Came home from Taichi last night at 9pm to find a bit of vomit and two suspected hair balls on the bed. Both cats seemed fine and playful but at about 11pm, Freckle started vomiting again. Put it down to the introduction of Ropocat, even though he'd only eaten about a tbsp.

Was up at 1, 3 and 5 with him vomiting again - just yellow clear liquid and froth. Haven't seen any actual food in any of his vomit. Poor little guy did get some sleep at the end of the bed between 1 and 3 but was obviously feeling wrecked by 5. Still trying to vomit at 7 but nothing left

Going to get the first appointment at the surgery at 8:30 or go to the closer (but just a consultation room) at 9 depending on what we can get.
Main worries are that he is dehydrated (hasn't had anything to drink that I can see) and that he's eaten something he shouldn't have - possibly fluff stuffing from a toy

Has anyone else had a similar reaction from introducing a new food in a small quantity? Freckle eats Grau, Animonda and Smilla so he is used to a pate style and it's normally Bloo who reacts to food. Bloo polished off a bit more Ropocat and was fine...

Always best to check with the vet. Hopefully Freckle isn`t too bad but your vet will probable tell you to feed him something bland like boiled chicken and rice. Good luck with Freckle

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Black with white around his private area



Black Tortoiseshell




R.I.P Patch my well behaved boy dog
R.I.P. Abby and Rebel my beautifull litter sister cats

Poor little guy, hope he gets better. Sending all my prayers to you.

Hope he's ok, let us know.

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Harry: Ginger & White b. September 2002
Oscar: Black b. 7th May 2011
Kitty: Grey Tabby b. 7th May 2011

Our lovely cat family

Hope you feel better soon Freckle

Cheers guys

We ended up at the local vets as the surgery didn't have an appointment until 9am anyway and our favourite vet (who most importantly knows Freckle well) was at the local. She took his temp, normal, gave him a good squeeze all over and spent a while going through the symptoms, timeline and options with me.

Option 1 was to give him a painkiller and anti-nausea shot and send him home and have me bring him back if he doesn't get better. Option 2 is further investigation at the surgery which I went for and what she would prefer.

She suspects something could be lodged in his oesophagus or that it is severely irritated from the vomiting. He is now at the surgery with her and her boss. Next steps are to give him an anti-nausea shot (and I think a painkiller, anti-inflammatory) and then put him under a light GA to see if they can have a look down his throat and see anything. Depending on the results of that, barium and an xray would be the next step. There is also the possibility of surgery and if so, some IV fluids prior, if they find something which I'm really dreading. I'm going to hear back from her this afternoon regarding the outcome of the investigation and hopefully it won't necessitate surgery.

Poor Freckle isn't the bravest of cats and doesn't like strangers. He hates the smell of the vets and has only ever been left for neutering. After his rough night I felt really bad about leaving him cowering in his carrier. I also feel bad that Bloo is spending the day alone at home without his brother while both myself and my husband are at work. Hopefully it's only for a few more hours and then I can bring Freckle home.

Poor thing! Sending my best wishes to both you and Freckle.

Just got a call from the vets

They've given him the barium and taken the first xray and it looks suspiciously like gastro regardless of the lack of temperature. The barium went straight through both his oesophagus and stomach and into his small intestine in the 5 minutes so his tummy must be really inflammed. He also threw up on the way to the surgery

But they've given him an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory so with a little luck he will start feeling better soon. I'm calling back at 2:30pm to see how the rest of the xrays have gone and might be able to get him back home today Husband is off work after today so can nurse him if so. But there is still the chance that something else is wrong which would mean staying in over night...

Last time they had gastro was earlier this year. We think Bloo picked it up on a walk, but Freckle got it a week later. I really hope Bloo doesn't catch it this time as we are meant to be flying out on the 27th.

Any ideas on preventative measures in cats for gastro? The vet commented they are low risk as the are indoor cats, but twice in a year seems like a bit much

Goodness sounds like your vet was pretty thorough... when I read the opening post of yours to this thread, had a inkling might be Gastro since there seems to be a lot of it right now in cats and dogs, and yes 2/3 of mine have been struck down by the 'bug' in the past week, the younger one had it the worst, persistent vomiting and didn't want to chance it, so took him into vet who gave him the anti sickness shot to stop the nausea as well. It helped. Seems like both cats just wanted to rest, be kept quiet and in a warm place by the fire as well as bounding about like usual.. a little odd!

Older boy is back to himself (24 hour thing with him) whilst younger one, getting there, canikur helped and fed just chicken to him yesterday, today, slowly re-introducing the wet food, see how we go.

Hope yours makes a speedy recovery.

Just read about yours being indoor cats, mine are however they go into the garden. From what I understood our vet saying, can come a number of ways like humans and if it's around, any cat, dog can pick it up. Maybe yours have just been unlucky. Paws crossed this end that x rays don't show up anything and if it is this gastro bug, hopefully be on its way out in no time.

Think there's not really any preventative other than to tackle it when it comes. This end, am hoping our eldest girl doesn't get it.

my guys have had it once in the 4 years I've had cats but all seem to be 'iron stomached' as they are mostly ex stray/feral they are very adaptable to changes in diet and so on

only thing I can suggest is same as kids prone to tummy upsets - pro biotic (plain) yogurt 2-3 times a week (just a teaspoon or so each)

also getting them used to stuff from outside (harness walks etc) say once a month to gradually build up their immune system - may result in a few upset tummies in the meantime so discussing it with the vet see if you can get some Kaogel or similar and a syringe - 1-2ml as they *start* vomiting can head it off at the pass

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