Vomiting Puss today

[SantasComingEarlyHisSackIsFull]

Our lovely, greedy, thieving 10 month old moggy had barfed about 7 or 8 times through the day. Now he seems really hungry and is miaowing at me. Shall I feed him and risk another 8 piles of brown cat sick on the carpets or not? I feel cruel, but my instinct is to do what I do when I am sick and not to eat for 12-24 hours. Is this ok for puss cat?

Best not to starve him if he actually wants to eat. Give him a small amount of bland food - some lightly cooked chicken or fish if you have any around in the fridge or freezer. Another small amount later, perhaps, if that stays down. And make sure he has plenty of water around to drink

If he keeps on being sick then you need to have him to the vet. He may just have pigged something today and have overeaten but it shouldn't be allowed to go on for too long without medical supervision - in case it's not just overeating.

Has he used his tray at all?

PS - keep a very close eye on him. He could have swallowed a foreign object of something and is trying to bring that up. 7 or 8 times is really a bit too many for comfort.

Agree with cozie one pile of vomit is just cat stuff. 7or 8 in one day is not normal cat stuff.

He hasn't vomited anything overnight and seemed hungry today, so fingers crossed. I am at work now, but he is with DH and the DSs, so they will feed and keep and eye on him. He seemed quite bright at 5.30am, but another though has occured to me and hence, another question: I have had him for nearly three months and haven't wormed him (I know, I know). Could worms make him ill?

Thanks all who replied, esp Cosie, you are my kind but stern "cat whisperer".

Yes though usually you see the roundworms in the vomit (like bits of string). Recommendations are to worm every three months to reduce risk of transmission to humans.

My cat gets awfully sweary and anxious hen it is worming time - could it be your cats way of telling you the same thing? Not by choice, obviously. I don't mean he is sticking his furry little paw down his throat...

Oh yes - he should be wormed regularly. And as he's pretty young, you have to face the possibility that he may never have actually been wormed, or at any rate not to schedule. The majority of kittens have worms so if his original owner didn't get round to it, he could have a good internal load by now which could well make him vomit. You'll need to worm him and de-flea him and all those good things as soon as possible. (Is he neutered yet as well?)

There are so many causes of vomiting that it's not possible to go into them all - although as a young cat, some of them are a little less likely with him. Just remember that it means his innards aren't happy and are/were trying to get rid of something. (It may have come up by now, or been passed in his gut, but I'd continue to keep a close eye on him and I'd still feed him bland food for a little bit after he's stopped vomiting, just to be safe. If you can, keep an eye on his litter habits as well to ensure that he's peeing and pooing normally.)

Get some worming and flea treatment from your vet - and best book him in for the snip if you haven't already done that. Even if he's stopped, you should probably mention to them that he's had a vomiting episode so that they can have that on his records in case it turns out to not be something straightforward. (The odds are, with a young cat, that it is straightforward though.)

Good luck with him.

PS - unless OK'd by your vet (according to what they give you) best not to give him worm and flea treatment at the same time, particularly if he's been a little ill. It's a bit of a chemical load on the system.

He was a rescue cat Cosie, so he's all vaccinated, de-bollocked and wormed up until he came to us. I believe you can get worming drops for the skin. I am not sure if it's prescrition only, but I will check at Pets at Home on my way back. I don't fancy trying to get a pill down him, if he has recently been barfing.

Ah - that's good then. You're starting from a better place.

If it all pans out OK (as I'm sure it will if he's lively this morning and hasn't upchucked recently) maybe now is the time to consider insurance if you haven't already got it?

Ours did this when we moved him onto tinned food as the maize in it upsets his tummy.

It's worth keeping in mind if his food has cereal in it.

That's a good point, Fluffy. Food intolerances can be a cause as well.

Yes, I really must get insurance. Pet Plan wants about £10 a month. Is this normal. Anyone has John Lewis pet insurance?

Puss has always been on Waitrose Kitten food pouches, so I hope he hasn't developed any intolerances. He'd try anything, the greedy, thieving fluff ball.

It depends how good the cover is, I think petplan is meant to be the best.

If you buy it via quidco or topcashback you'll probably get some cashback. Topcashback is best if you're not already a member of quidco.

Start a thread asking the vets on here which insurance they would use for their pets.

Well it would have been masked by giving him some bland protein only food (if you managed to.) Worth keeping in mind though. And - if he's a thieving piglet (which might suggest worms by the way) who knows what he's got his nose into. If he goes outside, he could have got hold of anything!

As to the insurance, I haven't managed to sign up for anything in recent years because my boys have been too old so I'll have to leave that to others to comment. £10 a month sounds OK to me though given the potential size of vet bills if he has an accident or something. It would be reassuring for you.

I will do the insurance this weekend, I promise. I couldn't do without him now, he has completed our family.

Aw....