My first thread and it’s about a sick cat – go figure. Anyway, one of our cats is throwing up frothy yellow liquid. He’s been doing this for about 3 days. Any ideas what’s wrong or what I should do? If he’s still doing this in the morning, we’re calling the vet, but we’re wondering if there is anything we can do now.
Sorry – no pics – I don’t have any of him online.
Thanks!
He’s throwing up bile, which means his stomach is empty. Try to get him to eat something - if he won’t eat his food, something else (tuna). If he won’t eat and keeps puking, you need to get to the vet.
Probably he wasn’t feeling great, stopped eating, and now his stomach is freaking out because it’s been empty for too long. Cats are adapted to fairly frequent meals since they catch a lot of small prey, and they have a lot of acid in their stomachs which will come up in the absence of anything to digest. Same with dogs.
Got a pic online thanks to the hubby.
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n123/uzuiwek/soda_on_bed_dec04.jpg
Hope this works.
Update – it’s not looking too good. We took Soda to the vet this morning and he was kept for tests. He’s in pretty bad kidney failure. They are pumping him full of fluids to try to clear out his kidneys, but we don’t know what is causing the kidney trouble. We can’t think of any toxins that he could have gotten into. If it turns out to be genetic, I don’t know that there is much that can be done. We may not know more until Monday.
Sorry to hear this. Kidney disease is depressingly common in cats. Usually there is no toxin involved.
Hope things get better for him.
How old is Soda? The primary causes of chronic renal disease in cats is age and disease (dental disease, heart disease, and viral/bacterial/fungal infections).
If it’s acute renal failure, however, the prognosis is generally good.
My 13-year-old cat only has about a third of his kidney function remaining, so I understand what you’re dealing with. Keep us posted, and best of luck.
Soda is only about 5.5 years old. We did get to visit him a few minutes today and he was bit perkier – much more interested in what was going on around him. He even ate a little lettuce for us. (Yes he’s an odd little fuzzer, why do you ask?) One of the things that clued us in to his being sick was that he was refusing lettuce. He is down to 13.7 pounds from 16.5 pounds when he went in for his shots in May. And he wasn’t really fat at 16.5 pounds, he’s just a big cat. He’s at least an inch taller than any of our other three cats.
He’s kinda special to us in that we found him and his sister, Scotch, in our garage when they were two-three weeks old. We bottle raised them, so we’re kind of attached to them.
sigh I hope he’s doing okay. We’ll know more tomorrow.
Dang, slightly askew, that truly sucks. Soda is quite the handsome boy, in his tuxedo and all. You’ll have to forgive me for giving a snort of laughter about your having bottle raised Scotch and Soda.
Sending healing kitty power Soda’s way and hoping for the best.
Soda is still hanging in, but he hasn’t improved very much. His blood work is slightly better, but not as much improvement as the vet had hoped to see. He’s looking better and acting more lively and we even got him to eat a bit, but this could just be because of all the fluids they are giving him. We’re hoping for a miracle. They’ll run the blood work again tomorrow and then we’ll probably have some decisions to make.
{{{{{slightly askew}}}}}}
I’m so sorry – and I can so relate – I have a 17 year old Siamese who is trying to check out, she’s refusing food and only drinking a little water.
The vet says she doesn’t have anything, she’s just old.
After all these years we’re very fond of her and while we’re not dragging her through anything – right now she’s comfortable if irritated when we mess with her – the outlook is not long nor positive.
::: sigh ::: I’m so sorry to hear about what you’re going through. It’s about the hardest thing I know, looking after the children of our hearts. We accept this soft and unconditional love and in so doing also accept that we are responsible for them. The ending times are the worst.
You’re doing all the right things, doing what’s best for him. Hang in there.
I hope your cat pulls through and comes home healthy and strong.
Hey Tuba… best of luck with your kitty as well. I had to put my dear Misha in her last place earlier this year. She was nearly 17, and she started to blow off her food and drink, her hygene, energy, will to live in general. Huge growth, abdamonal tumor, no hope whatsover.
Longest ride home from the vet ever. My apartment is just weird now.
Askew… Best of luck with Soda. It’s so hard, but know that you were a great pet steward for a great little cat for a long time. Most animals don’t get that lucky. Happy holidays too.
Thanks, Pessor, and so sorry to hear about your loss.
They leave us physically but stay with us forever in our hearts.
I hope that someday, when you’re ready, that you find that what you really need in your apartment is a couple of kitties. (Two is always better than one so they always have company.) The shelters are always overfull of animals who just want to come home with you and sit in your lap and put hair on everything you own. All of our animals are shelter or rescue animals and we’ve had a houseful of love for all my life.
Slightly askew, it is my wish that things are better for you and Soda today.
We just had a similar scare, but Max dodged the bullet. He had crystals in his bladder. The vet said he was lucky he still had good kidney function. He’s now on special food, which puzzles him, antibiotics and an anti-inflamatory.
I can now tell he’s been feeling bad for longer than we thought. He’s playing his old games and purring more.
slightly askew, I hope soda improves too. He looks like a happy guy in the picture.
Max will sent his best kitty wishes, too.
Just talked to the vet. No real improvement in his blood work from yesterday. He’s acting pretty normally though, but still not eating much. The vet said that most cats with his blood results would be acting much more sick. We are going to go and pick him up and give him the best care we can for however long he’ll let us. Need to figure out how to give him subcutaneous fluids.
Thanks for all the support. I really do appreciate it.
Hugs and scritches to all the kitties out there.
hugs I just lost my 17 year old kitty Smokey last week, it’s tough. Soda got pretty lucky, picking your garage :(
Have you tried varying his food? My cat was in chronic kidney failure, and my vet said “pickiness” is a hallmark of the disease progression – that based on humans with the same disease, they have a bad taste in their mouth all the time (because the body is not processing urea correctly) so they become disgruntled with their normal food. Sometimes new flavors/smells will encourage them to eat.
TubaDiva sorry about your kitty also. Have you tried tempting her with meat baby food?
hugs to all kitty owners and hugs to all the kitties.
What are you feeding the cat? The reason that I am asking is that high protein diets in domesticated “carnivores” can be really bad for the kidneys. Follow your vet’s advice if it conflicts with some monkey on the internet, of course, but I do know a thing or two. And when I see kidney trouble in a companion animal, I want to take a good look at how much protein the animal is taking in.
Sometimes the cheaper food is better. Less protein, more carbohydrates and fiber. The domesticated cat isn’t really a true carnivore anymore.
By the way I used to work here.
But, as always, if it comes to trusting the vet who as actually seen the animal or some monkey on the internet, trust the vet. But reduce the protein anyway. Cats typically get more than is truly healthy.
Yep, and sometimes she eats some of that – but only off my finger in little doses.
The vet said there’s nothing really physically wrong with Mandy ($255.00 later), she’s just 17 years old and nearing the end of her time, she’s just “wore out.”
And I’m so sorry about your cat. Man, this has really been a rough year. We had already lost a couple of cats this year and some family members, we’ve had a lot to grieve over – and nearly everyone I know has had bad news/loss/something awful this year. A true annus horribilis.
Soda is at home and getting tons of attention. He’s actually pretty good about the subcutaneous fluids, but HATES the antibiotic. He puts up a real fight giving him the antibiotic. There is also something mixed in with the antibiotic to help his stomach feel better and hopefully keep his appetite. He’s eating a little, but not much. He still wants to play though. Spent a good hunk of last night playing fetch and chasing string.
Hello Again and Monkey he’s been raised on Science Diet, first kitten formula, then adult and most recently on adult indoor formula. The vet recommended the Royal Canin renal LP, so he’s on that now. I haven’t tried the babyfood route yet. What flavor should I look for?
picunurse – Max is a very handsome kitty. My bestest cat growing up was a grey tuxedo named Dan.
hugs to everyone out there and scritches to their kitties.
There are plain meat varieties chicken, turkey, beef, ham, and actually I’ve seen lamb once.
However you should speak to your vet before feeding meat baby food to a cat in renal failure. It is pure protein. In my post it was more a suggestion for TubaDiva, whose cat does not have kidney problems but just doesn’t eat.
