed in with her wet food. Eventually I would only give her dry food (wet food as a sort of treat).

Is wet food good to give to cats all the time? It's a lot cheaper than I had thought but I would much rather give her dry food and wet as a treat.

I'm going to start by getting some Science Diet food for her to try. I didn't see a hairball for kittens in that brand but I'll see what all petsmart has. I'm also going to pick up a small fresh water fountain to encourage drinking more. (I've noticed she likes dripping water).

Another thing I failed to mention was the vomit from this morning. Again I'm new to cats but there was a small filmy looking circle that had some hair in it. I couldn't figure out exactly which came out first.. the food or the hair.. but this may also have something to do with her problems.

Thanks!

 

Hi and welcome to Auspet. My advice to you would be to:

1) Brush her daily with a "Zoom Groom" to help with hairballs.

2) Feed her quality soft food 2X a day and have dry food just left out so she can have some if she wants. The first ingredients on the can should be a meat, not meat by products, not chicken meal and so on, just meat like chicken, if possible try and avoid foods that have fillers like corn. I personally do not like Science Diet cat food.

Good luck and keep us posted.

p.s. those drinking fountains for cats are wonderful. :y_the_best:

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

I do brush her as often as she lets me. I'll pick up a "zoom groom" and give it a try. I've also got two "Purr Pads" that attrack loose hair and what not.

The soft food I've been feeding her is Purina Friskies Prime Fillet with chicken in gravy. She loves chicken! The dry food I've got is Purina One Growth & Development.

Would you recommend these two foods? If not could you give me a couple suggestions?

I'm just home on lunch right now and I gave her around 10 pieces of the dry food. So far she's kept it down without any problem so far. I'll plan on giving her a little bit of wet food when I get home if all seems well.

I think I may have been feeding her too much in the past couple weeks. I really need to do some research now that I know her exact weight.

Now that I've got the receipt here is what the vet did yesterday:

Radiology - Split Screen (xrays)
Fecal Exam (stool sample)
Felv/Fiv Test
Fluid Therapy
Reglan Injection
Reglan Syrup - every 8 hours.

Thanks for all your help and support. I feel like I've learned so much in the past few days that my brain is starting to hurt lol.

 

have you noticed any fur in her stools?
You could try a hairball dry food for awhile or what is quicker, and I think easier, is PetroMalt which is something she may eat like a treat of you could smear it on her paw (she'll lick it off) or simply smear some on the roof of her mouth. This is a product that'll help any possible hairballs leave easily.

I had a young cat who would upchuck nearly everytime she ate. She came for a cat hoarder and I'm sure getting enough food w/30 cats they had to eat fast and hard.

Anyway Sessy would fill up her belly, back up and leave a bunch of food in her dish. I put her through a bunch of tests too and my vet said it had to be simply her background of having to eat quickly and as much as possible. Cats have the ability of being able to empty their stomachs if they feel too full.

I used to feed Sessy just a few pieces of dry food and then when she held them down I'd feed her a bit more....her primary diet was wet food though and yes wet food is beneficial for cats as it provides moisture. Also you don't very often see cats in the wild gnawing on kibbles.

I'm assuming the stool sample you mentioned was parasite free? Most nasty parasites like coccadia will cause really nasty stinky dire-rear.

I'd start w/switching foods - maybe going to something like the Chicken Soup foods.

Also you might want to ask your vet about IBD foods. I believe there is a prescription food for that you could consider trying.

 

I haven't noticed any fur in her stools. I will keep a closer eye on these for the time being.

I'm going to wait just a little bit to start any hairball treatment.

I think she may have a problem similar to Sessy's. She came from a home with a dog.. and she does not like dogs one bit. The dog could have been eating her food forcing her to eat really fast.. I really don't know.

All the tests came back negative for anything bad. They want to do a checkup on her in a few days. By that time I'll have a lot of questions prepared for the vet.

I've tried serveral different wet foods .. she really likes the Purina Friskies.. I haven't had too much luck with any other brands. Is there any certain brand that is supposed to be "the best"? If needed I'll try a few different kinds.. if that doesnt work I'll try some prescription foods.

I'm hoping when I get home there is no signs of vomit.. I'm not looking forward to giving the meds to her again but she's not as resistant as i expected.

 

I wonder if the medicine is antivomiting stuff....I have a funny story on that stuff. I had an older cat with kidney failure and she'd go through major puking spells so the vet gave me a liquid to give her to slow down the puking. I had a cold and got up one night to take some cough medicine....grabbed the wrong bottle haven't thrown up in years LOL

My Zeus could only eat the Friskies canned kitten food when he was a kitten. Other foods went out (other end from your cat) nearly as fast as they went in - and much wetter

 

Yes it's for vomiting and nausea. They also have a human form of the drug. My father took it with his chemotherapy.

LOL @ your story.

I'll update everyone in a day or two and let you know how she's doing.

Thanks again for all your help! If you ever need any computer related advice or help I can more than likely help you out!

 

The medication she got, Reglan (metaclopramide), is used to help prevent vomiting, what it actually does is force everything through the other end....as opposed to just 'settling the stomach'.

(sorry Mary, you probably didnt want to know that huh!!! )

 

One of mine has puked up his dry food after eating it too quickly a couple of times. I would try restricting the dry food and feeding canned only for a few days to see if that makes a difference.

Yes, wet food is good to give all the time IMO. If I could afford to I would feed only wet food or mostly wet food to mine. There is no "best" brand for every cat so you'll have to try out various high quality brands to see what she does best on. I mostly use Wellness, Innova and Eagle Pack wet foods.

 

I am not an expert but...

I am thinking the diet depends on the cat?

I started mine out (got them both as kittens) with wet food once a day and always kept their bowl full of dry food. After a while, they started throwing up a lot. So I switched to dry food all the time and wet food as a treat - every 2-3 days or so - and the throwing up stopped.

My kitties are both about 2 years old and I have been feeding them this way for a year or a year and a half.

I finally got hubby to rescue my kitty pics from my twisted up hard drive!
Will post tomorrow.

 

vomiting/puking. dry food or alergic

at the time you took your kitten in the intr feed is due to dehydration. This is one of the common effects when even people vomit too much.
Did the vet determine if problem was due to dry food or alergic to the food. I raise Manx's and pretty much run into everything so was curious as to what the final outcome was.

 

Well I'm not 100% what it was but here everything seems to be good now!

She can no longer handle the wet food.. at all! Even a small amount of it makes her sick.

She's doing very well on dry food though. She's starting to put a little weight on and her overall appearance is great!

I'm going to buy her some new toys next week.. I might also pick up some different wet foods to try in the future.

 

Great news Justchil! What are you feeding her now? Rene used to puke whenever I feed her Pro Plan canned fish, but fine with other flavors as treats. Like others here I leave out dry 24/7 and feed moist foods 2x day.

Welcome to the forum Yogi! Love to see pics of your furbabies! :mrgreen: