Cat vomiting / regurgitating but vets can't work out why

Da_Crojanz

Has anyone had a cat be sick around 4-6 times a month with no explanation?

He is very long-haired so sometimes it's obvious furballs but other times it's not with undigested food in there. He got bloodwork done and levels were all fine. so far we've tried removing dry food from his diet (which would often come up in the vomit) but he's since vomited just the once.

Behaviour, weight, appetite, energy levels, coat all the exact same as always and he is friendly and playful as ever. Vet ruled out something stuck in his tract as she said symptoms would have been worse than what they are. She suggested tooth resorption as a potential cause but he shows no other symptoms of that one (will get his teeth x-rayed and checked in case though).

Could things like stress or separation anxiety be playing a part. noticed he's been sick a few times when nobody has been home.

KxMx

Without wishing to scare you my cat turned out to have small cell lymphoma. Vomiting and weight loss were her symptoms and the vomiting lessened when I removed dry food but didn't stop.

Her blood tests were normal as was an ultrasound. 
She ended up at a specialist Vet for an upper endoscopy with biopsies, which needed two rounds of testing - the first confirmed inflammation but no cause, the second confirmed the cancer.

Local Vet didn't do the procedure hence the specialist.

With no weight loss I wouldn't recommend those tests for your cat, but do keep monitoring her weight.

We basically had 3 possibilities - food allergy, IBD or cancer. 

You could try changing the food to something like Royal Canin sensitivity -  wet food containing chicken and rice, or a hydrolyzed food.
I spent years taking care to vary my cats food so she had variety, yet for the few weeks she had on the Royal Canin she absolutely wolfed it down!

donnac2558

One of my cats did this quite random.   Moved to sensitive food, and it stopped just now and then.   Now, he did end up at 18 having cancer.

Da_Crojanz

KxMx said:

Without wishing to scare you my cat turned out to have small cell lymphoma. Vomiting and weight loss were her symptoms and the vomiting lessened when I removed dry food but didn't stop.

Her blood tests were normal as was an ultrasound. 
She ended up at a specialist Vet for an upper endoscopy with biopsies, which needed two rounds of testing - the first confirmed inflammation but no cause, the second confirmed the cancer.

Local Vet didn't do the procedure hence the specialist.

With no weight loss I wouldn't recommend those tests for your cat, but do keep monitoring her weight.

We basically had 3 possibilities - food allergy, IBD or cancer. 

You could try changing the food to something like Royal Canin sensitivity -  wet food containing chicken and rice, or a hydrolyzed food.
I spent years taking care to vary my cats food so she had variety, yet for the few weeks she had on the Royal Canin she absolutely wolfed it down!

If you mind me asking how often was the vomiting and how much weight was lost? He has no other symptoms like diarrhea (bowel movements are the best they've been), lethargy or change in appetite.

He has actually lost weight sadly but only a tiny amount. 4.6 kilos one year ago and 4.5 kilos now. In that time however he has cut down on snacks as he was quite obsessed with Dreamies. Will look to try him on the sensitivity diet next week and see if that helps.

A few years ago my previous vet did suggest he seemed to have quiet a sensitive stomach - he had issues with diarrrhea quite regularly and would vomit a bit more than normal (usually when nobody was in which suggested separation anxiety). The diarrhea is never an issue now though.

Also should add he has very, very long hair hence is more prone to furballs (which make up most of his vomits).

KxMx

It was frequent vomiting- sometimes daily, sometimes many times a week. The weight loss was around 800/900g so quite significant.

As you say, 100g isn't much and probably explained by not having so many treats.

Let us know how you get on with the sensitivity food.

Might be an idea to groom him daily (if you don't already) and perhaps try some hairball paste.

Murphybear

How old is your cat?  One of our long haired cats did this but not until he was 16.  Sadly he had an internal lump which was causing it.  I think something like this would have shown up in the tests.  

marcia_

 One of mine does this. Vomiting 2/3 times a week sometimes more, has been going on 6+ months. 

Vet says nothing is wrong and I can't really change food as I have 5 cats! 

She's not losing weight. In fact is a bit overweight. 

HRH_MUngo

One of my cats vomited periodically (not as often as you mention though, maybe once a month),  all her life, she was otherwise healthy and lived to be 22.  

Mrs_Z

Hi,
We have an elderly cat (13yrs) who is vomiting on a regular basis.  Sometimes there are hairballs but often not.  We have noticed he has a habit of sometimes eating really fast, probably too fast, and then be sick short time after as there are undigested bits in the vomit.
We have now switched to Hills Digestive Care i/d both wet and dry food and there is a definite improvement.  Mr Cat still throws up on occasions but is far less.  Maybe once a week instead 2-3! He seems to be retaining his weight (slim but stable), and is otherwise normal, alert, playful, drinks well etc so we're not too concerned.

Mrs_Z

Hi, just wanted to pick up on this post again. If not done already, I would recommend getting the cat's teeth checked, just in case.
Our elderly cat has just had 5 teeth extracted! He never showed any symptoms of discomfort etc - it was only by co-incidence that I found a canine tooth whilst cleaning.  We had noticed that he was missing one, but assumed this was from the time we got him (he's been with us since Dec'21). Anyway, took him to the vets as I was concerned about the root left in the gum with potentially sharp edges, and as it turned out, he was missing 2 canines already and his teeth were in quite a bad shape.
It's early days yet, as we are in day 2 after the dental surgery - but so far, he's on wet food only and fingers crossed, he has not been sick yet.

[Deleted User]

Cats vomiting/regurgitating in the mornings is sometimes due to an empty stomach - they'll then drink water - and then vomit.

I spoke with a vet about this (when one of my cats started doing this) and by feeding her, or leaving meat available, last thing it stopped the problem.
Perhaps try leaving her more food available at night and see if this improves.

If there are other cats around this one might be subservient and losing it to another.