My cat keeps vomiting undigested food. Why does she seem fine?

Poor Sweetie! In older cats, I would be concerned that the vomiting is caused by kidney disease, inflammatory bowel disease, a foreign body, or intestinal lymphoma. I would take her into the vet first thing in the morning. The vet can do a physical exam, routine blood tests, a urinalysis, x-rays, and possibly an ultrasound to determine what is causing her vomiting. Once the cause is found, the vet can recommend a possible treatment.

It sounds as Marylin is suffering from a gastrointestinal condition, possibly an infection. it could also be due to ingestion of a foreign body material. i would recommend taking her to the vet the first chance you get, she will need to be checked first, if the vet thinks it's a simple gastrointestinal infection she will need an anti vomiting injection, antibiotics and a special food for a few days in order to get better. if the vet thinks it is more serious she will need a blood test and possibly an ultrasound in order to find out what is wrong.

Hello and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! There are many different reasons why cats will vomit periodically. It could be an allergy or sensitivity to the food, to inflammation anywhere in the GI tract, pancreatitis, liver or kidney disease, and many more. These cases can be extremely frustrating and take lots of testing to figure out because of this. The first thing I recommend is screening blood work to look for organ dysfunction that could lead to vomiting. In the vast majority of cats who are acting normal other than the vomiting, the blood work is usually normal. X-rays are also performed to look for any obvious change in organ shape or size and to look for obstruction, masses, etc. Beyond that, the testing gets more involved and typically involves an abdominal ultrasound. Sometime this can give you an answer. Other times the only way to confirm a diagnosis is through biopsies of the affected organs. The other thing that is commonly recommended is a change in diet. If there is an ingredient that she is sensitive to, we want to try to eliminate it from her diet. This is best done with a prescription diet because over-the-counter diets can be contaminated with ingredients that are not on the label. Food trials need to be done for at least 6 to 8 weeks and they can't eat anything else during this time. If the vomiting resolves with the new diet, I recommend keeping her on that diet long-term.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. With Sasha's age and the consistent vomiting, I am concerned that she may have something systemic going on. Quite commonly I see kidney disease in older cats and this can cause consistent vomiting. There are also other conditions such as GI inflammatory disease that can lead to persistent vomiting like you are seeing. My best recommendation would be to have a veterinarian examine Sasha and have her blood tested to start with. This will help rule out multiple potential causes of what you are seeing. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction and that everything ends up ok with Sasha. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Chronic diarrhea in an older cat with vomiting can be a sign of an inflammatory bowel disease or intestinal cancer. The only way to differentiate between the two disease is a surgery to take biopsies of the intestines and have them analyzed. Based on the diagnosis, the diet may be changed or vitamin supplements or steroids may be added to manage her symptoms. They will check for parasite and check her labs for any renal or endocrine disease

It is not normal for a cat to vomit that frequently, so your cat may have inflammatory bowel disease or another type of chronic gastrointestinal disease. Since it has been going on for so, a diet change may not be enough at this point. The ideal situation would be to have your veterinarian do some testing to determine what is causing the vomiting. If that is not an option, then I would discuss treatment options with your veterinarian. There are a number of medications that may be able to resolve the vomiting. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. If Willow did not have her blood tested when she was in for her exam I would highly recommend having the vet pull a blood sample and check to see if she has any abnormal values. Kidney disease is something we quite commonly see in older cats and this certainly could be the cause of the vomiting / decreased appetite. The sooner her blood is tested the better and the faster you will know what is going on with her. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.