Tohru Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 About 6 months ago, we adopted a 7 year old kitty from the Human Society and this cat throws up.all.the.time! She is super nervous and hides a lot. She hid for several months, just in the past month or so, she's been coming out, but now she's throwing up throughout the house, several times a day! It is driving me bonkers! We have 2 other cats (7 years & 1 year) that are indoor/outdoor, they all get fed IAMs. She prefers to stay inside, has her own bowl, her own water, her own litter box, pretty much her own room. She's mean to the other cats and they're scared of her, but she's scared of people. Any suggestions or ideas? I'm tired of stepping in throw-up every morning, can't get rid of her. ETA: I should've mentioned that the vet said she is fine, medically. The Humane Society had her checked out before we adopted her and we had our own vet look at her already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 She really needs a vet work up. It could be any number of things, from a food intolerance to inflammatory bowel disease to an obstruction to cancer. Your post seems to indicate you believe it's stress related, and that's not impossible. But only a thorough check by a vet will be able to (hopefully) pinpoint the real cause. Several years ago one of my cats went through the same thing. After spending several days at the vet's and getting a thorough work up her diagnosis was inflammatory bowel disease. We've been able to control it quite well just by finding a food she tolerates and sticking with it. FWIW, at the time she was also a very nervous, easily stressed cat. In recent years she's mellowed out a lot and become much more friendly and outgoing. I don't know if it's simply an aging thing or if it's because she feels so much better. But at this point I would at the very least take her in and get something to calm her tummy. And a thorough diagnostic work up if you can afford it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 I agree she needs to go to the vet. Vomiting was a symptom of thyroid condition for two of my cats. Vomiting isn't normal and isn't behavioral IME. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Agreed with seeing a vet. I have one who vomited frequently when her thyroid started acting up. I also have one who has really, really thick hair, and is prone to hairballs. Taking him to a groomer at the start of shedding season and having that thick coat professionally brushed out and thinned makes all the difference in the world in his happiness and in not having hairballs hacked up all over the place. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 In one of my cats, throwing up a lot was a sign of cancer. Another cat of mine has stomach issues & can't tolerate various foods (or food changes). One of our other cats has diabetes, so we ended up switching the hard food in the house to hard diabetic food for all of them & that seems to work really well for the guy with stomach issues too. Definitely a vet visit. If you can get her stomach to calm down & her to feel better, I'm guessing she'll start coming out of her shell more & not feel as nervous or aggressive either. :grouphug: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tohru Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 I should've mentioned that the vet said she is fine, medically. The Humane Society had her checked out before we adopted her and we had our own vet look at her already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 I should've mentioned that the vet said she is fine, medically. The Humane Society had her checked out before we adopted her and we had our own vet look at her already. Having worked in rescue, I can tell you that unless she was vomiting while there, it's highly unlikely she had more than the cursory vet exam -- checking of temperature and eyes, ears and mouth, palpitation of the abdomen, listening to heart and lungs and a test for feline leukemia. She wouldn't likely have had a CBC, thyroid panel, etc. Plus since this seems to be a recent thing, a vet check from six months ago doesn't mean much, even if there was extensive blood work done then. That's really quite a long time ago, relatively speaking. ETA: If getting her to the vet for some blood work is a problem financially, then the only thing I know to suggest is to stop feeding her the IAMS and instead offer her a limited ingredient canned food or something like bits of cooked chicken or tuna for a couple of days and see if things improve. You also need to make sure she's adequately hydrated. And of course if you think it could be a hairball you can give her some hairball gel. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Having worked in rescue, I can tell you that unless she was vomiting while there, it's highly unlikely she had more than the cursory vet exam -- checking of temperature and eyes, ears and mouth, palpitation of the abdomen, listening to heart and lungs and a test for feline leukemia. She wouldn't likely have had a CBC, thyroid panel, etc. Plus since this seems to be a recent thing, a vet check from six months ago doesn't mean much, even if there was extensive blood work done then. That's really quite a long time ago, relatively speaking. I agree. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Our cat's vomiting has been almost completely eliminated using a hairball med from the doctor, a haircut, increased brushing from us (bought a brush called the Furminator), using Royal Canin oral sensitive food, and spreading the food around in a couple of dishes in different rooms over the course of the day. It recurs if we put out too much food at once, change her food, etc., especially if she is feeling anxious. Your kitty sounds very nervous. I wonder if there's any way to help her relax. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Our sweet orange kitty used to throw up all the time, too. We got him from the animal shelter when he was about 4 months old, and he has always been a nervous cat (we were told he was feral). He's about 11 years old now, and his digestive problems started about 3 years ago. He has had numerous tests, including food allergy testing which showed that he had several food allergies. Switching foods helped, but he also has feline triaditis...an inflammatory disease that involves his pancreas, liver and intestines. He has to take two medications daily...prednisolone and ursodiol. He had been eating prescription food once we found out about the allergies...Royal Canin hypoallergenic canned diet. Last fall, he started losing weight and he didn't want to eat. Finally I decided that if the end was near then I wasn't going to try to make him eat the prescription food anymore. The people at the pet food store helped me find some grain-free canned foods that were free of the things he's allergic to. Well, he loved the new food and started to gain weight again! His bloodwork for things like liver enzymes also started to improve. Our cat has a chronic health condition, but he very rarely throws up now! I never thought I'd be able to start the day without paper towels and carpet spray...and I even used to keep a barf calendar for the vet! There are specialists for cats, just like for people. Several months ago I took him to an internal medicine vet, and now she helps our regular vet with adjusting medication doses, etc. You might need to see a different vet to find out what's going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 I should've mentioned that the vet said she is fine, medically. The Humane Society had her checked out before we adopted her and we had our own vet look at her already. I'd switch her food. Maybe she will tolerate canned better? One of our cats, bless his heart, will eat the food he likes best too quickly and then barf it up. We had to stop buying it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lailasmum Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 I would agree with switching food. Our eldest cat is a vomiter, has been his entire life, the number of foods he can eat is quite small. He does well on certain brands of dry food but it's changed over his life and now he does best on better quality wet food but even then there's some that will still make him throw up. It can be worth getting some samples or small packages of different foods to try. And try some of the better quality high meat content brands. They can seem more expensive but I've found they aren't if you bulk buy and they're more filling for the cats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Could the cat be eating too much? I have one cat who gorges himself (no real reason, he's just a pig) and then throws up. Maybe try feeding small portions at regular times and see if it helps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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