It is very common for cats to vomit now and then. However, if the vomiting becomes frequent or severe, you need to take action, especially if your cat is throwing up clear liquid.
Why do cats throw up clear liquid? Throwing up clear liquid in cats can be caused by a variety of issues, some of which will require medical attention. Therefore, it is wise to take your cat to the vet if the problem persists for more than a day or two.
If your cat is vomiting clear liquid, you definitely want to know what this means for your cat, whether frequent vomiting is normal for cats, foods that you can give to a vomiting cat, and so on. This article will answer these and other questions relating to vomiting in cats. The most important thing, however, is to stop the vomiting, so let’s start by looking at what you can give your cat to stop the vomiting.
What Can I Give My Cat For Throwing Up?
Before rushing your cat to the vet, you definitely want to know whether it is possible to treat your cat for vomiting at home. Fortunately, there are a couple of things you can do at home to help a cat stop throwing up. These include:
Withhold Food
Withholding food is the most effective way to help a cat stop throwing up. Withholding food protects your cat’s stomach from further irritation and provides ample time for your cat’s gut to rest and heal. For adult cats, food should be withheld for about 12 hours, while kittens should be fasted for about 4 to 6 hours.
During this period of fasting, you can give your cat a tablespoon of water every 30 minutes to keep them hydrated. If they are unable to keep down the water, give them a few ice cubes to lick.
Give Bland Food
Once your cat has gone several hours without vomiting, you can then give some bland food that is easy to digest and is unlikely to inflame the stomach further.
Boiled chicken works perfectly well. The food should be given in very small quantities (about 25% of what your cat normally eats in a sitting).
If your cat is able to keep down the bland food, you can gradually reintroduce their normal diet over a couple of days.
Can I Give My Cat Pepto-Bismol For Throwing Up?
While Pepto-Bismol is effective for treating stomach upsets in humans, and even dogs, we do not recommend using it to treat vomiting in cats. This is because the active ingredient in Pepto-Bismol is aspirin, which can be toxic to cats.
If you have to give Pepto-Bismol to your cat, it should only be given under the directions of a vet who can advise on the correct dosages for your cat.
What Does It Mean When A Cat Pukes Up Clear Liquid?
Some of the reasons why your cat could be puking clear liquid include:
Hairballs
As cats groom themselves, they’ll swallow some of the fur from their coats. While most of this hair gets passed out without any issues, some of it will accumulate in the stomach and form hairballs.
Many cats will vomit clear liquid in an attempt to get rid of the hairballs from the stomach. Vomiting to clear hairballs is not painful and does not happen frequently. If you notice that your feline buddy is vomiting hairballs frequently, or if they experience pain while vomiting hairballs, you should have them checked out by a vet.
Another way to prevent hairballs is to regularly brush your cat’s coat to get rid of dead hairs that would have otherwise been swallowed.
Gastric Inflammation
Inflammation of the stomach and intestines can also result in your cat throwing up clear mucus. The clear mucus in this case comes from the protective lining of your cat’s stomach. Sometimes, cats can also cough up mucus, and it is very easy to confuse between the two.
Dietary Changes
If you recently changed your cat’s diet or feeding schedule, this can also cause your cat to vomit clear liquid. To avoid this, all changes to your cat’s diet or feeding schedule should be made gradually to give your feline buddy time to adjust to the changes.
Stress
If your kitty is stressed, the stress can be manifested through symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, and potty accidents.
Cats can be stressed by a variety of things, including moving to a new home, changing the furniture in your home, continuous loud noises, excessive competition for resources with other cats, and so on.
Other Causes
Other things that can cause your kitty to throw up clear liquid include indigestion, constipation, ingesting toxic substances and metabolic disorders.
Is It Normal For A Cat To Throw Up Every Day?
It is quite common for cats to vomit once in a while, especially if your cat is an outdoorsy kitty who could have eaten something bad without your supervision. This kind of vomiting should not scare you since it stops as quickly as it came.
So, when should you be concerned about your cat vomiting? If you notice that your feline buddy is vomiting several times within a week, this is a sign that everything is not okay, and you need to take your cat to the vet.
Other Signs To Watch Out For
Aside from increased frequency of vomiting, you should also take your cat to the vet for vomiting if your cat is also showing some other signs of illness.
Some of the signs you need to watch out for include loss of appetite, diarrhea, pain and distress, bloody stool, bloody vomit, weakness and lethargy, fever, or abdominal pain.
You should also take your cat to the vet for vomiting if they’ve not been able to take any water for more than 12 hours, if your notice any worms in your cat’s vomit, or if the vomiting cat has already been diagnosed with an illness like hyperthyroidism, kidney disease, or diabetes.
What To Expect At The Vet
Once you get your cat to the vet, the first thing the vet will do is to perform a physical examination of your cat.
Depending on what they discover during the physical examination, the vet could decide to run some tests in your cat, including blood tests, stool tests, and in some cases, x-rays.
The stool tests will check for intestinal parasites, while the blood tests will allow the vet to confirm whether your cat’s organs are working well. X-rays are taken if the vet suspects that there can be fluid in your cat’s abdomen or a blockage in the gut.
What Is The Best Food For Cats Who Vomit?
If your cat is vomiting, one of the most important things you can do is to switch to the right kind of foods that will help sooth your cat’s stomach. Some of the foods you should consider giving a cat with chronic or acute vomiting include:
Pumpkin
Pumpkin is very good for cats with stomach upsets. First, the pumpkin fruit contains a lot of fiber, which is very useful when it comes to preventing hairballs in cats. The high fiber content also makes pumpkin a great option for treating constipation in cats.
Pumpkin also contains a biochemical compound known as cucurbitacin, which is known to help treat intestinal parasites. Since all these can lead to vomiting, pumpkin can greatly help cats with vomiting. You can give your cat pumpkin every day, provided you do it in small amounts.
We recommend buying Libby’s 100% pure pumpkin cans for your vomiting cat. Libby’s pumpkin is made using all-natural ingredients and is a good source of fiber and Vitamin A for your feline buddy.
Probiotic Yogurt
You can also give your cat probiotic yogurt for an upset stomach. Probiotic yogurt helps soothe stomach upsets in cats by restoring the natural balance of good bacteria in your cat’s stomach and intestines. However, yogurt should not be given to cats in excessive amounts.
High-Quality Cat Food
Once your cat has stopped vomiting, you should introduce high-quality cat food to your cat’s diet. High-quality food will give your four-legged buddy all the nutrients they need without causing any undue stress on your cat’s digestive tract.
Based on our experience, the best cat food is Nom Nom Cat Food. This food is made with tasty, nutrient-dense ingredients and made of high moisture content that is easy to digest even for the finickiest eaters and is therefore good for cats with vomiting problems.
Related Questions
Should You Feed A Cat After It Vomits? It is not advisable to feed your cat after they throw up. This is because feeding could further inflame or irritate your cat’s stomach, leading to even more vomiting. What you need to do instead is to withhold food for a couple of hours, and then introduce bland food in small quantities only if the vomiting has stopped.
What Do Colors Of Vomit Mean? The color of vomit tells you what is going on inside your cat’s body. For instance, if you see yellow vomit, this means your cat is vomiting bile. The red color in vomit is bad and should be taken very seriously since it means that your cat is bleeding somewhere along its gastrointestinal tract.
Why Does My Cat Have Thick Saliva? Thick saliva in your cat’s mouth is a sign that your cat is experiencing pain during swallowing, so they opt to let the saliva remain in the mouth instead of swallowing. Such pain can be caused by problems by a myriad of problems, so it’s best to take your feline buddy to the vet and have the problem diagnosed.
