Sick cat, when to worry?

[Marne]

My cat (not the healthiest cat) is hardly ever sick but this week he has been violently sick twice. I know sometimes cats over eat and are then sick but both times it has been after he has been sleeping (not after eating) and he is sick until he brings up liquid/bile .

I'm dreading another huge vet bill .

I changed his food a few weeks ago as he was on pouches and they were not filling him up so i put him on to felix cans. He has some kind of allergy and some food makes his mouth swell but the tins seemed ok. Should i try a different food?

I realy dont want to take him to the vets as he hates going so much (will shake and wet himself and then doesnt trust me for weeks after).

[cozietoesie]

How old is he - and do you groom him at all? (I'm wondering if he could be trying to bring up a fur ball.)

[Marne]

I groom him sometimes, he's shot hair and doesnt seem to shed much. He does hunt so maybe he ate something that upset him (he will eat what he catches sometimes). I chucked him outside to save my carpet but i havn't seen him sinse, i hope he's ok .

[Marne]

He's only 2 but has been in and out of the vets sinse we got him.

[lljkk]

I would try changing back to the other food, see if that settles his tummy.
Mine throw up if they overeat. So solution is to give them less food.

[Marne]

Will try the old food tonight (a have a few pouches left), he hasn't eaten that much today, has been a bit picky and hasn't been asking for food every 10 minutes like he usually does. I will see how he is tomorrow.

[Fluffycloudland77]

I put ours on chicken when he is ill.

He is intolerant to cereals, canned food tends to have maize in it so we avoid that. Some dry foods have rice but cats are obligate carnivores so shouldnt need cereals really.

Is he home yet?

[Marne]

He's just come home, i gave him half a pouch of food and he's gone back out, he seems ok (doesn't look poorly).

I'm not sure what to feed him, he cant eat dry food (makes his mouth swell up), he's fine on felix pouches but they dont fill him up so he eats too many (which costs a fortune). Are there any good tin's? most cat foods seem to be in pouches these days which seems to cost a lot more .

[cozietoesie]

I have to give cozieseniorboy pouches because he has to take his meds and he's therefore managed to up the ante on the food he eats - pouches are all he'll take. But try the Co-op's pouches if you've got one near you. They're only 2.99 a box or something which is a bit of a saving on Felix - about 1.50 a box, I think. (And they're acceptable to Seniorboy which means they're OK.)

Others may be able to help on tin recommendations.

[cozietoesie]

Glad he seems OK now, anyway.

[Fluffycloudland77]

There is a tinned food on one of the pet supplies websites which works out about a pound a day, it's all meat and no cereal.

Sadly I cant remember the name of the food or the website.

Might me zooplus.co.uk. Still cant remember the food though. Maybe one of the others will know the food.

[Marne]

Thank you, i will have a look and try a few things out. I buy felix when its on offer (sometimes £3 a box), just seen on tv that pets at home have 3 boxes for £9 this week which i a good deel .

Such a shame he cant eat dry (we have tried so many different foods including Iams and science plan and his mouth swells) as it would work out less costly than pouches.

[Madmog]

It could well be he has a furball inside him which he's trying to bring up. Sometimes my girl is sick 3/4 times shortly before she produces a good sized furball for me. Personally, I would only worry if it's every day, or perhaps 3/4 times a week for 2/3 weeks.

What sort of allergy does he have by the way? If it relates to cereals, Butchers Classic is cereal and additive free and really cheap (my two love it). You could rotate this with something more expensive, which will help keep costs down a little.

How is he at the moment?

[Marne]

Thank you, he seems ok (hasmt been sich sinse). He doesn't quite look himself though (but he's never looked really healthy) .

We are not sure what allergies he has (we suspect several including cereals), the vet wanted to charge me £100's of pounds to test him plus it would be tricky as he often pinches the neighbours food and eats wildlife (so i would have to keep him in which i cant really do). His mouth swells quite bad if he eats dry food or whiskers, last time he had to take steroids to control it so we tend to keep him on felix as this doesnt effect him.

[tabbycat15]

You can get something from the pet shop for fur balls. It has liquid paraffin in to help move through the fur ball if there is one. Might be worth a try.

[gindrinker]

I agree, might be fur ball. Moglette brings up slimey bile and makes some revolting noises while trying to bring them up on a specially select piece oglette also seems to reach critical mass with food... Every 8 days or so she has a sick (approx every 23 pouches) I'm sure she counts and then does it just to worry me.

[gindrinker]

Sorry that makes no sense but you get the gist.

[hellymelly]

I would keep an eye on his closely tbh if he does still look off colour, vomiting like that can happen when their kidneys stop working properly, which is common in older cats, but even though he is young I would be careful not to assume its something like a fur ball. It could well be, but be aware it could be more serious. I would take him to the vet if he's off colour still tomorrow, just to make sure its nothing serious.

[MrawMraw]

My cat (about 6/7 used to be a stray) is sometimes sick occasionally.

After a bout of sickness for over 24 hours I took him to the vet who said to give him very small cooked bits of chicken breast and offer water, or fish finger with the breadcrumbs removed until he stopped being sick. I was very worried because I had just flea-bombed the house (put the cat outside for half a day though before letting back in) and I thought it may have been to do with that.

The vet asked me what he ate and I said dry food because if I give him "wet" jelly-type food in cans or pouches he doesn't drink water. The vet said this is dangerous and male cats should have at least 70% "wet" food because if not it can totally mess up their kidneys. Unbeknownst to me. So I've switched to cans of Tesco / Aldi / Lidl / Felix food and I add a bit of water to the bowl.

Hope your cat is feeling better soon. I know how expensive vets can be . But if you have something like a PDSA hospital nearby you can get a reduction based on income.

xx