My cat is doing an odd chewing motion with nothing in his mouth

by Cheryl
(Minneapolis, MN)

My kitty (12-years old) has been to see several vets, (emergency, my regular vet, and the animal hospital at the University) due to weight loss, loss of appetite, projectile vomiting, and lethargy. They took several xrays and did quite a bit of blood work, put him on an IV drip for nausea, etc., but never fully diagnosed the problem. They say it could be (or may have been) a foreign object that caused this issue. Now we are on a watch and see to see how he's doing and the next step may be an ultrasound if he seems to get sick again. He seemed to get much better for about 8 days, but then vomited again once although it wasn't projectile vomiting. He's gotten very picky about his food, but is eating. I brought him back for follow-up blood work yesterday and his red blood-cell count was back in the normal range (he had tarry stools for a short while and was a bit anemic). If he appears to get sick again I will bring him in for an ultrasound and hope they find the problem - needless to say I am very concerned. He's older but not old and has never been sick before - he was born in my house and I actually was there for the whole pregnancy and birth...

My question is he has started doing an odd chewing without anything in his mouth. He stopped for several days (at least inmy presence) but has now started again. At first I thought it was fighting back vomit, but the vet did see him do it and said it was more of a chewing motion. Does anyone know what this could be or does anyone's cats do this? Clearly I'm extra sensitive right now and want to be very careful to take the best care of him.


Thank you so much for your help!

Answer by Kate
Hi I feel you it must be terrible not knowing what the problem is with your cat. My vet has said that in the past he has had some odd cases that took him some time to discover the real cause. One of which was a very fine line of cotton wrapped around the underneath of a cats tongue and down the back of the throat. he didn't see it for ages but now always checks. perhaps ask your vet to check under his tongue to see if there is anything caught there.

Also if your cat is wearing a cat flea collar I would remove it as i have heard of cases of cats getting very sick because of these.

Also perhaps change his food to a better brand just in case the particular brand he is eating has something which is upsetting him.

Apart from all of that I can't advise further. i really hope he recovers soon.

Perhaps some of my other visitors will have some suggestions for you.

best wishes Kate