Cat vomit or hairball?

Question

I just brought my new cat home today. She's about 1 year old and she's from the shelter. I have never owned my own cat, just looked after other people's cats. I'm a bit concerned because she keeps making a noise and looking like she might vomit. Could it be a hairball? she hasn't eaten much since I brought her home. She has food and water. Other than this, she seems perfectly normal and comfortable. She doesn't have a history of health problems or anything like that.

Answer 1

Stress can cause an animal to excessively lick themselves and cause hairballs. Keep a close eye on her and if she continues to hack through the night without actually getting anything up call a vet. Good luck and congrates on your new kitty.

Answer 2

With his history of urinary tract issues, I would be a little concerned about that or kidney issues. If he's vomiting frequently and it's yellow, what you're seeing is bile. I know it sounds gross, but I recommend smelling it the next time he does it. If you smell an ammonia or bleach odor, this can be a sign of chronic renal failure (CRF). If you smell an acetone odor (like nail polish remover), this can be a sign of diabetes. Either condition can cause frequent vomiting and the vomit will be the yellow bile color that you're describing. If he's not actually producing food that would indicate overeating or something disagreeing with his stomach and the liquid is not clear, it's not likely that he's trying to cough up a hairball. I think you're right on track with your plan to have him checked out. If the vomiting continues through the night, I would try to get him in first thing in the morning if I were you. I wouldn't try the petrolium jelly or anything at this point, since it's not very clear what's going on. It won't necessarily be toxic to him, but I wouldn't want to chance making his vomiting worse. Good luck to you, and I hope he's feeling better soon!

Answer 3

Make sure she is eating the food she had at the shelter. If you want to change it you should do so gradually.

Cats on a QUALITY meat diet (no dry food) do not vomit or have hairballs.

Go to http://www.littlebigcat.com and read some of Dr. Jean Hovfe's articles on cat nutrition, such as "Why Cats Need Canned Food", "What Cats Should Eat", "Selecting a Good Commercial Pet Food", etc.

There are many good brands available: Natural Balance, Wellness, CA Natural, Sensible Choice, Avoderm, Artemis, Evanger's etc.

She may be just a little nervous right now in her new home and she may not want to eat at all right away. So get the right food for her tomorrow.

Answer 4

There's two positions a cat takes for that kind of thing.

The dry cough that never gets anything to come up, I figure is just hair in the throat that they're trying to clear. They crouch down, chest to the floor, with chin out horizontally to make the airway as long as possible and they do a cough slowly, over and over, sometimes swinging their head side to side. Only ONCE in 20 years have I seen a hairball upchucked like this, all the rest are just dry coughs. And nothing to worry about.

The upchuck of a hairball is different. The cat is often in a sitting positon (not a crouch) and the nose points to the floor, (not a horizontal chin) so their stomach can pull up to vomit the hair up. There's often some drool from the mouth while their ribs go in and out, and it's noisy, a two stage noise not a cough. They pull their belly up when the vomit comes out, and no, they don't like throwing up any more than we do so don't yell at them, it'll only make them run and some cats need to upchuck three times in a row to clear out everything.

Last thing you want to do is have yours run for cover if they see you coming after being conditioned that you don't like this.

I talk quietly to ours, grab a paper and shove it in front of them to catch the vomit if I can. I stand directly behind them so they can't back up, and i keep a hand on each side just off their fur so they can't turn in those directions. No upchucking cat likes to walk forward while doing this, so this keeps them contained. A light blowing on the back of their head helps some cats. I dunno why, but it does.

You'll get hairballs occasionally. By themselves, with clear/or brown/or yellow bile fluid, or at the back end of a wad of partially chewed cat food. Hope you have hardwood floors, it's so much easier to clean up that way.

Good luck! It's all part of being a cat owner. Brush your cat every day to help them NOT ingest so much fur when they groom.

Answer 5

Sounds like just a hairball to me :-) One of my cats is famous for hairballs.

Just keep an eye on her. As long as she is eating and drinking healthy amounts and is acting normally otherwise, she's fine.

To prevent hairballs in the future you can brush her frequently and feed her a hairball formula diet.

Answer 6

Yeah. My cats do that ALL the time [i have 7 cats. not all of them are mine] But they all the time do that and its hairballs. But do keep an eye out. Cats have been known to choke badly on their hairballs. But dont really worry about it.

Answer 7

I would ask your vet before you go "assuming" she has hariballs-a visit to the vet would be better than a call.
She might need hairball control or she might be sick.
My cats throw up hairballs alot, it may just be what that is.
Good luck! Hope this helps♥♥♥

Answer 8

It might be just a hairball. If she does think for quiet alot of time it is a hairball because if it wasn't I think she might vomit by then!

Answer 9

this could be a stress thing...nerves and what not. id take a look at what you are feeding her. these are common ingredients that cats are allergic to and/or can not digest:
corn, byproducts, beed, wheat, soy, dies, dairy ( yes lactose!!) and artificial preservatives like bha, bht, and ethoxyquin. hairballs are caused by bad diet and too much grooming. its easy to get rid of hairballs by switching to a good food. i recomend eagle pack holistic select, innova, or wellness... eagle pack being my favorite.
as far as her not eating and drinking..make sure she is getting plenty of water..as not to get dehydrated. if the condition persists throughtout the next 12 hours id get an appointment to the vet, take a stool sample and urine sample if possible too!!