It's time for me to admit I have a problem...

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Ugh, this ridiculous cat!!

 

[Muscovy Wunda]

Does he allow his belly to be petted?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oh yeah, I'm always rubbing his tummy! There's very little that he doesn't at least tolerate.



I'm a little concerned about our boy today. A few days ago, he threw up after eating. He's never even had a hairball since he's been here, so obviously that had me a bit worried then. This morning he puked again before I woke up, and he's been looking a bit bloaty lately. His favorite litterbox also seems emptier than it should be, but of course he has access to two others so it's hard to say if he's just using the other ones and that's why... He acts perfectly normal otherwise, still eats his meals (and is not throwing up nearly as much as he's eating) and plays like he normally would, but I think I might get him a vet appointment just to be safe. He hasn't been seen since he was neutered at the end of last year, so he could probably use a checkup anyway.

 

[RoyalChick]

Oh yeah, I'm always rubbing his tummy! There's very little that he doesn't at least tolerate.



I'm a little concerned about our boy today. A few days ago, he threw up after eating. He's never even had a hairball since he's been here, so obviously that had me a bit worried then. This morning he puked again before I woke up, and he's been looking a bit bloaty lately. His favorite litterbox also seems emptier than it should be, but of course he has access to two others so it's hard to say if he's just using the other ones and that's why... He acts perfectly normal otherwise, still eats his meals (and is not throwing up nearly as much as he's eating) and plays like he normally would, but I think I might get him a vet appointment just to be safe. He hasn't been seen since he was neutered at the end of last year, so he could probably use a checkup anyway.

Oh no! Poor Casper. I hope the vet can help.
Some of mine have thrown up a couple of times (they eat too fast) and were fine. But I have one baby who started throwing up pretty much every other day. It turned out he had food allergies. So now he is even more spoiled because he has a special diet. Guess what, he can only tolerate venison. Go figure!
I guess I should be thankful that the one food he could tolerate didn't turn out to be lobster or caviar!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oh my goodness, venison of all things! Is that hard to find in cat food? Seems like most of them are poultry or fish of some sort.

When she started showing signs of food sensitivity, was it just out of the blue or had you switched food recently? Casper's been on the same diet pretty much since he arrived back in October without issue. I'd been thinking about switching him to a longhair formula anyway after the first throw up just in case it was a hairball thing, so I guess I'm already mentally prepared for the work that involves anyway.

 

[RoyalChick]

Oh my goodness, venison of all things! Is that hard to find in cat food? Seems like most of them are poultry or fish of some sort.

When she started showing signs of food sensitivity, was it just out of the blue or had you switched food recently? Casper's been on the same diet pretty much since he arrived back in October without issue. I'd been thinking about switching him to a longhair formula anyway after the first throw up just in case it was a hairball thing, so I guess I'm already mentally prepared for the work that involves anyway.

Hopefully it is simple. I had not switched diets he just started throwing up. It wasn’t un-digested food like when they gulp their food, it was full on stomach contents.
I started a ‘vomit diary’ and realized it was 2-3x a week.
He got a prescription diet from the vet which is made of denatured (hydrolyzed) protein - so his little body doesn’t recognize it as a protein he is allergic to but he still gets all the amino acids he needs. It is very expensive and he doesn’t like it very much. I have to give the same thing to all four cats - I have tried feeding them separately but it just doesn’t work.
The vet said I could try adding in mono-source protein. One he wouldn’t have been exposed to before. I had venison in the freezer because we have wild deer and I allow the hunter to hunt in my field so he gives me some when he gets a deer.
That worked out fine and I found some very expensive venison cat food on Amazon so I mix that with the very expensive prescription cans.
Did I mention it is all very expensive?!
I have just found ground venison for human consumption that can be shipped frozen from Texas. It is cheaper than the cat food venison so I am going to give that a go.
I know he isn’t allergic to bugs because he catches them and eats them with no problem.
But don’t worry - it will probably be hair balls which is much simpler.
I recommend the vomit diary - just make a note of when he vomits, what he ate and how long beforehand and also what the vomit looks like. Sounds yucky but it will help the vet figure things out.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Thank you for all the details! I'll take down some notes on his vomit for his appointment. I hope you're right that it's just a hairball issue.

 

[Muscovy Wunda]

If he hasn't had a hairball since you've had him, I would lean that way too. Hope it's nothing too serious

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Well, he's still acting normal today. Normal being relative, of course.

I have since been informed that he may have gotten into the dog's food and eaten some of it, which lines up with what I saw in his vomit yesterday and kind of makes sense with the bloating and vomiting. The vet's booked out a bit so his appointment will be a few weeks out. Because he's acting normally and I've confirmed he's not blocked (he used his favorite box again, finally!), they didn't think it was an emergency, so we're to keep an eye on him and take him in for an emergency appointment if he gets worse in the mean time.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I still won't let him play with the chicks, so he's giving me the cold shoulder