Expert: Jessica - 2/19/2010

Question
hi..i have a 4yr old domestic medium hair cat who vomits almost everyday. i have been to the vet and they cant find anything. i give him science diet hairball formula dry for 2 yrs now. vomiting started before science diet. he eats then throws up several times. sometimes there is blood. ive given famotidine, laxatone is hard to give cuz he hates it. ive put an unopened can of cat food in the middle of his food bowl so he would eat slower..not working. do i need to just force laxatone and maybe nutrical for electrolytes every single day of his life now?do i need to switch to a more holistic food? im desperate to get this solved.and i have no money for exploritory surgery.please help!

Answer
Hi Nicole.  Admittedly, I'm not a giant fan of Science Diet foods.  I like foods that are low-grain or grain-free, personally, since grains are too complex for most cats to digest easily.  This causes a lot of stomach problems.  You may want to consider switching to a grain-free food.  A lot of them are of a much better quality than Science Diet, for the same price.

But I wonder if your kitty is suffering from Inflammatory Bowel Disease.  Your vets may have mentioned this to you.  It's not fully understood why, but something causes inflammatory cells to invade the gastrointestinal lining.  Food ingredients and bacterial infections may also contribute.  Afflicted cats chronically vomit, have diarrhea, or both.  There is no test to diagnose IBD.  There are a few vets who suggest exploratory procedures, to look for characteristic inflammation, but this isn't really definitive, because if the cat has been chronically vomiting or having diarrhea, there is likely to be inflammation no matter what the cause.  It's such a major expense and procedure to put the cat through that the vast majority of vets recommend a trial of the treatment for IBD to see if the cat responds, instead.  This is generally a steroid such as prednisone.  Fortunately, this usually only costs a few dollars a month.  Often, food changes and antibiotics are also part of the plan.  A prescription food may be best for your kitty if he has IBD, although I admit I feed my cats with IBD a grain-free food that's available on the market.

If your cat tends to vomit hairballs, getting the Laxatone into him might be worth a try for a couple weeks.  You can try mixing it with baby food and syringe feeding it to see if this will take away the sting a little.  But I don't know that I'd stress the cat out over it if hairballs don't seem to be a big problem.  If he enjoys brushing, try to prevent hairballs that way, instead.

The Nutri-Cal is good for cats who aren't receiving all their needed nutrition, and it's not a bad idea as a supplement, but it won't be enough to cover a nutritional deficit long-term.  So I think it would definitely be worth it to have a frank discussion with your vet and let them know you don't have a ton of money to work with but wonder if empirically treating for IBD may be worth a shot.

Best of luck!

Jessica