My cat licks plastic and throws up frequently. Are they linked?

Many cats routinely vomit from eating too fast, hairballs, or for no specific reason. Since Mikie is long haired he may have hairballs causing him to vomit. Often the hairballs are forming in the stomach and are not always vomited up, even though they are present. I recommend daily brushing to remove the dead fur, and giving cat laxative, about an inch once a week for prevention. There is also specific food for hairball prevention. If he’s healthy this is annoying and messy but usually nothing to be overly concerned about. If he should start to lose weight or appear sick then please bring him in right away for and exam and treatment. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Mikie.

Cats vomit more often than other animals. Often it can be from eating too fast or they throw up balls of hair that accumulate in the stomach. The picture looks like a hair ball. As long as Socks is acting normally it is an annoyance but nothing to be concerned about. You can give cat laxative weekly as this will help prevent hair balls. The product you buy in the pet store is flavored so they usually like it. Also there is cat food formulated for hair ball prevention. As far as the odor I'd try to find where it's coming from. Dental problems, ear infections and other things can cause an odor. Ask your veterinarian to check if there is an abnormal odor next time you take him in for an exam. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Socks.

Brushing Meezer daily to remove excess hair will help reduce the hair balls and therefore the vomiting. You can also give cat laxative twice weekly to reduce the hair balls. Feeding several small meals will help too as cats who eat large amounts quickly tend to vomit more frequently. In general healthy cats tend to vomit off an on regardless. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Meezer.

Poor Theodore! He could have hairballs, or he could have a GI illness, pancreatitis, a foreign body, or may have eaten something rotten. Given that he's not lethargic and seems normal, I'm going to suggest you try withholding food and feeding a bland diet to see if that helps. I recommend withholding food for 12-24 hours, then feeding a bland diet of boiled white meat chicken (no bones) in small amounts several times a day for a couple of days. Then slowly add back in his normal diet. If the vomiting continues in the absence of food, he vomits the bland diet, develops diarrhea, stops drinking water, starts vomiting water, or becomes very lethargic, he will need to see a vet right away.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Lilly. A longhaired cat should only produce 3-4 hairballs per year. Any more than that is considered abnormal. If her initial blood panel came back normal, I typically recommend a secondary panel that checks for pancreatitis, a disease known as pancreatic exocrine insufficiency as well as cobalamin and folate levels. This can reveal the cause of the vomiting or give some treatment options for her. Inflammatory bowel disease is common cause of chronic vomiting. This will typically result in a low cobalamin levels. It can not be diagnosed without intestinal biopsies, but those are very invasive. An abdominal ultrasound can give a lot of information and rule out other causes of vomiting. If I suspect this to be the case, I will treat the patient with a prescription hydrolyzed diet to help decrease inflammation and sometimes medication as well. I hope this information helps!

It's probably something more serious. chronic vomiting can be caused by various conditions (foreign body, pancreatitis, lymphoma, IBD and more...), you will need to take her to the vet in order to get checked and have a blood test done as a first step to try and find out what is causing this.

George's intermittent vomiting can be a frustrating problem to diagnose and manage. While eating quickly can cause vomiting, other possible causes of this waxing and waning frequency of vomiting could be related to inflammatory bowel disease or chronic pancreatitis. These conditions can both require fairly extensive diagnostic testing to get a definitive answer, including blood tests, abdominal ultrasound and intestinal biopsies. At this point, you can certainly try to slow down George's eating pace, but you can also consider trying a diet change, as this can help both of the issues I mentioned. If you decide to change his diet, I recommend using a novel protein diet (one protein source/one carbohydrate source), such as Dick van Patten's Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diets or prescription based formulas. Choose a flavor of food that he has never been exposed to (i.e. venison, rabbit, etc.) and gradually mix his old and new foods slowly over 5-7 days. Avoid feeding any treats or table food while feeding this diet to eliminate any exposure to other foods. It can take 6-8 weeks to determine if a diet change is successful, so don't give up after a few weeks if you haven't noticed a change. If George continues vomiting intermittently on a new diet that he is eating slowly, I would consider taking him back to the vet to discuss further diagnostic testing. I hope that all goes well!