Suddenly, without warning, jmc exclaimed (18-Feb-06 11:34 PM):

Well, it's been another hour - seems to be better, sort of.  She's
stopped vomiting, though to me she still seems uncomfortable.

jmc

This is exactly how my cats act after they have eaten some sort of
houseplant.
(None of theones I have had are actually poisonous to cats, but they
obviously
were not the best choices for a snack.) My girls are generally better within
24 hours.

Try (onion-free) chicken baby food (after the 24 hour wait); never seen a cat
who doesn't like it.  That is what most books and my own vet suggest after a
bout of diarreah as it is very bland and easy on the stomach.

I'm wondering if it could be a hairball that won't come up since there was a
bit of hair in the first vomit.  The hairball is trying to come out but just
the food does instead.  Taking away the food for awhile sounds like a good
idea.

LMR

Poor Meep.  We drag her off to the vet on Thursday, and though she's
fine she was a bit down that afternoon - but normal by night, and normal
yesterday.

Today, she got a few minutes out in our yard - she's mostly an indoor
cat but spends hours out there in summer.  Wasn't interested in hours,
so she was maybe out there for 10 minutes.

Some short time after that, she vomited a small amount of food, mixed
with a little bit of hair.  Normally I'd have expected her to throw up
grass after being outside.  We cleaned it up, and didn't think too much
of it (she's rarely thrown up food before), and went out.

We came home, and shortly after, I heard her retching, and she threw up
more food.  At that point we found two more piles behind the table - one
was still warm.  It seems to be just her food though.

After maybe another half-hour, she threw up again - this time just
brownish bile.  She's never vomited this much before - 4x in perhaps a 7
hour period.

Called the night tech at the clinic, she said take away her food, and
call if she's still retching in the morning.  Perhaps feed her a bit of
chicken if she hasn't tossed any more.

I checked a book I have, it said take food away for 24 hours, then
suggested the same bland diet.  That will be problematical as she won't
eat any human food except Parmesan cheese, shrimp and tuna - but not the
chicken that's suggested.  Also suggested kaopectate, but we don't have
any and it's 11:30pm here.

She hasn't tossed again for about an hour now, but she's needy and
uncharacteristically hanging out next to me in the computer room.  She
did look a bit distressed after the last session, but then I am too when
I'm tossing up everything I've eaten...

I'm worried that she could have picked up something outside, since this
is very unusual for her, and it started after she'd been out.  Now, for
only 10 minutes... but could a foreign body cause this sort of thing?

AFAIK she only eats grass, and there's plenty in her usual spots so I
can't really see her getting into anything else, but we do have roses
that I was clipping yesterday so I wondered if she could have got a
thorn on her paw, then ingested it?  What would the symptoms be if she
had eaten a thorn? I can pretty much rule out poison, there's simply
nothing like that in our yard, and if it was a poisonous plant I'd think
she'd have gotten into trouble long before this.

I'll definitely call the vet in the morning if she's still retching, but
I'm not sure how I'm going to sleep tonight, worrying about her.

Any help is appreciated.

jmc

DONT dont dont use kaopectate.
Nor pepto.
The formula  has changed in the kaopectate and it is toxic to kitties-
it is NO LONGER kaolin and pectin.
It now contains  bismuth salicylate , which is very dangerous for cats.
A better bet, depending on size of the kitty , is to check with the vet,
and use  immodium , 1/4 or 1/8 of
a human pill.  But that is for diarrhea, not vomiting.

Must have been something in the air today, one of my kitties (koko) also
vomited 4 times today.

I would recommend the baby meat formulas, the chicken, turkey ,veal, as
has been suggested.
sometimes plain chicken broth in a few bits of potato buds will tempt
them.
Sometimes they will eat stuff when they have upset tummies that they
would normally NOT even sniff.

Koko actually wanted her crunchy nutro lamb and rice, and stopped
vomiting.  She refuses the hairball
formula treats, so once  a week or so we let her at the butter - stick a
dab in her dinner.  It has been
awhile since we did that, so that could possibly be partly why she was
sick.

Good luck, hope kitty feels better - make sure she has access to lots of
fresh water.

laurie

www.richandlaurie.com

Suddenly, without warning, jmc exclaimed (18-Feb-06 11:34 PM):

Update:  She tossed once again in the wee hours of the morning: bile
with some hair.  I gave her more petromalt (hairball meds - my UK vet
doesn't know what petromalt is!) and went back to bed.  She used the
litterbox during the night, but only to pee. This morning she's up
bright and early, reminding us that not only is it sunny out, but that
she's out of food and could I please fix that?

Called the vet anyway, expressing my concerns this could be leading to a
hairball impaction - she said since Meep's not lethargic and not off her
food, wait-and-see is fine, and I could pick up a sample of hairball
food in the morning.  I ended up making an appointment in the early am,
since I'm leaving town around lunchtime, and hubby's not usually
involved in Meep's healthcare.  I hope to cancel the appointment :)

Gave her just a couple of kibbles this morning, she wolfed them down.
I'll see if she keeps them down.  I'll try to get some (non-onion)
babyfood this morning, and see how that goes.

She doesn't normally toss up hairballs, normally passes them in her
stool.  So, I'm hoping for something from either end (she's not pooed in
a day or so but that's normal for her) - if that happens, I'll canx the
vet appointment.

jmc