Why cats throw up

Possible reasons why cats throw up can be broken into two categories—gastrointestinal causes and non-gastrointestinal causes. Foreign bodies. Inflammatory bowel disease. Toxin ingestion ethylene glycol, chocolate , pesticides , etc. Kidney disease. Diabetes mellitus. Feline infectious peritonitis. Cats will vomit bile when they have an empty stomach.

This can happen if you are only feeding your cat in the morning and they go 24 hours without food, or it can happen when cats are anorexic. Food stimulates the gall bladder to contract, but when the gall bladder does not contract, the bile can back up into the small intestines and stomach. Blood can be seen with ulcerations, or if your cat vomits several times in a row, this can cause an irritation of the stomach lining and esophagus because of the increased acid.

Blood can also be present if there is a clotting abnormality, which can be seen with certain diseases and some toxins rat poisoning, for example. If your cat is vomiting clear liquid, it can be the fluid contents of the stomach, or your cat might have drunk too much water.

There are many possible diseases that can cause cats to drink too much water, including diabetes mellitus and kidney disease. The most common type of worm seen in cat vomit is roundworms.

If your cat vomits a worm, it is important to bring this to your veterinarian so they can treat the issue appropriately. Cats who eat too much or too fast can vomit food, and it typically it appears in a tubular shape. They can also vomit food if they become nauseous shortly after eating, if there is a foreign body obstructing the food from moving into the small intestines, or if they have a food allergy. Cats can occasionally vomit hairballs , especially cats who overgroom or cats with long hair.

This is usually indicative of digested blood further down the intestinal tract and can be seen with ulcerations, foreign bodies, or even hairballs in the intestines.

If your cat is throwing up green vomit, this usually indicates that the food or substance was brought up from the small intestines. The mixture of the vomitus with bile can turn the color green.

Mucus is typically seen if your cat is regurgitating and not vomiting. If you see mucus, it is very important to determine if your cat is actually vomiting or if they are regurgitating. Oftentimes when cats do vomit, they have other symptoms, too. It is very common for cats to not want to eat if they are nauseous. You can see this with a variety of conditions, including foreign bodies, kidney and liver disease, severe diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, etc.

This can cause a backup of contents in the small intestines and stomach, causing cats to vomit. Most cat owners have experienced the unpleasant surprise of finding a pile of cat vomit. Fortunately, at my house I have two dogs to clean up the mess! Before we discuss vomiting, we have to discuss the differences between vomiting and regurgitation. Vomiting is an active process that involves stomach noise, retching and heaving before the food is expelled from your cat's mouth.

Regurgitation is a passive process where the food just pops out, often undigested in a tube or cigar shape. There are several reasons for cats to regurgitate or vomit:. Grass or other foreign bodies — If a cat eats something other than food such as grass, leaves, plastic or a hair band, it may lead to vomiting. Obviously in this type of vomit you will see some non-food item that was probably the cause of that vomit. If your cat vomits several times a day, if there is blood in the vomit, if your cat is lethargic, losing weight or not eating then I recommend taking your cat to the vet as soon as possible.

Or even a way to train your cat not to do it on your bed or carpet? Unfortunately, there's no magic word. But there are a few things you can try to ease your cleanup and your kitty's discomfort. The easiest vomit comet to stop is hacking up hairballs. By brushing your cat regularly, keeping her active and feeding her food with balanced nutrition, you may be able to reduce the number of hairballs.

When it comes to regurgitating, make sure you feed your cat at the same time every day. Give her the amount of food recommended by your vet and have clean, fresh water available at all times. A cat that is experiencing frequent upset could become dehydrated.

While most cats will get the majority of their water from their food, throwing up could result in loss of water, so make sure to give her plenty of access to water and encourage her to drink when possible. These three simple actions can go a long way in preventing overeating or eating too quickly.

For a cat who still bolts her food, you can try a puzzle feeder or a dry food with large, crunchy pieces to slow her down. Special foods or medication prescribed by your vet may also help relieve underlying health issues or allergies that lead to your cat vomiting. Be sure your cat sees the vet regularly and discuss your concerns. Though cleaning up messes and bodily fluids is something all pet parents will experience at some point, following these tips and knowing when to seek the help of a professional can hopefully make these experiences few and far between.

Chrissie Klinger is a pet parent that enjoys sharing her home with her furkids, two of her own children and her husband. Chrissie enjoys spending time with all her family members when she is not teaching, writing or blogging. She strives to write articles that help pet owners live a more active and meaningful life with their pets. Select Your Region. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Instagram Youtube. As used herein, denotes registered trademark status in the U.

Your use of this site is subject to the terms of our Legal Statement. About our Ads. Cookie Consent Tool. Belgium - Belgique. Brazil - Brasil. Canada English. A urinalysis is needed in conjunction with blood work to diagnose conditions like diabetes, kidney disease and urinary tract infections. Blood work can also give clues about whether an animal has been exposed to some toxins, such as antifreeze.

Unfortunately, there are not many easy tests to diagnose toxin exposure. Often, X-rays do not diagnose the problem other than the presence of foreign bodies and a few other conditions , but they help determine if further abdominal studies are needed.

These other studies could include a barium study, which will help determine if there are foreign objects in the intestines or if there are motility issues with the intestines. Another study could be an ultrasound to look at the architecture of different organs; ultrasound can be used as a means to sample different organs to get a definitive diagnosis. In addition, an endoscopy using a scope to look into the stomach, upper intestines or colon may be recommended by your vet.

Endoscopy is a way to look for foreign objects in the stomach that do not show up on X-rays, and it can be used to retrieve foreign objects. This procedure also allows viewing of the lining of the stomach and upper intestines to look for abnormalities, and can be used to collect samples of the upper gastrointestinal tract. In a cat with persistent vomiting that is not being controlled by symptomatic therapy, exploratory surgery may be needed. This is true with some acute vomiting situations namely, concern that a foreign body may be present and some chronic vomiting situations namely, looking for signs of intestinal cancer, non-intestinal abdominal disease or inflammatory bowel disease.

In the case of foreign objects, the surgery is used both to diagnose and fix the problem, by removing the foreign object. If no foreign object is found, then biopsies can be taken during the surgery. The intent of doing a surgery for chronic vomiting is normally to take biopsies of the intestines, stomach, liver, pancreas, lymph nodes and any abnormalities in the hope of diagnosing the problem.

The most common things to diagnose are inflammatory bowel disease or a form of cancer. As a diagnostic tool, surgery is preferred over endoscopy by some veterinarians because the whole intestinal tract can be evaluated, as well as different organs in the abdomen.

In addition, full thickness and larger intestinal biopsies can be taken during surgery. Furthermore, biopsies of the liver, pancreas and lymph nodes can be taken. Conversely, endoscopy may be preferred because it is usually less expensive although not by much , usually results in a representative sample of the intestines to provide a diagnosis, and is much less invasive.

It can take several weeks for a cat to recover from surgery, while an animal who has had an endoscopy and endoscopic biopsies usually recovers within a few hours or within a day. There are treatments that can be implemented without a full diagnosis, but those decisions will require communication between you and your veterinarian about the risks of doing those treatments.

The treatment for vomiting varies greatly based on the cause, and describing the treatment for each individual cause is beyond the scope of this resource. However, we can give some generalizations for treatment.

Even if an animal is not clinically dehydrated, giving fluids can be important to flush the system and to maintain hydration. A vomiting patient is likely a little dehydrated simply from fluid loss from vomiting and failure to keep water down. Dehydration is a self-perpetuating problem, meaning that when an animal is dehydrated, she does not feel good and therefore will not eat or drink, and may even vomit more.

This makes her more dehydrated, which makes her feel worse, which makes her less likely to eat or drink, and then she gets more dehydrated. Some form of fluid therapy is given for almost every cause of vomiting. If an animal is very dehydrated or weak, IV fluids are often recommended.