cat people ... a question for you, please

Yesterday morning my small cat (8 1/4 lbs), threw up everything. I took him to our regular cats-only vet and she confirmed there was no obstruction and did some blood tests. She kept him for the day for "observation", gave him a shot that was supposed to stop nausea and I took him home last night.

Today, he is still not eating. He is quiet and subdued. He is not grooming which he normally does way too much of. I have offered him baby food which our vet recommends, goat milk and his regular food with water added and blended. He isn't interested.

Question, how long can he go without eating? I saw him drinking water last night but cannot determine if he is still drinking. Should I start syringing water into his mouth and about how much water total for the day?

Our vet is closed on Wednesdays but even though they say they will call back if you leave a phone message, they haven't so far. If this keeps up, I will take him back to our vet in the morning. My guess is if he is otherwise fine, maybe he would get an appetite stimulant.

Do cats get "stomach flu"? ... (which I seem to have since yesterday).

I should probably get used to ... that cats sometimes get sick and just don't eat but I never seem to.

and get a second opinion. Vomiting and loss of appetite is a symptom of quite a few different maladies, so I won't venture a guess myself.

like this. Continuity of care is IMPORTANT when the patient can't talk. The vast majority of acute vomiting cases are self-limiting.

This vet did nothing inappropriate, and firing is overkill.

not "fire" their primary vet.

also not warranted. Where does it say we only get one office visit to figure out what's wrong with our patients and cure them???? This sort of attitude is actually harmful to patients because it encourages people to cut and run, and to mistrust perfectly capable vets.

Continuity of care really matters. I see needless suffering with some regularity when people go from vet to vet to vet, and none of them get any chance to work with a patient over time to solve its problems. Very often the best course of action is to follow medical advice, including recommendations for followup visits.

I realize that the vet-haters out there may disagree. Oh, well.

For me personally, I do get way overly concerned if one of my little guys look sick at all! In this situation, my vet, whom I trust completely and think she is all the best, takes Wednesday off. She works long hours and works Saturday. This Wednesday, she also had a dentist appointment. However, I got lucky, she did come into the office and returned my calls and told me to bring in the cat.

He had stopped throwing up but he was so not himself, not grooming which he normally does excessively, not paying any attention to me at all which is fine except this cat normally stays glued to my lap ... he was just sitting there with his head drooping for hour after hour.

This being the second day I had him in to see her, she checked his temp, color of his gums and weight, said he actually looks pretty good and gave him fluids and a pill which was probably an appetite stimulant. When I got him home he ate, he was a little more active but still not completely himself and this morning he is definitely back to his normal self.

Thank you for your comments, it all gives me much perspective.

but I do believe in second opinions.

My elderly cat Miro developed a large swollen area in his mouth in just two days. He had had two abscesses in the past, so I suspected another. I got the first appointment that I could with my cat specialist. She said that it looked like cancer and ordered a vast array of tests that I simply could not afford (I was already dealing with one cancer ridden cat at the time). In desperation, I sought a second opinion from a friend's low cost vet. Turned out that it WAS an abscess! A second opinion saved me hundreds of dollars and Miro a lot of undue stress. Continuity of care in that case would have been a bad move.

Lorien suggested and get him to another vet.

I hope the little guy is okay. He sure is a handsome little furball.

The vet's office called me to bring him in, even though they are normally closed today. The vet checked his vital signs, said he looked pretty good and gave him fluids by injection and a pill. When I got him home, I gave him a little of his regular cat food and he ate it. (I'll start him at a little at a time.) Now, he is up and around.

Thank you for your replies and good advice! I am usually way overly concerned about these little guys and based on that, I had been contemplating that perhaps I was overly concerned today and should wait until tomorrow to take him in.

Here is his pic. He is looking grouchy because he hates having his picture taken. The little guys in my sig line and avatar are my two other cats.

glad he's doing better, though.

I found the out the hard way. Sometimes it does happen that they get a little "bug" and won't/can't eat for a day or so but I always get them checked out because as Lorien said above, that can be symptoms of many things.

He's very cute!

has great color and markings, BEAUTIFUL eyes and GREAT BIG EARS. I can't tell from the picture, but he looks like a Rex with those lovely almond eyes and short whiskers.

By the way, one of my vets said that cats should not go more than 18 hours without food--something to do with causing liver problems, but I haven't found any other information about it anywhere.

Also, another vet said that cats can throw up at will. I don't know if this is true, but I have had cats that threw up more than others.

Have you changed his diet? Maybe he has a food allergy.

If cats go without food for 3 DAYS or more, they are at risk for developing hepatic lipidosis, a potentially life-threatening liver disease. I have seen few if any cases of this in cats that were not obese to begin with, and never in a cat with a fever due to transient infection.

It's why we recommend feeding sick cats by hand (we use Prescription Diet A/D) or by force if they hit the 3 day mark and aren't headed back toward normal appetite.

Cats that can't keep their food down but need to be fed to avoid lipidosis are often in a world of hurt. Even if you get the food into them, they can't get any good out of it before they vomit. Pancreatitis with intractable vomiting can go along with lipidosis, and that requires a surgically implanted jejunostomy tube - and carries a very guarded prognosis.

But the vast majority of acutely anorexic and vomiting cats get better with brief supportive care. We just try to keep them from getting dehydrated, and things straighten out.

Are you saying that if you are careful to not let your cat get overweight, that sort of protects him in case he does get something where he just refuses food for a couple days?

Also, I had thought it was one day of not eating that caused them damage. That wouldn't seem to make sense because I imagine feral cats don't find food every day but they survive.

hepatic lipidosis if they go anorexic. Normally a cat should be able to go without food for prolonged periods, as an adaptive response in case of illness or injury. But for whatever reason, their unique metabolism puts some of them at risk of this disorder.

Our liver is what allows us to go without food, converting out body fat into usable nutrients. If it isn't working properly on a microscopic level to begin with, then the going without food snowballs into bigger trouble.

We don't worry about anybody until at least the three day mark.

of this cat because he really has an intense dislike of having a camera pointed at him. That is why he is looking so grouchy, ... LOL.

They are Devons. I have a friend who breeds them. I am concerned that there are so many cats who need a home that there is no need to breed cats, so I contribute to SPCAs and work in dog rescue.

This cat virtually never throws up. I have a bad stomach flu this week and I wonder if somehow he caught it.

they can't go long in that condition due to their unique constititution. I remember when Lily had a bad spell and wouldn't eat. She's a fat cat but lost a whole pound within a couple of days. I took her to the vet and got antibiotics and also appetite stimulants. It took that to get her back on track. She never got a real diagnosis, it could have been some kitty flu of some sort, I don't know. I'm glad I acted fast. Never regret doing that - you know when your cat is sick.

I'm sure that you'll sleep easier tonight. :hi:

Now that the crisis has passed, you might ask who covers for her when she's not available in an emergency, just in case you run into a situation where a back-up's needed.