Intermitent vomiting

[Elizabeth Salas]

Hello everyone, Im elizabeth. I have a 3yr old tabby, who's been throwing up his food lately. My vet found crystals a few months ago on Joey, my cat so I changed his diet, and now he is on c/d from prescription diet to prevent the crystals. He's eating and drinking fine, playing and all of his usual behaviour. He did pooped only once last week a soft, bloody stool, which I took to the vet. He called and said he didn't find parasites with the stool sample but told me to keep an eye on his vomiting frequency and try to feed him more dry food since I said I noticed he throws up almost everytime he eats canned food. I don't know if there could be something to be worried about. I thought I'll take him sometime this week to the vet, but I dont know what to ask for anymore. Im confused because he just recommended to wait and see if the vomiting gets worse, but I would be so mad if he had something that could get worse to a point where could threaten his life. Any suggestions??

[Traci]

When did the vomiting start, and how often a day does he vomit? How many days has he vomited? When exactly did you start feeding the canned prescription diet, and do you also have the dry prescription diet on hand? Did he start vomiting before or after you started feeding the prescription diet?

What is he vomiting, undigested food, bile, hairballs, or??

I assume you mean there was only one day that he had blood in the stool, yes? Blood in the stool could be indicative of several things, such as bacterial infection, constipation, parasitic infection, straining to defecate (due to hard stools compacted in the colon), or anal gland infection, or GI tract inflammation, etc. If it was only one day, it might be attributed to the change in diet, or stress, etc. If the stools are normal, and of normal frequency and of normal consistency now, that would be a good sign.

Lastly, rule out toxins in the home, or something he could have gotten into, such as a plant, string/yarn, plastic, etc.

Are the crystals being resolved? When was Joey's last urinalysis and did the vet rule out bacterial infection? A bacterial infection in the urinary tract could certainly cause vomiting, so make sure your vet has ruled that out.

[Elizabeth Salas]

Thnx for your reply Traci. Yes it was only once that he had the bloody stool. The vomiting started very randomly, ie once every 1 1/2 -2 weeks, and now it seems to have increased in frequency to about once every 3-5 days. He throws up undigested food but the funny (and grose!! ) thing is that I've caught him eating it back, which kind of looses me in the frequency because he could've vomited and ate it back. It seems to me that he only vomits right after eating sometimes. Whenever he eats too fast or too much all at once, he definately throws up. This is not frequent, as I said maybe once every 3-4 days. I don't know if the crystals have been resolved because my doc didn't ask me to do a second urinalysis. He asumed they were resolved because Joey stopped peeing outside his box. All the crystal thing and his change in diet began about 3 months ago. He hated his food at first but then he ate it ok and was good until about a month ago. About plants and chemicals at home, I don't have anything that he could've ate, but he does have some feathered toys that he loves and he licks them and maybe he eats the feathers dunno!!

[Traci]

Do you free-feed him or are you scheduling feeding? If the latter, this could be why he is eating too fast, or gulping his food and not thoroughly chewing it, which would result in regurgitation or vomiting.

However, sudden food allergies could develop to any food, so you and your vet should rule that out.

Try what your vet suggests, feed dry only and see if the vomiting decreases. If it does, then you will have some determination that he is sensitive to the canned food. If the vomiting continues even on dry food, then get Joey re-evaluated for inflammatory problems, GI problems, etc.

Any time crystals are found and treated etc, it is imperative that a new urinalysis is done after symptoms resolve to ensure there is no remaining bacteria or crystals too large to pass (that may have been higher up in the urethra, for example). Followup urinalysis also helps the vet determine pH levels and determines if the diet is working properly, as intended. Call your vet right away and get an appointment set up for a urinalysis and discuss the vomiting or inflammation problems. Hopefully the vomiting is only a result of eating too fast or gulping food, possibly even hairballs forming, the frequency isn't bad at this point, but you do need to nip it in the bud and make sure it isn't something else.

As for the feather toys, don't leave them out for him unattended. Put them away when you are not supervising.

[Elizabeth Salas]

Hi Traci. I called my vet but I guess he's on vacation, so I called my old vet (good vet but too expensive lol). He asked a whole bunch of questions and he thinks it may be that he eats too fast. I do feed him w schedule but he goes and eats from the other cat's food, so really, its a mess!! both eat anytime and I sometimes loose who eats what. All I know is that my cat has a stable weight and the other cat is fat!! Anyways, he hasn't vomited for the past 5 days, but I'll still keep an eye on him. I'll call my vet if I see any changes. Thanks for the support, its greatly appreciated!!!