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This summer my cat, after being a housecat for all but the first few years of her 15 year life, wanted to start going outside. We have a large, fenced in yard so I let her out. She would go out for 20 - 30 minutes, then come back inside, 2 - 4x a week.
About 6 weeks ago, my cat started throwing up quite a bit, maybe 2 - 4x a week. Usually a lot of hair. I started brushing her daily and after a week she stopped throwing up.
This past week and a half, she started throwing up every day. No hair in the vomit this time. Sometimes I could see bits of undigested food, other times it has been all digested mush. She has been eating a lot less. She has started making small, syrupy droppings about once a day on the floor. I am pretty sure the last couple of times, there was blood in the droppings. I noticed over the last couple of days, she doesn't look thinner, but when I hold her, I feel like she feels thinner.
I haven't let her go outside since Saturday. I also have been offering her soft canned food and a bowl of Iams Prodigestive somethingorother in addition to the Purina dried food she has eaten for years. She did eat last night and this morning, and hasn't thrown up since yesterday morning (unless she's thrown up today since I've been at work).
She does not show any signs of pain or discomfort.
She is seeing the vet tomorrow.
I am so stressed out. I've had her for her whole life, over 15 years. I know she can't be around forever, but I am so worried she is sick and that I will lose her.
She may be eating the grass or a plant. There could be anything on these things and also some plants are poisonous to cats. Even if they eat a Jerusalem berry they can get gastrointestinal problems. Note this berry is poison to humans too.
If you're going to let her outside, watch her. But get her to the vet immediately and don't let her outside again until you talk with the vet.
Yes, absolutely. She hasn't been out since Saturday morning and I have no intention of letting her out again without the vet's unequivical okay to do so.
I agree about the plant but would add any small prey, whose bones, etc. she is probably having trouble digesting. If she has been an indoor cat her entire life, then her digestive system has probably adjusted to suit indoor life. Also, her health problems may just be a coincidence, .e. have no correlation to her going outside; it could be a health problem that has nothing to do with her being outside. It is interesting that she suddenly wanted to start going outside; that may have been the initial indication that something was wrong. Remember, she is a senior now (in cat years) so this may be the time when her health begins to falter a bit.
You are right to bring her to the vet. But I think that her health problems have nothing to do with going outside. Rather, I think that her desire to go outside was the initial indication that she was not feeling well. I hope everything turns out well for her!
For most of her life we have lived on 2nd floor condos and apartments. So there was no clear option to go outside, from her perspective. I was in a house with a deck for a while (for 6 months about a year and a half ago) and she would sit on the deck off and on but that was it. But even when she was young, our other cats went outside all the time but she would never venture very far, rarely went out of eyesight. I don't recall how often she went outside, but I know there were days she never went out. She had a tendency to get stuck in trees too. lol That was probably for the first...I think first 5 years of her life. Since then, like I said, we've mostly been upstairs where the only door out just went to another room, from her perspective. We moved where we are now last fall. This spring/summer when the weather was nice, we left the door open and I think she just got curious. I was surprised when she started going outside but I would keep an eye on her and she wouldn't be out too long. She's always enjoyed looking out windows.
Thanks for all the support!
Went to the vet today and it went very well! All the tests they did (blood, thyroid, urine and stool) came out perfect or very close to it! Vet says she probably just has a little tummy bug, so she has to take antibiotics + something for diarrhea for a bit. Should be interesting to give her these pills for the next week or so.
I am SO relieved...thanks again for letting me vent.
No problem! There's a joke circulating on the 'net about how to give a cat a pill versus how to give a dog a pill, wish I'd kept it. It's a hoot. Anybody have it to share?
It's most easily a two-person job, with one holding kitty's mouth open from behind while the other pops the pill in. From experience I can tell you that camouflaging it in canned cat food is doomed to failure, LOL! My cat always leaves the pill on her plate, licked completely clean of the treat.
My husband always held the mouth while I popped the pill in. It usually came flying back out! Dogs are much easier; they'll eat almost anything.
Glad to hear your kitty is ok. Keep us posted.
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