One of our cats has a history of vomitting and a sensitive stomach, as well as gum disease. She's had some of her back teeth removed and been on a Royal Canin vet sensitive food. She's about four now.

But in the past two months, she's basically been throwing up on clockwork every 3-5 days or so. It invariably starts in the early morning before here wet-food feeding.

She'll throw up clear liquid (especially if she's drunk water), but sometimes it's yellowish or even reddish (rarely). She'll do this many times over the course of the morning, until it's just mucous-like saliva. She won't eat for most of that day, then is usually fine the next day.

When it happened last year, it was accompanied by her chewing on hard plastic and rubbing her face. We brought her to the vet for a cleaning, some teeth were extracted, some antibiotics and drugs for the gum problem were given, and it all went away.

This time it also had the plastic chewing, so did a cleaning, another tooth extracted, some antibiotics given, and she seems happier in so far as her mouth is, though still rubbing her face a bit on plastic. But the vomitting hasn't subsided.

I'm wondering if maybe she has some kind of gastro reflux, ulcer or hernia issue that might be at play. Anyone have any experience with any of these and if so do would these symptoms seem to match?

Going to go back to discuss it with the vet, but just want to try get some ideas first.

Hi there and welcome to PF!

What's her history of digestive problems? What is she currently eating?

I'm not sure if this is a digestive problem or a tooth one or indeed a combination of both. The rubbing on plastic objects could certainly point to tooth discomfort. Have you ever noticed her drooling? This can be a classic symptom of tooth problems. Is it only liquid she vomits? Sometimes cats on an empty stomach will vomit stomach acid but this tends to be frothy. The yellow colour you refer to could be bile, though appetite isn't normally affected once the vomiting is over. This is what the vet needs to investigate-it could well be nausea that's preventing her from eating or some inflammation in her digestive tract.

You need to explain the current symptoms to your vet and I would suggest having some bloodwork done as well.

Thanks.

Well, she just has a history of throwing up, would often throw up food when she was younger. Just seemed to have a sensitive stomach without any discernible pattern.

Last year she had a bout of days of throwing up, along with some diarrhoea. The vet found she had bad teeth/gums (LPG lesions), so switched her to a vet-version "sensitivity" Royal Canin dry food (we also give her some generic wet foods in the morning). Gave her some drugs - famotidine (for ulcers, reflux), stomorgyl (for gums), b complex (vitamin) and antirobe (antibiotic).

This seemed to settle everything down, then she had her teeth cleaned with some teeth extracted, was much happier after and the problem went away.

Now a year later, she's throwing up every 3-5 days like clockwork. It always starts early in the morning before we've woken up and fed her. It's mostly clear liquid, but it's a bit frothy or gooey when you clean it up (as in sticks to the rag). Sometimes it's a yellowish or even rarely reddish, but usually clear. By drooling, like a dog? No, she doesn't do that.

So we brought her back in and, did another teeth cleaning with one extraction. Gave her antirobe this time as an antibiotic. She didn't get the ulcer or gum medicines this time, which I'm thinking maybe she needs the ulcer one, as maybe that's what helped settle things down last time.

We did a stool sample last year and it came back okay. We did blood work most recently and also came back normal - at least for the general things checked in a blood test (not sure if something particular for this problem checked for - any tests should be asking about?).

Since I posted last time, spoke to our vet's assistant, who mentioned that if the cat's not eating much dry food and since we only give wet stuff in the morning, then it could be a build-up of acid in the stomach if she's on an empty stomach overnight. So we've been giving her some wet food later on night the past few days, but then on schedule she's thrown up again today anyway.

I don't really understand what's going on, it just seems that it ought to be something identifiable if she's throwing up so regularly on average every four days. It's always the same, very early in the morning before she's eaten. Her stool seems fine these days and her teeth/gums relatively okay now.

Think I'll go ask my vet to give us some of the ulcer/stomach medicine again, and see if that's what helped last time. But I really wish we could get an answer as to what exactly is happening. I figure medicine is a dark art with much guesswork, but with such a clear repeating pattern it's very frustrating not to be getting to the bottom of this.

Have confidence in her vet, as much as I do in any doctor anyway. He saved her life literally when she was a very sick kitten we found in the street. That said, I'd try bringing her to another vet if I thought it'd help, but I'd rather have something to go on first, before just subjecting her to the stress of another vet trip and another round of guesswork.

Anyway, think I'll push for the ulcer/stomach medicine now and see if that works. But if any other suggestions, much appreciated.

Sounds to me now as if it's more of a digestive problem than a dental one. I certainly agree about the stomach acid.

Has she ever undergone any testing at the vets? Faecal tests? Endoscope? The only way to treat this is by identifying the cause.

I'm wondering about the presence of Helicobacter Pylori as in humans. The symptoms can vary in severity with the individual cat, some only showing intermittent ones as you describe.

Cat Helicobacter Infection | Overview & Facts

I would discuss this with your vet. Keep us posted.

Thanks for your suggestions, read it awhile back and forgot to reply.

Yes, the vet thinks it's something at play in her digestive system. We've tried different drugs that we used with a similar problem last year, but no luck.

Since it's happened two years in a row around the same time, the vet thinks there might be a seasonal and/or allergic factor at work.

He'd like to try a cortisone treatment to see if it settles her down. We may also try a change in diet, though she's already on a sensitivity diet.

So I don't know, it's all kind of exasperating, but we'll keep plugging away at it.