Throwing up now...

Status
Not open for further replies.
Haylee&Tigger

Haylee&Tigger

Member Since 2020
He eats like he is starving, should I give him more food? I give him 2 cans a day, split evenly throughout the day. So appetite is not an issue however could that be making him throw up?

He just started throwing up two days ago. All liquid and dark. No chunks or anything like that.
 
Two days is too long for your cat to be vomiting. Please take Tigger in to see your vet. This could be anything from an allergy to whatever you're feeding your cat (Gabby would routinely throw up if she ate beef.) or a result of having ingested something he shouldn't have. Gabby ate dental floss and was throwing up and needed abdominal surgery to get the floss out of her intestines.
 
Yes I am struggling hard over here with Tigger and everything else going on, I honestly feel like I am going to fall apart. I will get the spreadsheet updated later tonight. It could possibly be something he got into that he shouldn't have. I am currently living at my mothers house and no matter how many times I tell her to not leave stuff out because Tigger will get into it, she still does.

Sorry to unload like this when its extremely unrelated to this forum whatsoever I just feel like I am juggling so many things lately that I HAVE to juggle or everything goes to crap. I cannot afford another vet visit right now... he is about to have one in a week or two for a dental cleaning and probably extractions and thats going to run me about 800-900 dollars... I just don't know how much more I can take of everything happening all at once.
 
It's OK to unload. This is a supportive community and we all have lives outside of managing our cat's diabetes. Sometimes, all of the juggling gets way too complicated. The people here do understand since they are juggling right along with you.

There are places to get some financial help. I can't speak to how up to date the links are -- the moderators are in the unending process of trying to get things updated. (So apologies if there are dead links or irrelevant information.) Diabetic Cats in Need has been a resource for many people here. @Chris & China (GA) is connected to DCIN and can offer you some guidance.

I wonder if this strategy would work with your mom. What would she have done if you were diagnosed with diabetes when you were a toddler? Would she leave a plate of cookies sitting out where you could reach them knowing that it would be harmful to your health? Would she let you eat candy, cake, and ice cream knowing what the outcome would be or would she help you to manage your diet and deal with the restrictions that the illness requires so your kidneys didn't fail, you didn't go blind, or didn't have cardiovascular disease by the time you were in your 20s. (I can come up with some additional parent management strategies if that would be helpful!!!)
 
I apologize, I am just not a "jump at the first chance to take him to the vet" person. If he was throwing up consistently all day long, that'd be a different story but its literally once a day. I don't mean to sound rude, I just can't afford to take him to the vet every single time there is something wrong. I do really appreciate the advice on it however. As for the financial help, we have the credit cards to be able to use, but paying them back takes ridiculously long to do (only one job) and seems like by the time one is paid back off (or even before then) another vet visit or something else unrelated comes up. Also, I am pretty much diabetic (I have PCOS and am prediabetic) and she does leave stuff like that around the house, she either forgets, or maybe doesn't care. Who knows at this point honestly. My husband and I have been working on getting back into our own place but its going to take a little while to do, so all I can do in the meantime is try my best. Telling her to do/not do something in her own home tips her to give me the cold shoulder, silent treatment, irrational slamming of cabinets, doors etc, and ultimately her crying and saying I hurt her feelings. Its a long winded, complicated story.

I've been feeding Tigger the same exact thing every single day. So I don't believe its that. But yes, I have learned that Tigger also does not like beef, liver and giblets. But everything else is fine. I suppose I could try something different because I believe I read somewhere in the forum that its not recommended to feed fish every day as it could cause mercury poisoning??? Am I right with this? And what he eats is the Ocean White fish and Tuna FF Pate. So perhaps its that. This isn't Tiggers first rodeo with throwing up and use to do it but not consecutive days like this. I don't believe its an allergy either honestly. I was thinking it could either be not feeding him enough, type of food (the fact that its fish and eating it every single day) or something my mom left out and he got into. Even if its crumbs of something he'll get into it.

Another thing is, his numbers are so crazy lately. Most nights, he will be in pretty good numbers but most days he will be where he has been. I have had to give some token doses and learned that even 25% isn't enough so I just did half his normal dose one night (noted on the spreadsheet).

I am hoping that this dental appointment helps things along with him though as far as his numbers go. For the vomiting, I am going to try to feed him another flavor of the FF as I'm pretty sure I read that mercury poisoning thing in this forum somewhere I just can't remember where. And start keeping a better eye on the kitchen. See, he stays out in the rest of the house while everyone else is in their rooms, he doesn't sleep in the room with us anymore because he likes to go crazy at night and the dogs won't lay down and wanna chase him. So he is basically left to roam around in the kitchen. If he is still throwing up after these changes, I will bring it up to his doctor. I think I just needed to flush out everything, I'm sorry again for this.
 
Haylee&Tigger said:
I believe I read somewhere in the forum that its not recommended to feed fish every day as it could cause mercury poisoning???
Click to expand...

We recommend limiting fish flavors to once or twice a week due to several reasons. One is due to the heavy metal contamination found in a lot of fish these days, mercury being just one of them. Also, fish flavors are higher in phosphorus because a lot of bones end up ground up into cat food and bones are high in minerals. High phosphorus is harder on the kidneys. The last reason is because it can become "addictive" where the cat won't eat anything else. Fish isn't really supposed to be a normal part of any cat's diet. Few feline species include fish as a food source at all (although a few wild cats might snag a fish out of a river or pond now and then but more because it's something that's moving and triggers the hunting instinct than for actual food value)

Is he "scarf and barfing"? A lot of cats that eat quickly will puke it back up. It usually happens fairly soon after eating but it's fairly easy to fix too. You can spread the food out thinly on a flat plate to slow him down or even put something like a golf ball or big rock in the food bowl that he has to "eat around". They also sell special "slow feeder" bowls and mats.

Hopefully the dental will help his numbers...and it may also help his vomiting. If he's got any really bad teeth that are infected/abscessed, that "gunk" can get swallowed and cause stomach troubles.
 
@Chris & China (GA) Okay thank you I thought I read info on that somewhere! Also he does scarf his food but he does not puke it back up RIGHT after. For example, he ate this morning at 8am and then somewhere between 10am and noon he had thrown up. I only knew those times because I had walked by the area a lot today. Oooh, I will try spreading the food out flat now, thats a good idea. He's got one of those timed feeders so I can spread it all out in there but if anything else I can definitely find something to put in it to slow him down a bit regardless of him puking immediately after. Thank you!
 
I went last night to Petsmart to get him something else and will use the fish more sparingly, I got chicken because I know he will eat that but everything else was beef, liver, giblets etc. which make him throw up as well. I know chicken doesn't So I will give this shot for a while and see if the puking stops. Good news though he didn't puke over night. I only got the fish in the first place because I saw it has no carbs in it at all. But after him being on insulin a while it doesn't seem to matter, its like no matter how high I go with the dose, he stays in the same ranges. Only very recently has he cruised in the blues and even a little bit in the greens. Which I am happy about don't get me wrong, but then the very next day, he is right back up there or even worse. Its so strange how one day he will doing so great then the next its high.

I don't think these are bounces because I am feeding him throughout the day so if anything, I would think that his levels would be pretty even all day. Should I continue with this dose or raise it by .25?

(I updated the spreadsheet btw :cat:)
 
Haylee --

Ultimately, you may want to consider a novel protein. Unfortunately, many of the canned novel proteins are pricey. An alternative may be to consider a raw diet. You can buy something like ground pork at the supermarket and add a pre-mix (it's a powder that contains all of the nutrients to make the food nutritionally complete for a cat's diet). Depending on where you live or if you want to order, you can get rabbit or other proteins that have never been a part of Tigger's diet. Hopefully, you'll see things calm down with the chicken. Please remember to read the labels. Fancy Feast chicken (it may have been turkey) also contains fish.

When Tigger's numbers drop into a range he's not been spending much time in, his liver and pancreas are likely overreacting. When this happens, they release a stored form of glucose along with counterregulatory hormones that cause numbers to spike back up. We refer to this as a "bounce." It can take up to 3 days for a bounce to clear.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top