Cat may be very ill, what do I do, what could it be?

[bootcat]

For the past few weeks my cat has been vomiting every 2-3 days, sometimes more frequently, and it's just full bits of kibble. I was at the vet in September and she said that its from my cat eating too quickly, and i should switch to a tray. I finally did then when my cat started vomiting again, so I put her food on a plate. This has sort of worked—she's only thrown up once since I switched her to a plate about a week ago.

She also sort of scratched off a patch of hair about 2 weeks ago, which I was told was allergies, and shes better from that and it hasn't happened again.

Today I noticed that shes making a sort of squishing/smacking noise when she moves (opens/closes/yawns) her mouth or tongue.


At the moment I don't have much money, so most importantly, I want to know what might be wrong with her so I don't waste a visit to the vet when they tell me to come back with stool or whatever, or don't give me very useful information. I'd like to go in prepared and to go in as few times as possible. Also if anyone knows a cheaper vet in NYC that would be helpful.

I really, really love my cat, and would love some help. I'll be eternally grateful

[Barkingdog]

Originally Posted by bootcat

For the past few weeks my cat has been vomiting every 2-3 days, sometimes more frequently, and it's just full bits of kibble. I was at the vet in September and she said that its from my cat eating too quickly, and i should switch to a tray. I finally did then when my cat started vomiting again, so I put her food on a plate. This has sort of worked—she's only thrown up once since I switched her to a plate about a week ago.

She also sort of scratched off a patch of hair about 2 weeks ago, which I was told was allergies, and shes better from that and it hasn't happened again.

Today I noticed that shes making a sort of squishing/smacking noise when she moves (opens/closes/yawns) her mouth or tongue.


At the moment I don't have much money, so most importantly, I want to know what might be wrong with her so I don't waste a visit to the vet when they tell me to come back with stool or whatever, or don't give me very useful information. I'd like to go in prepared and to go in as few times as possible. Also if anyone knows a cheaper vet in NYC that would be helpful.

I really, really love my cat, and would love some help. I'll be eternally grateful

Have you tried looking on line for low cost vet?



http://www.animalalliancenyc.org/yourpet/vetcare.htm

I found this one and there are more links to use

[sugarcatmom]

Originally Posted by bootcat

For the past few weeks my cat has been vomiting every 2-3 days, sometimes more frequently, and it's just full bits of kibble.

Does sound like possibly scarf-n-barf... although cats can regurgitate food for reasons other than just eating too fast. My recommendation would be to switch her to wet food only. Kibble is actually a really lousy diet for cats, for a number of reasons: www.catinfo.org

Originally Posted by bootcat

She also sort of scratched off a patch of hair about 2 weeks ago, which I was told was allergies, and shes better from that and it hasn't happened again.

Was she treated with anything?

Originally Posted by bootcat

Today I noticed that shes making a sort of squishing/smacking noise when she moves (opens/closes/yawns) her mouth or tongue.

Do you mean she's smacking or licking her lips? How is her eating today? Lip-smacking can be a sign of nausea. Is she prone to hairballs?

[bootcat]

Thanks so much for your response

Originally Posted by sugarcatmom

Does sound like possibly scarf-n-barf... although cats can regurgitate food for reasons other than just eating too fast. My recommendation would be to switch her to wet food only. Kibble is actually a really lousy diet for cats, for a number of reasons: www.catinfo.org


I usually stick to grain free, wellness etc. I'll get some wet food tomorrow. Any recommendations?


Was she treated with anything?

No she wasn't, so I assumed it was something in the house she got into but didn't go back.

Do you mean she's smacking or licking her lips? How is her eating today? Lip-smacking can be a sign of nausea. Is she prone to hairballs?

She's a medium hair, so has furballs occasionally but hasnt had one in a while because I've been very good at deshedding. I cant tell if its her lips but its sort of a squishing sound coming from her mouth when she opens/closes it.

[marko]

I'm with sugarcatmom (and so are most regular members) that canned is way better than kibble - mainly because cats often don't drink enough and the canned food has so much more water in it which is a great thing. Especially in their older years cats have water issues and getting them used to canned early is crucial.

that said....many of us still do feed occasional kibble for different reasons.

One of the problems might be scarfing the food....and one of my cats (baci) is a scarfer biiiiig-time.

We use the pipolino and that releases the food at a slow steady rate and prevents my 'starving' cat from inhaling 10-15 kibbles at a time. about 4-5 months ago Baci caught pneumonia and have a nagging suspicion that it is because he scarfed some of this sister's kibble and it went into his lung.

Anyway - here is the product - It's FAB! http://www.pipolino.ca/eng/pipolino.html

Good luck!