Cat vomiting: When You Need To Worry and When Not To

Cat vomiting undigested food – Vomiting in a cat is a consequence of the reflex ejection of contents from the stomach cavity through the mouth or nose. At the same time, the animal produces involuntary sharp swallowing movements, breathes rapidly, and it has a rich saliva compartment.

Causes vomiting cats

The gag reflex can be triggered by various reasons: from simple overeating or fast eating food to complex serious infectious diseases and infection with parasites.

More often, the cat vomits after eating a large amount of grass. The animal swallows it specifically to induce vomiting reflexes. Thus, it cleans the stomach from the hairballs that accumulate in it due to constant licking.

Cat vomiting can be caused by fear, stress, or anxiety.

Many of the nerve endings that lead to the vomiting center are located in the abdominal region. Some change in pressure on the walls of the stomach may occur in an animal that has eaten a lot of food. Also, pressure often provokes the presence of a foreign body swallowed by an unwittingly cat during games. Irritation of the nerve endings on the walls of the stomach triggers the transmission of signals to the vomiting center and cat tears because of this.

The most common causes of vomiting in cats are overeating and serious infectious diseases.

If the cat vomited only 1-2 times, and at the same time the animal does not have any other suspicious symptoms or changes in behavior, then it is not scary.

Often the cat is sick while traveling by car. The use of tranquilizers helps to alleviate the suffering of the animal and reduce anxiety when traveling by car, in the ship, or by plane.

Some healthy cats may have a tendency to vomit, due to the nature of the physiological nature of the structure of the stomach.

Diseases provoking gag reflexes in cats

Often the cat vomits during pregnancy, due to toxicosis.

Sometimes this disorder of the vestibular apparatus can be triggered by diseases of the ears. A sick cat undergoes changes in the semicircular canals, which stimulate the stimulation of the vomiting center in the brain.

Such symptoms may occur in half of cats with liver disease or lipidosis. Vomiting in cats with pancreatitis is noted in 20% of cases. Also, this disorder can be caused by kidney diseases or infectious diseases.

The disorder can be caused by kidney disease. Often the cat is sick because of inflammation of the uterus.

Often the cat is sick and because of inflammation of the uterus or pathological processes in the intestine. Sometimes cats vomit worms, due to severe infection with these parasites. Gag reflex occurs due to excessive intoxication of the body of the animal by metabolic products of parasites.

In those cases when the cat vomits often and for a long time, and it is not connected with food in any way, it is necessary to immediately contact a specialist.

Types of vomiting

Cat vomiting can be acute and chronic. In acute forms, animals need simple symptomatic supportive treatment. With chronic manifestations of such reflexes, cats need specific diagnostics and prescription of specialized therapy after receiving the results.

There are three stages of vomiting.

Nausea

Nausea is characterized by frequent licking of the lips, and frequent reflex swallowing and is accompanied by abundant salivation.

Belching

The characteristic gassing is only an attempt and a precursor to vomiting. It often becomes a clear precursor of the imminent onset of the emetic process itself.

Actually vomiting

As soon as the content rises to a certain level of the stomach, the reflex center of the animal is triggered and the emetic masses are released.

Different types of vomiting

Identification in the gag mass of various types of impurities and blotches in the form of: blood, bile, lumps or clots requires immediate appeal to a specialist.

There are several characteristic types of vomiting secretions:

White foam

Such “hungry vomiting” indicates an empty stomach of an animal, and at the same time it does not reveal any aggravating factors.

Bile

Normally, bile should not be in the stomach. Her presence in vomit may indicate a disease of the gallbladder, liver disease. Yellow bile can also appear after the cat vomits repeatedly and its stomach is completely empty. Even if such vomiting manifested itself only a couple of times, this should not be left without proper attention – you need to visit a doctor.

Bile very aggressively affects the mucous membranes of the stomach and provokes their inflammation.

By blood

Blood in the vomit can be of two types: scarlet and dark (to the color of coffee grounds). The presence of red blood indicates damage to the esophagus, or pharynx, it may appear due to wounds in the oral cavity. You should carefully examine the mouth and throat of the animal for damage or foreign objects (fragments of bones, chips, etc.).

If the vomit is saturated red (to brown) color, this indicates a bleeding in the stomach itself, where the blood changes color under the influence of hydrochloric acid. This type of bleeding can be caused by gastritis, tumors, or sharp objects.

If the cat vomits blood, both of these cases require immediate treatment to a specialist.

Green

Such coloring vomit signals that the contents from the intestine enters back into the stomach cavity, or there is a rich excessive formation of bile. This type of staining indicates problems with the liver, gallbladder or intestinal obstruction. Moreover, the latter is very dangerous for a pet, he urgently needs to consult a veterinarian.

Vomiting pregnant cats

Usually, reflex regurgitation occurs in cats in the morning, or immediately after they eat food. It is caused by toxic states associated with pregnancy. If this happens a couple of times, and there are no impurities in the vomit, then there is no particular reason for excitement.

In cases where the process is repeated more often, or vomiting in a cat has impurities, an animal should be urgently shown to a specialist.

If the cat vomits repeatedly, it loses a lot of fluid, which leads to dehydration. When diarrhea is added to the symptoms, dehydration occurs even faster, and this is very dangerous for the animal.

Vomiting kittens

If the kitten feels sick constantly or he has a very frequent burp interspersed with vomiting, then this can be triggered by dysfunction of the pylorus in the stomach (sphincter). This is a special muscle located between the small intestine and the stomach cavity. If it is not properly developed, then the stomach is not properly emptied, which provokes gag reflexes.

Such a diagnosis can be made to an animal only after an x-ray examination.

Sometimes the kitten tears and because of a disturbance in the muscle that separates the stomach and esophagus. In this case, the food does not penetrate into the stomach and spit up in animals. If kittens are susceptible to such diseases, then it is better to feed them with very small portions of food in the form of mashed potatoes, keeping them upright. It helps food easier to penetrate the stomach. An underdeveloped muscle inside an animal may return to normal with age.

In cases where vomiting in a kitten occurs once (or a couple of times), after eating, you should change the composition of the feed or reduce the dose so that it does not overeat.

Vomiting treatment

For successful treatment it is necessary, first of all, to clarify the frequency of emetic urges, as well as the presence of various types of impurities in the secreted masses. It is also necessary to remove water and food from the animal, since they can only cause additional irritation.

It must be remembered that vomiting is only a symptom, and not the disease itself.

If a cat or a kitten vomits once, and there is a suspicion of overeating, it is only necessary to pause feeding for several hours. In this case, you can give water a little, but you should not force the cat to drink.

For the treatment of vomiting in cats, you must follow a diet. In this case, they feed with boiled rice or low-fat boiled chicken meat.

Appearance of appetite in this case is a good sign. It is not necessary to feed a lot of food to an animal, so as not to harm the stomach. It is better to feed it in small portions.
For the treatment of prolonged vomiting, it is desirable to follow the cat sparing diet. It is fed with boiled rice or low-fat boiled chicken meat, or special medical types of feed.

If the food is digested, then you can gradually introduce pressed cottage cheese, or boiled boiled egg. Such products cat’s body is well digested and absorbed. You can go on to your usual diet gradually and several days after the symptoms disappear.

Folk remedy for vomiting is a decoction of flax seeds or chamomile tincture, which give sick animals a spoon several times a day (depending on the size of the cat).

Medical treatment of vomiting

With a strong and repeated vomiting, an intramuscular injection of Tserukal or No-Shpy can be performed at the rate of: a dose of 0.1 ml of the drug is needed per 1 kg of animal weight. Sorbents also work well: Atoxil or Enterosgel. With strong vomiting, the use of electrolyte solutions is ineffective (for example, Rehydron).

It is very important with abundant and prolonged vomiting with various types of impurities, rather refer to a veterinarian. Self-treatment in such cases can end in tears. If a kitten is sick for a long time, it can be very dangerous, and it should be urgently taken to a specialist. A doctor will help determine the cause of such reflexes, the level of dehydration of the body and even appoint an IV.

Prevention

In order to prevent vomiting in cats, it is necessary to undergo regular vaccination and show the animal to the vet. It should also treat animals from the appearance of parasites (worms or fleas). For the prevention of formations of hairballs, cats need to periodically be given a special feed or paste, which removes wool from the stomach. You also need to carefully comb out the animal, especially during periods of molting.

It is necessary to ensure that toys for the animal do not have small and sharp parts that can come off and get into the esophagus.

Reasons Cats Throw Up and Ways to Treat a Vomiting Cat

If a cat or kitten gets sick a couple of times after eating food, you should either change the feed or reduce the dose. You need to keep track of your pets and do not give them to overeat especially the new “tasty” feed.