Cat vomitting spit

[LoriC]

My cat has been vomitting spit approx. every other day. She does not vomit any food and she seems to feel just fine. She will eat within minutes of vomitting so it doesn't appear that she is really nauseous. She is acting normally (perky), has normal bowel and bladder habits and is eating well. She is days away from her 19th birthday and has a history of health problems including Hyperthyroidism, renal insufficiency, HCM and is a gastrointestinal CA survivor (6 yrs.). She takes atenolol and enalpril for her HCM and Methimazole for the thyroid. Her last check-up was 8 months ago and her T-4 was 1.0, her BUN dropped from 66 to 59, and Creat. dropped from 3.3 to 3.2. Both are still elevated but have been relatively stable for years. I believe she might be trying to hack up a hairball and so I have been giving her petromalt. She eats Science Diet KD (hard food) and I mix her meds in with soft food. She is an indoor cat. The last supply of meth we got (compound in solution) had a 1 yr. expiration. Prior to that they always had a 6 month expiration (vet changed pharmacies). Is it possible this is related to her thyroid problems and that the meth has lost its effectiveness?

[Traci]

If the methimazole was ineffective, it would show up in the thyroid levels, so call your vet and make an appointment to retest the thyroid levels. (in a 19-year-old cat, you want to test at least every 6 months, if not sooner or when other symptoms develop). If the vet suspects in any way that the effectiveness and half-life of the med is suspect, then he needs to discuss with the pharmacy how to correct that. Pay particular attention to the results from before the med was compounded and try to make a reasonable comparison between results.

Are you absolutely certain she is getting all her meds when you mix them into her food? Ideally, you want to feed first, then wait about a half hour to give meds so they can absorb properly. You run a risk of meds not taken in full if the cat is expected to get them in the food. However, I understand if this is the only way you can administer them for her particular situation, just make sure the food is eaten and not left over or stale, in which the meds would be ineffective. Also ask the vet if any of the meds, compounded or not, may be affecting her esophagus. Some meds, when split, scored, or mixed, can cause esophageal irritation because they might adhere to tissue lining, therefore causing irritation.

What are you referring to by "gastrointestinal CA"?

Are you getting regular heart workups done? Including regular blood pressure checks?

Does the vet suspect the renal disease might be causing acidity in the stomach or GI tract? Sometimes, nausea or excess acid causes irritation and can be treated with a GI buffer.

Is she drinking an abnormal amount of water? Sometimes, cats with renal disease or with diabetes, will drink excessively, then go and vomit all the water they've just drank. If she is drinking more, and more frequently, you need to discuss that with your vet and rule out dehydration, diabetes, and re-evaluate her renal function.

If she doesn't have a history of hairballs, this may be unlikely she is trying to expel hairballs, so discuss this with your vet and find out if there is an acidity problem, GI inflammation, oral health problem. Additionally you might want to get an xray to rule out heart enlargement, fluid, or inflammation in the GI tract.

[LoriC]

Gastrointestinal CA....cancer (lymphoma in Sept.2003). Treated with chemo. Started chemo with regular vet and then switched to an oncologist who said the doses being given by the regular vet were on the high end. The oncologist attributed her kidney problem to the chemo since they had been tested just a few weeks before she started chemo and were normal. They have been stable since 2003. We are confident she is getting all her meds. We give her a small amount of soft food with all meds mixed in. She eats everything within an hour and then she is allowed to have more. Her heart condition was diagnosed in Sept. 2001 and she has been to a cardiologist for several BP and ultrasound tests. At the last visit with the reg. vet he felt her murmur was stable and did not feel it was necessary to go back to the cardiologist so it's been over a year for that. She was diagnosed with Hyperthroidism in Feb. 2008 and has been on Meth since. We have always used the compounded solution so that has not changed....just the pharmacy has changed. She has always had hairball problems in the spring. Normally she eventually expels one but so far hasn't. She really is acting normally in all other respects and there is never any food in the spit.

[Traci]

Well I again suggest an exam (make sure the mouth is also examined) and retesting the thyroid at least. If you can afford it, try also to get an xray to evaluate the heart and GI tract.

[Susan and the girls]

Hey,
I just wondered if there was an update on this post. Please let us know what you found out - if you were able to go to the vet.

I have a cat who just underwent the radioactive iodine treatment for hyperthyroidism (she'll be 13 on 4/24), and she, too, used to vomit a lot of (what looked like) spit. She was always a "thrower-upper" (even moreso over the last 3-4 years) so I just figured it was going to be something we'd deal with forever.

Since her treatment (late Feb), she hasn't thrown up really at all. I think she threw up a little bit once - with a hairball included - but that's IT. Her thyroid level (T4) was out the roof (21.3), so I just can't help wondering if the thyroid issue was slowly creeping up for longer than she showed symptoms. (She began a rapid weight loss beginning sometime around October/November, 09). I wondered if the throwing up issue had something to do with the thyroid issue.

I guess I said all that to say this: If I were you, I'd make sure the vet got another thyroid level on your cat. Make sure that methimezol (sp?) is working.... Thyroid problems are the pits, and if your cat needs a different dosage, it is very important to find that out now. Your cat will certainly feel the difference, I know. My cat is like a kitten again. I can tell she feels 110% better - and she looks 110% better, too.

Good luck!!