Debbie Skinner

by Debbie
(Canada)

My cat is 7 years old and is strictly indoors. About six months back she started vomiting occasionaly, so I wasn't worried. Than I noticed that she seemed to shy away from the dry food I was giving her, so I thought perhaps she was tired of the same ole stuff, so I slowly switched her over to another brand. For a while that did the trick, but then about 2 months ago she was sick for 3 days in a row. (Now let me explain that I am unable to afford a vet bill. It breaks my heart, but I get very little money and a vet bill is out of the question. I do the best I can for her, but if she is sick to death or possible death I will scrape every penny I have together to ease her pain.)


after being sick, she did perk up again and seem perfectly fine, but a week later it happened again, for 2 days, and every week till tonight. The difference this time is that she is now falling over after she vomits foam. she is eating frequent little amounts of food and drinking water as far as I can tell.

When she vomits, one pupil enlarges and stays that way, but the eyes change back and forth for that. Also, it's only been this past week that she has been having regular bowel movements. This all came about, the frequent vomiting, lack of bowel function and change in eating habits, only recently. So, I decreased the dry and started giving her wet. That's when she started using the box regulary, but because she was running and playing and being
her old self, I figured the rough patch was over, so I started giving her more dry.

Could that be the problem? That maybe she can't handle the dry stuff anymore. Do I really need to be worried. I'm at a loss now. I've got her taking malt for furballs, pumking for pooping, wet instead of dry... what do I do. She's my baby, I love her, but if you think she is suffering, I need to know.

Thanks

Answer from Kate
I absolutely can underdtand that vet bills can be expensive and that it is sometimes hard for us to find the money so please dont worry i do understand.

However it is impossible for me to say what could be wrong with her. yes it may be the food, she may not be drinking enough water with the dry stuff or she may be eating too quickly and not chewing her food. this could be because of teeth problem for instance but again i could not say for sure.

the lower cost cat foods can sometimes not be as nutrionally good for your cat as the more expensive ones and i have herad of cases of cats becoming ill due to these lower cost foods.

having said all this all you can do is monitor her. Put her on the wet food for a period of time to see if her health improves. try to encourage her to drink more water if possible and keep her active so that she does not suffer from constipation. if she reamins the same then i'm afraid then all you can do is to take her to the vets to have her disnosed.

best wishes kate

Comments for Debbie Skinner

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Update on my cat
by: Debbie Skinner

I apologize for not updating this sooner, but I have wanted nothing to do with anything cats since Mid April.
I had borrowed money to have my cat checked because she was not getting any better no matter what I tried. I am writing to tell you that I had to put her down. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, because even though it could have been treated, I could not possibly afford the treatments and medication that would only prolong her life a little longer and make her comfortable. KitKat had feline leukemia and I put her down on April 15, 2011. I have promised myself that I will NOT get another cat until I am financially able to afford everything including health care.
Don't put it off. No matter what, don't put off getting your cat checked if you see anything different... I miss her so very much!
Catfood issues
by: Dorthy

It sounds to me like your cat may have a food allergy. My cats have a hard time with red food coloring. I don't know for certain but since I removed it from their diet the vomiting has stopped. Also you may want to start feeding her home grown organic oat grass. You can buy the seeds for next to nothing at the petstore and be sure to plant it in organic compost or soil. Best of luck!

Update on my cat
by: Debbie Skinner

Hi Kate.
Just to clarify, I use the science diet wet for her. I have completely cut out the dry and although she is still vomiting, the eyes no longer change, at least so far, and she only seems off for a couple of hours. She has been more active lately and I've been keeping her little fuzzy but moving. So far so good. The vomiting is minimal and has contained fur, so I am hopeful that it's just the dry food she can't handle.
Thank you so much for the advice. I am putting as much money aside as I can, just in case she gets worse.
Thanks again for your help. I am calmer now then when I wrote my first post.

Comment from Kate
Great news, you never know it may be hairballs which are quite common. I don't know if you have seen my page about that on th site or not. Here it is anyway
https://www.our-happy-cat.com/hairballs.html

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