Older cat keeps grooming, scratching, and vomiting

I have a 9 yr-old domestic shorthair cat, Oliver, who has never had a single health problem until recently. But suddenly, for the past week or so, he's been vomiting many times a day (sometimes 'dry heaving' if he's already thrown up all his food). He's also in a nearly CONSTANT state of agitation - grooming excessively, scratching his head and neck, shaking his head, and just acting like a nervous wreck. He's always been a very mellow lap-kitty until now.

We hadn't changed anything as far as his diet or environment (he eats Iams light dry food). We've been to the vet for this 3 times already - the first time they gave him an enema, they thought he was 'backed up'. The 2nd trip they ran blood work but said it came back fine. The 3rd trip they x-rayed him with barium but the x-rays showed no problems. Now, $1000 and a week later, he's still vomiting and scratching. We're worried about him and the vets seem stumped. They gave us a 'sensitive stomach' prescription food after our 3rd visit, which he eats, but he's still vomiting regularly. He's a very heavy cat (20 lbs). but he has hardly kept any food down for a week and he's starting to lose weight. We're getting worried about him and thinking of switching vets.

We thought maybe he had developed a food allergy to the Iams but he is still throwing up the new food as well. If anyone has any advice or suggestions we'd be very grateful! Thanks, Dennis

I would quickly get a second opinion from the most highly recommended vet you can find.

Dave

I could advise to stay with same vet and continue to get NO results, although logically it would be advisable to see another vet or, perhaps, a specialist who might have a better grasp on things. Perhaps it's best to post in a newsgroup where it takes a longer time to receive responses back - from pet owners who have little formal education in the vet realm (or a limited number of vet personnel.)

A little logic goes a long way.

<'I have a 9 yr-old domestic shorthair cat, Oliver, who has never had a single health problem until recently. But suddenly, for the past week or so, he's been vomiting many times a day (sometimes 'dry heaving' if he's already thrown up all his food). He's also in a nearly CONSTANT state of agitation - grooming excessively, scratching his head and neck, shaking his head, and just acting like a nervous wreck. He's always been a very mellow lap-kitty until now. We hadn't changed anything as far as his diet or environment (he eats Iams light dry food). We've been to the vet for this 3 times already - the first time they gave him an enema, they thought he was 'backed up'. The 2nd trip they ran blood work but said it came back fine. The 3rd trip they x-rayed him with barium but the x-rays showed no problems. Now, $1000 and a week later, he's still vomiting and scratching. We're worried about him and the vets seem stumped. They gave us a 'sensitive stomach' prescription food after our 3rd visit, which he eats, but he's still vomiting regularly. He's a very heavy cat (20 lbs). but he has hardly kept any food down for a week and he's starting to lose weight. We're getting worried about him and thinking of switching vets.>

No disrespect in response to your feelings on the matter, but I think what they were looking for was an idea of whether or not this could be a behavioral problem. I notice that people in this group often tell people to *go to your vet* (and I agree!) - this person has and is now apparently unclear as to whether or not they can trust him/her. Just my 2c Best wishes to all, Tylia

Hi Dennis:

My 14 yr. old cat also was a very healthy cat all her life. She stopped eating, started loosing weight, and slept all the time. The vet also took blood and found nothing wrong; next they took exrays and thought they saw something so had to do an exploratory and found that she had a cancerous blockage that had spread to her lymph nodes and surrounding organs. Needless to say, I had to have her put to sleep to prevent future suffering. All this to the tune of $1,200 dollars. I had her cremated and she is now in a beautiful oak box with her picture sitting on a small table in front of the balcony in the sun - her favorite spot - in the sun. Good luck to you and your cat. Hope they found the problem and she's on her way to recovery.

I have a 16 year old cat that starting throwing up constantly too. I took him to the vet and they did bloodwork and checked him. Everything came back good. They wanted to do more tests and get a urine sample but i had a gut feeling it was the food they prescribed to my other 15 year old cat for allergies. She was scratching and grooming all the time. I jumped in my car that evening after talking with the vet's office on the phone and went to petsmart. I picked up the Purina Pro plan sensitive skin and stomach formula and fancy feast turkey rice and greens can food(this seems to settle his stomach). I started feeding both of them this food and they immediately got better. My cat still has dry heaves in the morning but i think it is because his stomach is empty. He lays on my chest in the morning and i can hear his little stomach growling. I have been feeding him small portions about 6 time a day. He is doing so much better.

I also have an older cat, and although her hair is short (relatively speaking) she also trows up a lot and heaves especially during spring summer.
I put it down to malting and hair balls.

For whatever reason (probably good pricing at our local supermarket), we switched from Arm & Hammer to Scoop Away a few months ago. It seemed fine. A little overpowering but effective.

And then one of our two cats started to lick all the hair off her stomach, then she began to lick and scratch furiously between her claws and around her head. After three very expensive visits to the vet, and courses of steroid treatments and flea medication, we were no further along. The cat was constantly throwing up hair-balls (from all the licking she was doing) and getting very thin. Then our second cat started to scratch madly and my wife and I were getting very concerned. One day, while working from home, I cleaned out the litter tray three times just to keep it clean. It was that day when I noticed that my arms were very itchy and I had breathing issues. I changed the cat litter back to Arm & Hammer.

Now our cats are 100% back to normal, no more emergency visits to the vet, the hair is growing back on cat #1's stomach, and no more hairballs.

This was a scary situation. Vets and on-line discussion boards never touched on the cat litter as a potential problem but with our experience, I am convinced that Scoop Away was the root cause.

I sincerely hope that this post helps other cat-owners out there who may be experiencing similar issues and have no idea what to do about them.

Maybe it has to do with whatever it is they add to keep the odors at bay.
Did you contact them to get information?

I have two older cats that started vomiting last night. Concerned, I searched and found your post on line. Agitated and scratching. Yep. One is agitated and the other is scratching (has been for the last three days.)

I have gone out and replaced their Iams multi-cat dry food with a different brand.

I have just started looking into this but apparently you're supposed to contact the manufacturer or the FDA.

Maybe it's just a coincidence. Or perhaps my girls are responding to the debris in the air (we're in LA and it's generally on fire right now.) But better safe than sorry.

Try switching to a wet cat food. I had the same problem with my 'beast' (about 17 lbs.). Various vets suggested lots of overpriced procedures to figure out why he was vomiting all the time. One told me that some cats eat the dry food until they're full. Then they drink water (or whatever you give yours to drink) or the food mixes with the liquids in its stomach. It expands. There's only one place for it to go. Yack time.

Switched to a wet food on his recommendation and haven't had a problem since.

Good luck.

Laura, welcome to the forum I wish you good luck with the fires raging your region. Hope people and animals will be spared...

Rojo, good idea. It sounds rather logic to me as well.

Hi there.

My 6 year old cat vomited this morning, and she has been shaking her head and scratching like crazy. She also seems very agitated and keeps licking and scratching herself. About a week ago, I found a scab on her neck. I'm really worried.

We feed our cats Royal Canin dry food (we have for years with no problems) and for supper they get hake. They also eat raw top-side mince for supper once a week. So I'm not sure if these symptoms could be an allergic reaction to food.

Does anyone have any suggestions? She hates going to the vet, and I don't want to upset her unnecessarily.

I truthfully don't think that taking her to a vet is upsetting her unnecessarily, Carla. In this case I think it is very 'necessary'. A vet can conduct allergy tests which can clear the question within minutes.

Please DO take you cat to a vet... I promise you he is worth it.

Thanks Copper. Yes, I know it is important to take them to the vet, but I just wasn't sure if anything was wrong. We've had cats my whole life, and I know that their symptoms are often not indicative of anything serious... maybe furballs, fleas etc, so I prefer not to jump to conclusions until it has persisted for a few days (unless of course it's something unusual and potentially dangerous).

Shame, I think she may have had an allergic reaction to something, but she has been fine since then. I'm keeping a close eye on her, and if I see anything strange again, I'll take her.

Carla, I'm happy to hear she's fine now Perhaps it was something she ate while you weren't watching.

My cats about 8 yrs old, has been scratching alot so I put advantage on him. Still scratching, so I thoroughy checked his fur and found no flees.

Then he vomits on my bed. Now he just vomited on my computer chair. Both times vomiting in his sleep.

Only possibilties I can see is the change in litter. This one has 'cat attractant'? Food is fancy feast, which he always eats. Probably try some split pea cat food to ease his stomach.

If none of these work...well I could always use a new fur hat.

My cat is better now. I researched on the internet and found that many cats are allergic to the glutens and by products in their food. My vet prescribed Science Diet for allergies but my cats would not eat it. I only feed my cat blue buffalo or natural balance food now. My cat still itches a little but does not dig or throw up. They carry blue buffalo at petsmart and natural balance at petco. I guess about 9% of cats are allergic.