My Cat Keeps Throwing Up! Help?

[caroline63]

My cat is 11 years old and is called Chelsea, earlier this evening she was making a funny noise in my daughters room, my youngest said "I think that means she needs to throw up!" and she was right Chelsea came wobbling down the stairs arching her body forward and pushing out her tongue and we new she was going to be sick; we have had new carpet fitted and we chased her down to the dining room so we could open the double doors she Chelsea could be sick outside. But unfortunately she had already been sick, Chelsea had always been a cat that would throw up but since we got her "dreamies" (which she has had before!) Chelsea had thrown up even more. Her food is: Iams, and we would like to know if throwing up a lot is normal or if we need to look into this more? PLEASE HELP! P.S we have tried taking her to the Vets before. Thanks in advance xxx

[friedgreentomato]

What is she throwing up? if it looks like a dead furry animal it could be hairballs, stop feeding her dreamies, continue with the IAMS and ensure that it is the version with hairball remedy in it - ensure she has plenty of fresh water, if at all possible try collecting rain water kitties much prefer that to tap water.

[friedgreentomato]

Oh and try not to chase her mid vomit - it stresses the little bugger out no end!

[Prudie]

I think it depends on what's normal for Chelsea and if there has been an increase how long for? If it's quite a change then I'd try for a vet's appt. I had a cat who threw up all the time all her life and she lived to 18 so it ws normal for her. You could try cutting down on the Dreamies (although one of my cats would murder me in my sleep if I tried to cut down her Dreamie intake!).

[caroline63]

Thank you freidgreentomato for your answers, but no dead animals and definitely is not a hairball, but don't worry we will stop chasing her mid vomit :) She drinks a lot of water at the moment and it is always fresh, but we will try collecting rain water. :)

[friedgreentomato]

Halfpint lived to 22 she would gorge on dry food so we would have to limit her dried food intake to a little at a time.

[caroline63]

Thank you Prudie we will stop buying dreamies, and i'm sure Chelsea won't murder us! :)

[boxtops]

Caroline, take her to the vet. I don't want to alarm you (and Chelsea's not old) but kidney problems are common in older cats, and with our Rover, the first sign of problems we got was that he was throwing up all the time. Every time he ate, he vomited - the bile in his stomach from the faulty kidney made him sick. However - early diagnosis these days is brilliant, they do a blood test, and if it IS that, a tasty tablet a day can keep Chelsea going for years. Rover's 15, he was diagnosed at 11 and is still going strong.

It might help if you vary her diet too - all Iams may not be right for her, we use good quality food like Senior Felix.

Do get her to the vet a.s.a.p. if only to exclude kidney problems - the cat will be losing weight and condition if she's not keeping anything in.

...and I do agree with FGT, chasing her when she's trying to throw up is very stressful - just keep lots of kitchen roll and damp flannels handy.

[friedgreentomato]

I I didn't see your reply about the cat drinking a lot - if she is drinking more than normal then defo get her to the vet.

[boxtops]

I didn't spot that either - definitely see the vet, thirst is a symptom of diabetes (as is weeing a lot). Rover's always thirsty.

[boxtops]

PS - just put down a dish in the garden so the rain fills it - all my cats drink from buckets and so on in the garden, they don't entertain drinking indoors .

[friedgreentomato]

lol I have seen myself filtering rain water for the spoilt madams in here!!

[tonyav]

I don't think I've ever seen our cat drink from her bowl indoors, seen her plenty of times drinking from a puddle or old plant pot outside though.

[SpikeyBush]

One of my cats started vomiting a lot when he was 14. Vet referred him to a specialist in Dublin who popped a camera down his cake hole and diagnosed stomach ulcers. They prescribed a food additive (which meant my cat no longer liked his food) and some jollop I had to syringe into his mouth twice a day (much easier said than done). It didn't seem to do much, he became more and more frail and within a year I had to have him put to sleep.

[DaisyNonna]

Pardon my ignorance, but what are Dreamies?

[seekeerz]

yes I've wondered too, about the Dreamies, definitely not available in Oz....do them quieten a cat down...need some of those !

[Ouzel]

Dreamies - cat treats

[boxtops]

My cats don't like Dreamies (everyone else seems to!), but they fall over themselves for Dentabit biscuits.

I wonder how Caroline's cat is, I hope she updates us.