Possible Causes for Your Cat Vomiting Clear Liquid

Vomiting is not normal in cats, and when your cat vomits clear liquid, it can be a sign of a serious illness. Vomiting itself is what is considered to be a nonspecific symptom. It could be associated with an array of health concerns. Some of these can include things like hairballs, internal obstructions, pancreatitis, eating too quickly, constipation, indigestion, parasitic infections, poisoning, stress, depression, or even anxiety.

Possible Causes for Your Cat Vomiting Clear Liquid

Hairballs

Cats are naturally meticulously clean animals and groom themselves for a large part of their day. As your cat grooms themselves, tiny hook-like structures on their tongue catch loose and dead hair, which is then swallowed. The majority of the hair passes all the way through the digestive tract with no problems, but sometimes the hair stays in the stomach and forms a hairball.

Commonly, cats will vomit up clear liquid prior to a hairball. Although, a cat vomiting up clear liquid with a hairball occasionally can be normal and not a concern, it is important to note that hairballs should not be frequent, painful, or difficult for your cat to pass. Some commercial cat diets and treats are formulated to help prevent formation of hairballs. Adopting a regular brushing schedule and getting your cat comfortable with brushing can also help get rid of any loose fur in your cat's coat that they may otherwise ingest when grooming themselves.

Food and Dietary Changes

When there is a change in your cats feeding schedule, if your cat misses a meal or eats later than normal, your cat may vomit up clear liquid.

In addition, you may have switched your cat’s food too quickly. When changing your cat to a new diet, it is recommended to do it gradually over a one to two-week period gradually decreasing the amount of current cat food while increasing the amount of new cat food.

Your cat may eat too quickly, and this can cause clear vomit or clear vomit with food present. If you cat is a habitual 'scarf and barf' cat or if they have intestinal sensitivities, that may be causing them to vomit up partially digested or undigested food. If your vet has ruled out other medical issues and thinks that what your cat is vomiting up is actually food, they may want you to try a food for sensitive stomachs with your cat. If your cat is still struggling with vomiting food on this special diet, they may then want to put your cat on a strict, hydrolyzed protein diet.

Your vet may also suggest food puzzles for your cat. Food puzzles are a great source of both play and enrichment for your cat. There are more and more manufactured food puzzles available on the market that stimulate both of your cat's predatory and foraging instincts. The added benefit of food puzzles for a cat that chronically vomits their food, though, is that it slows down the chow time so that a cat cannot eat too quickly and then get sick from it.

Indigestion

Just like in people, a cat's stomach produces various gastric juices as well as hydrochloric acid to digest their food. If, however, a cat skips a meal for some reason, or if they are not fed on time, that buildup of juice and acid can irritate the stomach and cause your cat to vomit. Cats with indigestion may vomit yellow foam in addition to white foam. If you and your vet suspect your cat's vomiting is from indigestion, your vet may suggest feeding small, frequent meals at the same time throughout the day so as to alleviate any buildup of stomach acid.

Gastritis

If your cat is one to get into things they shouldn't, it is possible that they have irritated their stomach with something that they have eaten. When this happens, you may see vomiting clear liquid in addition to vomiting blood and/or bile. Your cat may also be exhibiting a decrease in appetite, a depressed attitude, lethargy, or dehydration. Your vet will know just what to do if your cat is vomiting because of gastritis.

Some other causes can include:

• Parasites

• Constipation

• An obstruction of foreign material in the intestinal tract

• Ingesting a toxin

• Metabolic disorders such as diabetes, kidney disease, and hyperthyroidism

What Should I Do if My Cat Is Vomiting Clear Liquid?

Some cat owners may describe their cat as 'puke-y' but it should be noted that frequent vomiting is never normal for a cat. Vomiting more than once a week is definitely a sign of issues. If your cat is vomiting clear liquid several times and/or in conjunction with other symptoms such as lack of appetite, weight loss, lethargy, or diarrhea, you should make an appointment with your vet right away. Your vet will want to start with a physical exam, checking your cat's vital signs and palpating your cat's abdomen. After a thorough examination, your vet may also want to run some tests, including blood work and x-rays. Blood work will check your cat's organ function, making sure that there are no signs of liver disease or kidney disease, as well as your cat's red blood cell and platelet levels. An x-ray study will check for any fluid in the abdomen that could potentially be blood and it may also show intestinal gas patterns that could be indicative of a blockage.

Depending on what your doctor finds, your cat may require hospitalization for fluid therapy and supportive care, or they may just need outpatient treatments and oral medications to go home on. If your vet suspects your cat has an intestinal blockage your cat may require surgery to remove whatever the blockage is.

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Whisker Fatigue in Cats

If you've never heard of whisker fatigue, don't worry. It's not necessarily a widely known condition. But for some cats, it does negatively impact daily life.

Why do cats have whiskers?

Cat whiskers are extraordinary sensing hairs that give them almost extrasensory powers. Despite their evolution, whiskers (tactile hairs or vibrissae), have remained as features on most mammals in some basic form.

For cats, whiskers are much more than facial adornments that add to their cuteness. Whiskers act as high-powered antennae that pull signals into their brain and nervous system. The ultra-sensitive sensory organs at the base of the whiskers, called proprioceptors, tell your cat a lot about their world. They provide your cat with information regarding their own orientation in space and the what and where of their environment. In these ways, whiskers help your cat move around furniture in a dark room, hunt fast-moving prey (by sensing changes in air currents) and help to determine if they can squeeze into that incredibly tight spot between the bookcase and the wall.

So what exactly is whisker fatigue?

While cats can voluntarily “turn on” the sensory focus of their whiskers exactly where they want, whisker receptors mostly respond to a cat’s autonomic system — the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves that respond to the internal and external environment without conscious control (for example—pupils constricting in response to bright light).

You can think of whisker fatigue as an information overload that stresses out your cat. Because whisker hairs are so sensitive, every time your cat comes into contact with an object or detects movement, even a small change in air current or a slight brush against their face, messages are transmitted from those sensory organs at the base of their whiskers to their brain. That barrage of “messages” could stress out your cat, eventually causing what some people call whisker fatigue.

However, “fatigue” may not be the best description of the condition, since what your cat is feeling is probably more like distaste or aversion than soreness or actual fatigue. In fact, whisker stress is another term some people use for the condition.

Not all feline vets think whisker fatigue is a real condition or cause for concern. Dr. Cathy Lund of City Kitty, a feline-only veterinary practice in Providence, R.I, questions the validity of whisker fatigue. While a cat’s whiskers do serve as very sensitive tactile sensors, she does not believe contact between whiskers and objects causes stress in cats. That said, stress, for whatever reason, is a real issue of concern for cat owners and vets.

What causes whisker fatigue?

While your cat relies on their fetching facial antennae to navigate the world, they can’t tune out unnecessary messages the way we filter out background noise. They inadvertently finds stimulation in the most common and ever-present situations, like at their food or water bowl. If their whiskers touch the sides of the bowl every time they dips their head to sip or eat, this can cause whisker fatigue, the theory suggests.

Your cat’s behavior at their food and water bowl will tip you off that they are stressed. Some signs to watch for include:

• Pacing in front of the bowls

• Being reluctant to eat but appearing to be hungry

• Pawing at food and knocking it to the floor before eating

• Acting aggressive toward other animals around food

Of course these behaviors can also be related to potentially serious health conditions like dental disease, oral tumors, gastrointestinal diseases, behavioral problems and more, so if you have any concerns about your cat’s well-being, you should make an appointment with your veterinarian.

Many vets, regardless of their opinions on whisker fatigue, agree that cats often find eating out of a bowl unappealing in general and providing a flat surface for meals is preferable.

Whisker fatigue is not a disease (and is not caused by or related to any type of illness) and appears to manifest primarily with the repeated daily contact with food and water bowls. However, a cat who is stressed is not happy, and if they avoid eating and drinking, they might become malnourished and/or dehydrated.

How can whisker fatigue be prevented?

Luckily, preventing or stopping stress related to whisker fatigue at feeding time is as easy as replacing your cat’s food and water bowls. At meal time, provide a flat surface or a wide-enough bowl for cat food so that their whiskers don't touch the sides of the bowl. In a pinch, a paper plate can serve as a suitable food dish.

Most cats prefer a lip-less, large flowing water source, for drinking. Ideally, cat parents should provide an automatic, fresh water source, like a cat water fountain, which cats prefer to an icky, stale bowl of water that might as well be from an old tire.

Some cat parents believe another solution is to trim their cats’ whiskers, but this is a giant no-no. Trimming whiskers mutes their expression, dims their perceptions, and in general, discombobulates cats and annoys them.

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