? Looking for advice for sick (vomiting, diarrhea) civvie

[Megan and Boots (GA)]

Perfect timing. Went away for just a couple days, came back to a sick civvie Boots has been holding his BG numbers well even with a reduced pet sitter insulin dose, but we came back to Polly, who has IBD (has always presented with symptom of hairballs, nothing else really), seeming OK initially (ate a meal, made a nice poop) but within an hour of that, she was having small amounts of diarrhea (time to get gross: light brown liquid, some just dime-sized drops, some slightly larger puddles with small soft solid matter in it) and vomiting - first food, now just clear liquid and foam. It all started just about 24 hours ago. Last known diarrhea was about 7+ hours ago, and she just last vomited (foam) about an hour ago.

We scheduled a vet appointment for Friday, but I'm getting worried. I had hoped this would just be a fluke thing that would resolve on its own by now. Not sure what to do. It's now 24 hours since last food (kibble, that's all she eats), and unknown time since last water. Haven't seen her at the water dishes all day today at least, and have been monitoring her closely. She's mostly been on or under our guest bed (not really abnormal for her, honestly) and coming out of that room someplace to vomit.

Our cats all occasionally vomit, but it's normally a one-and-done sort of thing, not a 24+ hour thing (been vomiting immediately after diarrhea, and now about every couple hours since the last diarrhea). And diarrhea is (thankfully!) something we rarely deal with in this household. I don't THINK it's emergency vet worthy - yet - but am not sure when to make that call. Not sure when to try to offer food (again, she only normally eats kibble, so I know she won't touch "bland" chicken/rice diet for upset tummy).

Any advice on what you'd do in this situation? How long to wait to get to regular vet visit (we could try to get her a sooner appointment for tomorrow maybe) or to emergency vet? How long til we should try to get some food into her? I know it's all relative and some people have kitties who vomit and have diarrhea regularly, but this is definitely abnormal for Polly, so I don't want to dismiss it, but don't want to overreact either.

Really appreciate any insight anyone has!

 

[Red & Rover (GA)]

Some of the signs sound more like constipation. It's the "nice poop" first that is throwing me. Was it hard?

Symptoms of constipation (from http://www.felineconstipation.org/introduction.html ) are:

• infrequent (and frequently incomplete) bowel movements
• hard dry stools
• straining at stool*
• vomiting during or after pooping
• a change in frequency of bowel movements
• liquid stool from above leaking past impacted stool below, giving an appearance or impression of diarrhea
• with cats, out-of-box pooping may point to constipation
• visible blood on the stool
• any significant change in color or appearance

 

[Squalliesmom]

I agree with Red & Rover, some of her symptoms do sound like constipation. If she has gone 24 hours without food it's time to either get some food into her, or get her to the vet, don't wait till Friday. Has she been interested in food?

 

[Megan and Boots (GA)]

Well, the "nice poop" actually was a little lighter in color and smaller than normal (I didn't actually see it, but this is what I was just told). But solid, and not too alarming (too soft, too hard, etc). The constipation theory is interesting, and she definitely checks off some of those boxes. The diarrhea incidents have been such tiny amounts - she strains/pushes like she's going to poop, but only a couple drops to a small dribble comes out - winding up being anywhere from a dime-sized puddle to the biggest being still pretty small (maybe 2" across in a puddle), a few puddles with a piece of very small light colored soft stool.

We haven't really tried to push food on her. She's a picky eater to begin with, and sometimes is hard to get to eat her normal meals, so I'm not surprised that she hasn't gone out of her way to come down at mealtimes today. But it's now been 2 hours since last vomit (small amount of foam/clear liquid only) so maybe we can try to put some water or food into her.

We did actually call and get an appointment for tomorrow morning now, instead of Friday afternoon. She's resting on the bed now, but just looks wiped out. It's not always even been possible to elicit purrs from her when petting her today, which for her is a sure sign she's not feeling well. I was hoping our vet would call by now (left a message with the receptionist for him to call me after his day's appointments) but no word yet, and don't know if he will at this point, which is disappointing.

 

[Megan and Boots (GA)]

Well, vet did call and I outlined the past 24 hours for him, and his first thought is constipation as well. He said the changed routine/diet during a couple days away coupled with the description of symptoms lead him to think constipation - but he obviously is eager to "get hands" on Polly to see if anything definitive can be felt in her abdomen. Now we're going on 3 hours since last small (foam) vomit, and probably 9+ hours since last diarrhea leak. He said if it was much longer or if the volumes had been bigger, he'd be more concerned about dehydration and getting fluids into her, but he thinks it'll probably be OK until a morning appointment tomorrow. Of course, if anything major changes overnight, he said to get her to an emergency vet for assessment and fluids, but I'm hopeful the vomiting is done (or at least that episodes remain few and far between) over the next 13 hours until our appointment. We put a tiny dish of water in front of her and she didn't seem interested, but she's such a fussy girl on a good day, she might not like us doing that because it's different or new. I really would love to see some water or food go into her though. Maybe we'll try a kibble or treat soon to see if that holds any interest.