Hi,
I'm hoping someone has experienced something similar and
can advise. First a bit of her history...

She is 10 years old and about 2 years ago she suddenly began
vomiting sporadically, often seeming to induce it herself by
eating whatever she could find on the floor or by chewing silk
flowers/plants. In May 2003 her weight suddenly plummeted
about 1 1/2 pounds. The vet did blood work, blood pressure,
x-rays... and diagnosed probably IBD. We did not have the
money to do surgery to get a biopsy at that time, and so she
was put on an antibiotic and oral Prednisolone and her food
was changed to one that is supposed to cause less of a reaction.
She immediately gained all her weight back, as in, within a
month, and seemed fine. From May until November she was
good although she never completely quit vomiting. She still
vomited every few days, sometimes within 3-4 days, other times
going up to 11 days. In between she would sometimes spit up
a white foamy liquid, just once, and seem fine afterward.

In November she got into our food because we were stupid and
left something out (forgot it actually, still stupid). She also begged
for a treat, which my husband gave. He's already slapped himself
many times. Anyway...

She began vomiting, every other day, usually right around 5 to
5:30 a.m. Because the vomiting seemed to have increased when
she ate one of the two foods she was allowed, we took her off it.
It was a lamb and rice mixture from Hill's. We put her back on
a diet of only the dry, special protein stuff... sorry, I can't think of
the name, and hubby isn't here to remind me. :-( She seemed okay
for a day or two but then began vomiting it, and now she was
vomiting every day. We called the vet but because of the holidays
we couldn't get in until after the 1st of January.

She was down 2 pounds, very tired, etc. The vet didn't feel repeating
the blood work would be helpful, said that doing any exploration
for cancer at this point would be useless, and put her back on the
steroid and the antibiotic. She went another week, still vomiting
every morning, then it moved to every other day. Now... the question
is this:

The vomiting that concerns me (she does occasionally vomit after she
eats a large quantity but it seems sporadic and tied to that practice) is
of two types:
1) Doesn't seem tied to food. Even if we don't feed her, she vomits early
in the morning, normally foamy white liquid;
2) Is tied to food but seems NOT to be tied to her last meal, but more
of a build-up of the harder food particles. By this I mean that she will
vomit, at the same early morning time, a small amount of undigested
rice pieces (or what look like rice anyway), and the harder bits of the
venison food. We've tried mashing it but still some harder bits get thru.
It's almost like this stuff is not passing thru her digestive system, or
it's
getting caught and then she throws it back up.

Any ideas?

The only suggestions the doctor has are:
1) Motility drug to prevent vomiting;
2) Food allergy testing to open up more choices;
3) Urinalysis (not sure why).

She didn't even mention an ultrasound this time, although initially she
thought it might be helpful. I feel like she has decided Nosey Posey has
cancer and can't be saved, yet the poor thing is alert, interested in the
world,
eats/drinks/pees/poops like any other cat, plays with a string, begs for
food, watches birds.... yada, yada, yada. She doesn't have a pain response
that we notice, although that's never definitive.

Oh, yeah... one more thing. She has lost the hair on her elbows, and is
losing
the hair on her hocks. Otherwise her coat is bright, shiny, silky.

Cheryl