Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have never had a cat before, so some of the following may be no-brainer info.

A few days ago, we adopted a 4-year old cat from the shelter. She immediately went to be spayed and we took her home Wednesday night. She is very skinny and didn't eat anything that night, which we assumed was because she was nervous and had just undergone surgery.

Thursday, she ate a bit of dry food, and it looked like things were on the right track. Then today, which is Friday, she ate almost a whole can of wet food in the morning. Before she ate this, she was a little sneezy so I thought it was possible that she had an upper respiratory infection, since the vets had warned us that might happen. Then a few hours after she ate, she started vomiting. She basically has been throwing up all day, except that by now she doesn't have anything left in there so she just dry heaves. She did drink a fair amount of water this afternoon, which was a relief. The chain of events leads me to believe that she may be allergic to the wet food that we gave her, but I'm not sure.

Now, she isn't showing symptoms of a respiratory infection, but she refuses to eat. I don't know if this should concern me. It seems like she has a light appetite anyway (she only weighs about 7 lbs) and she's been sick all day so it kind of makes sense, but she has absolutely nothing in her stomach. We can take her to the vet tomorrow morning, but I don't know if that's necessary. Then on the other hand it makes me a little nervous, because if she gets worse then we have to wait until Monday.

For anyone who knows more about this than I do - should I be worrying? I don't know much about cats and their immune systems, but she's had such a rough few days and she's so little!!

Thanks for any words of wisdom...

Sally

Hi Sally,

I would definitely be worried about any cat that is vomiting repeatedly over several hours. If this is related to the surgery, it could be something very serious, like intestinal obstruction. Or it could be something simpler like an infection.

If the vomiting continues into Sunday I would take the kitty to the nearest ER for diagnosis and treatment. She may even need IV fluids if she is very dehydrated and/or has a bad infection. If she is no longer vomiting, you can probably get her through the weekend if she will eat strained meat baby foods (with no onion added). Try to give her small amounts at a time so you don't overload an already sensitive stomach.

I personally wouldn't wait until Monday to take her in unless she really perks up, starts eating well, and keeps it down. You just can't be too careful.

Please keep us updated.

Regards,
PHKitkat

Thanks for replying!!

So we ended up taking her to the vet yesterday (Saturday) morning and they said it was an upper respiratory infection and gave us some antibiotics. The vomiting seems like it was just from the food she ate. (She downed almost a whole thing of wet food and I think she may have been allergic or something. It was 9 Lives, which, in my research, I discovered to be not a very good brand. Now she's on dry Science Diet for sensitive stomachs.)

The thing is, she literally WILL NOT take the pills. We both hold her down and follow all the instructions we've gotten from the multitude of cat owners we know, and she refuses to swallow it. Once, I got it down her throat and she vomited it right back up, just a little puddle of yellow bubbles (the pills are yellow). We coated it in butter - no good. We also put it on her food, but she has been really picky about what and when she eats. She's been eating once a day, usually at night, and she's supposed to pill twice a day. I put some crushed up pill on tuna fish, and she had a couple bites yesterday, but now refuses to go near it. Same thing with milk. It's like she's getting wise to all of these tricks!! I will try the baby food tonight.

How much SHOULD she be eating? She's super skinny, only about 7 pounds and full grown. I'm sure she's not used to eating too much from the shelter and wherever she was before that. Also, do these upper respiratory infections ever cure themselves? From my online research it seems like it's only a really big deal if she refuses to eat... which she often does, but she has been eating once a day, so maybe that's ok?

I'm going to call the vet tomorrow and see if they can switch the pills for some liquid antibiotics. Thanks for your help!! It really even helps to have someone respond, because I have been a crazy panicky woman all weekend trying to take care of this creature. We've had her less than a week but I feel like already I'm so, so attached to her.

Hi There,

I'm glad you took your cat in and that she isn't seriously ill.

I have a few cats here that I cannot pill either. If they need an antibiotic I usually end up giving injections. Liquid meds work for some cats, but some of them taste really bad and my cats will still fight. Hope it works out better for your baby!

Most adult cats will eat a 6 ounce can of food daily, 1/2 can twice daily, maybe less if they also get dry food. My cat, Ella, is a little tiny thing at 6 pounds but she has an appetite much bigger than she is and seems to eat as much as the others. All cats are different though. It's best if cats eat two meals daily, rather than just one. Eating just once daily leaves the stomach empty for many, many hours at a time and this can cause vomiting or other problems.

Upper respiratory problems often resolve themselves without treatment. Most of these infections are viral, not bacterial, so antibiotics won't help. However, an infection can also be a mix of viral and bacterial and some vets like to prescribe antibiotics, just in case. BTW, I always give antibiotics when there is food in the cat's stomach. Otherwise some of them are likely to cause stomach upset.

Take care, and please keep us updated.

Regards,
PHKitkat