Vomiting due to a foreign body or obstruction of the GI tract is particularly serious. In many cases, the foreign material will not pass through the GI tract on its own and may cause serious damage if it is not removed immediately. To treat this type of vomiting, your veterinarian may recommend emergency surgery to remove the foreign material and any damaged sections of intestine. Many causes of cat vomiting, such as a foreign body or obstruction, can cause severe damage or even death if not appropriately treated right away.
Never give your cat any medications—either prescription or over-the-counter products— unless directed to do so by your veterinarian. Many causes of cat vomiting can be prevented. Make sure your cat is eating a high-quality and balanced diet, and do not feed too many treats or table scraps.
Watch for non-food items. Do not allow your cat to ingest any non-food items such as pieces of toys, string, or house plants. Ask your vet about special diets. If your cat has been diagnosed with a condition such as food allergies or inflammatory bowel disease, feeding a special diet as prescribed by your veterinarian may prevent vomiting.
Consider an OTC hairball remedy. Finally, for long-haired cats or those that have frequent hairballs, ask your veterinarian about over-the-counter products to help prevent vomiting due to hairballs. May indicate the presence of blood. May occur due to the regurgitation of saliva from the esophagus or when the cat vomits with an empty stomach. Can sometimes occur due to the presence of bile or because the cat has ingested green foreign material or foods using green dyes.
Black or brown cat vomit that looks like coffee grounds can be a sign of bleeding in the digestive tract and should be addressed by your veterinarian immediately. 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. This involves placing a catheter in a vein and giving the animal fluids through the catheter. The downside is that giving IV fluids is significantly more expensive and requires the cat to stay in the hospital.
However, especially in a very dehydrated patient, subcutaneous fluids do not absorb very well and IV fluids are needed to help the cat. Another common therapy for most kinds of vomiting is giving an anti-emetic anti-vomiting medication, which can help stop the vomiting and thus decrease fluid loss.
These medicines can also help relieve abdominal discomfort and make the cat more prone to eating. Sometimes, stomach protectants such as Pepcid or sucralfate may be indicated, but the helpfulness of these is up for debate.
They typically do not cause any harm, though. For both chronic and acutely vomiting cats, one of the most important treatments is dietary change. Keep in mind that chicken and baby foods are not complete diets for cats and therefore should only be used for a few days.
For cats with chronic vomiting, a diet change can be therapeutic as well as diagnostic. If the new food controls the vomiting, it was partially caused by a dietary intolerance or allergy or possibly low-grade inflammatory bowel disease. Regarding diet trials for chronically vomiting cats, keep them on the new diet for several weeks to see if it is working.
As mentioned above, inflammatory bowel disease may be the cause of vomiting in some cats. BRVC Blog. M - F 7ampm Sat - Sun 8am-8pm P. Address Bishop Dr. Make a Payment. All rights reserved. Pet Resources. Ask the Vet — Why do Cats Vomit? I have 2 kitties and one of them throws up a ton! I know people say that cats throw up; it's no big deal.
Why do cats vomit? There are several reasons for cats to regurgitate or vomit: Gorging — Cats that eat too much too fast may regurgitate from triggering a stretch reflex in the stomach. These cats regurgitate right after eating and the food is undigested in a tubular shape.
It can also look like a round pile of undigested food.
0コメント