Q: After my partner and I left for the weekend, we returned home to find that our 11-year-old cat had vomited in several places throughout the ground floor apartment. We tried to feed our cat, who loves to eat, but he had no appetite. He is a large 16-pound cat and is prone to hairballs about once a month. This was different in that he was also lethargic but luckily, we did not see any signs of diarrhea in his litter box. Altogether, this inappetence and lethargy lasted for two days, and we were about to have him seen by our vet, but things changed. We bought a new wet food and some treats, and he ate them last night and today, keeping everything down. Should we still have him seen? It seems that his energy is also picking up, so we are less concerned today. He is not in the habit of eating things around the house so what might have caused him to vomit the way that he did? I assume that if he starts to get sick again that we should get him checked out. What do you think?
A: I am glad that your cat seems to be on the rebound from whatever caused him to have several vomiting episodes but just because he has had a good day or two doesn’t automatically mean he is out of the woods. Hopefully, he is! Several possibilities come to mind as to the cause of vomiting randomly, including a hairball issue. Are there any plants in the house that he might have chewed or are there any bugs in the apartment such as ants or spiders? I ask since you wrote that you live on a ground floor and cats often exhibit short term vomiting episodes when they ingest plants or insects.
Other possibilities include that the food you left out was stale and did not sit right with him or that he was stressed out by your absence. If there is any recurrence, I would have him seen by your veterinarian because there are many other possible causes besides those that I have covered. I also would suggest that you consider getting some of the weight off of him since, at his age, he may be prone to issues such as diabetes, heart disease and more. Hope he stays well.
Dr. John de Jong owns and operates the Boston Mobile Veterinary Clinic. He can be reached at 781-899-9994.
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