I have been a dog lover all my life, but I am new to this cat thing. It has been just a few months since Paragon foisted this evil thing on the V-Tail household.

Closet Cat has, unfortunately, come out of the closet. Out, with a vengeance. A black rocket-propelled missile, blasting all over the house. Landing on our bed in bowling ball mode at 3:00 in the morning, then deciding that all humans should be awake. Walking on our sleeping bodies, stamping her feet and poking at us. Carrying her favorite toy in her mouth while speaking loudly, announcing that it is time to play "dangle the string."

I have checked the yellow pages but there are no local listings for "exorcist."

Closet Cat, please go back in the closet, so we can sleep through just one night.

---

Closet Cat has decided to harf. At least twice daily, maybe more, little piles of cat vomit. Today was the third day of this, so it was time for a visit to Dr. Dolittle.

Getting this creature into the FTD (Feline Transport Device) is like playing whack-a-mole with the mole on a combination of crack and PCP. I finally managed to throw a towel over her, wrap her up, and drop the whole bundle into the FTD, which went into the car for the ten minute trip, all the while cat telling me loudly that she would get revenge for this indignity.

Opened the door of FTD in the exam room and a black streak exploded out, morphing into a blur that challenged our mere human eyes to follow. Once she slowed down the vet's tech girl was able to put her on the scale, the first thing that they do on every visit. 10.6 pounds, no change from last time (this is a significant fact, as the observant reader will discover, and bears directly on the title of this thread).

Indignities followed, taking temperature (normal) while being held in place by two techs and V-Tail so the third tech could insert the thermometer. With the preliminaries out of the way, the Vet came into the room, looked her over, inspected the zip-lock baggie of vomit that I had brought, and said "we might have to X-Ray her to see if there is an intestinal obstruction." He was concerned about the possibility that she had might not have been pooping.

I replied that I had not examined the litter box (I am somewhat mobility limited due to injury and general health, so Mrs. V-Tail usually does that chore) but I was absolutely confident that she was not poop-inhibited.

"Why are you so sure?" asked the vet.

"She still weighs the same as the last visit, two months ago," I answered with impeccable logic.

Vet and two young female techs stared blankly at me for a few seconds, then looked at each other and started non-stop laughing. As soon as one stopped laughing it just took a glance at one of the others to start again.

I don't see what's so funny, I think my logic was perfectly good. Why are they laughing at me?

Cat people have very weird senses of humor?

That's all I got.

(P.S. Three feline rulers in the newtoSig household at the moment)

Don't know if you tried it, but it's easier to put a cat into a FTD backwards, if it's not inclined to go.

Look at the bright side. At least you can blame Paragon.

I don't know why the Vet laughed at you, but your story was hilarious!

Very funny story! And your logic seems solid to me.

As for vomit kitty, any chance her food or water is a little stale? One of our cats is sensitive to whether or not the dry food is really fresh.

quote:

Originally posted by cheesegrits:
Very funny story! And your logic seems solid to me.

As for vomit kitty, any chance her food or water is a little stale? One of our cats is sensitive to whether or not the dry food is really fresh.

Don't think so. My wife noticed quite a bit of hair in the first round of vomiting,

Having ruled out a bowel obstruction for now, the vet thinks that maybe the initial vomiting caused a stomach irritation that continues to induce vomiting. He gave her an anti-nausea shot to try to break that cycle. If that doesn't work, it's back to the vet to spend $$ for X-Rays.

Funny, after the indignities of the thermometer and a gloved finger probe, Cat jumped right into the FTD and did not want to come out. All we could see was a couple of bright eyes peering out through the grill.

Arriving home, she was unusually docile and friendly. Maybe something in the anti-nausea shot?

Cats know that you will clean up their vomit. They do it to establish dominance over you and train you as their obedient slaves.

Cat in Feline Transport Device:

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:
Cats know that you will clean up their vomit. They do it to establish dominance over you and train you as their obedient slaves.

You know you are dealing with a true master manipulator when they repeatedly pull off the multi-cleaning product puke. A few examples:

Puke on the edge of the rug so you have to use carpet cleaner and wood floor cleaner.

Puke off the edge of the bed so you have to wash the bedspread and clean the floor.

Saved the best for last - Puke on the couch, jump down, walk a few steps, and puke on the edge of the rug and wood floor.

Just curious: did you X-ray or call the wife to check contents of litter box? Did they pull blood for testing, run a fecal for parasites, etc?

I have a wool sucker here, so I pretty much ignore emesis once I've determined it's contents, and ensured bowel movements. Gotta keep watch, though.

Is your kitty long haired, by chance? I'm sure Paragon has given you a rundown on kitty habits already, but perhaps a hairball?

Cats be cats- at least in my home, where they are not allowed outdoor access to all the issues that might otherwise exist.

To your original question, being same weight as last time just means she's holding steady- that could be possible even if she's blocked. They should've let you in on their joke, but maybe it was just a rough day - sounds as though it was for your closet kitty, anyway...

Sounds about right.

Nice FTD by the way.

quote:

Originally posted by irreverent:
Just curious: did you X-ray or call the wife to check contents of litter box? Did they pull blood for testing, run a fecal for parasites, etc?

Is your kitty long haired, by chance? I'm sure Paragon has given you a rundown on kitty habits already, but perhaps a hairball?

Cats be cats- at least in my home, where they are not allowed outdoor access to all the issues that might otherwise exist.

To your original question, being same weight as last time just means she's holding steady- that could be possible even if she's blocked.

Replying to your questions in order:

• X-Ray did not happen yet. Dr. Dolittle indicated no urgency to spend the $$$$ on this if the anti-nausea shot and restricted access to food for a couple of days clears the problem. Couldn't call the wife, she was at her office. Well, not quite accurate, I could have called her but (a) I might not have understood anything she said because hearing aids. I don't think I'm involved in more than one or two phone calls at all, per month, and they are very frustrating. And (b) even if I had called my wife would not have been able to answer. Her office days are completely scheduled with back-to-back patients so there is no chance that she would be able to take a phone call. Her patients are two-legged and not furry, so they can speak, even though they don't always make a lot of sense.
  
  
• Blood test, parasite poop inspection, etc, was all done on the last scheduled visit, couple months ago. Tapeworm larvae due to flea ingestion found and treated. Flea problem addressed. My wife bought a flea comb and checks daily. Some fleas were found at first, wife thought that the $$ flea stuff was not working, called the company and had a discussion. Followed their suggestions, Cat has now bee flea-Free for several weeks. Boric acid powder sprinkled on our carpets prevented any flea eggs from hatching, so that cycle has been broken.
  
  
• Long hair? Not sure what you mean. She is not bald or naked. Not a big fluffy thing though. Kind of a 10.6 pound micro panther, lean and full of evil. Evidence of hair in the first couple of vomit piles, but not the second or third day. When vomiting continued into the third day with no more sign of hair, it was decided that a vet visit was in order. Majority vote: two humans voted yes, one cat voted no, majority ruled.
  
  
• Indoor cat only. No idea whether she would run if allowed outside. This is Florida, there are fleas outside, we don't want to allow that cycle to start again. Cat is curious about what is on the other side of any closed door and is there immediately to investigate any time she hears the sound of a door opening. She did manage to slip out of the front door once but did not go anywhere; she sat down just outside of the door and looked at the street until I shooed her back inside.
  
  
• My logic, which is what cracked up the doc and his assistants, is that if she is not gaining weight she must be pooping. Otherwise, if she is not pooping, she will be accumulating and getting bigger and heavier. It seemed pretty clear to me, I don't understand why they did not agree. But as I said, I'm new to this cat thing.

I use Petromalt. It's billed as a hairball cure, but seems to be effective to prevent vomiting.

Not that I'm anti-cat but after our 19 year old cat died - No more cats in the house. It's great, none of the issues you have. We can pick them up and play then put them down and walk away. We also don't the little monsters running around the house at all hours of the day. They all stay outdoors some in the barn and one near the house plus the other cats that come and visit it from time to time. Life is much better with them out of the house plus it smells better and no clean up of messes. Chris

I don't know what they thought was so funny about it, but generally when they get obstructed, they're also eventually and probably quickly doing to stop or reduce eating. If they're truly obstructed, you're probably going to see some very obvious signs before there is significant weight loss.

Or so says the other half, who is a vet.

Just went through exact same thing this week with Black. He vomited 6-7 times in a couple hours. Gave anti nausea shot and shot to cut off signal to vomit. Skipped X-ray's at $175.00. Special diet and anti hair ball meds. He seems better now. He did vomit once since then, that's it.

Good luck with closet kitty!

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Anchor:
Not that I'm anti-cat but after our 19 year old cat died - No more cats in the house. It's great, none of the issues you have. We can pick them up and play then put them down and walk away. We also don't the little monsters running around the house at all hours of the day. They all stay outdoors some in the barn and one near the house plus the other cats that come and visit it from time to time. Life is much better with them out of the house plus it smells better and no clean up of messes. Chris

▲ That sounds awfully inconvenient. I'm glad you got it worked out.

It could be so many things causing your cat to vomit. Sometimes you can tell a lot by the look of what your cat is depositing in the litter box.

What are you feeding your cat? It could be what she is eating. If your cat is prone to hairballs, Petromalt has worked well for our cats.

Anyway, there is a lot of information on the internet about common cat problems, cat poop and remedies. I recommend you do some research.

We have a calico streak of lightning that has decided that 5AM-5:30AM is a good time for us to wake up. Fortunately, we would usually don't sleep much past those times anyway.

Good luck!

We asked our Vet why cats acted like the do. She said "For the most part, cats are insane".