Why is my cat throwing up and leaking a clear liquid from the bottom?

Question

In the last week, my 4 months old kitten was confronted with several symptoms: throwing up, releasing a clear, without smell, without color, watery liquid from her anus and pooping small amounts all over the house, which is very uncharacteristic for her. Her vomit doesn't have a strange color, it has the normal color of the food.

I'm very worried because she sleeps more now, she doesn't play anymore, and sometimes she just wakes up just to purr and eat a little. Her bottom discharge was quite big, she wet all the places where she used to sit, and the liquid water resembles very much but it's a little more dense, like some sort of jelly.

This started to happen 5 days ago. I went to the vet several times and they said to me that the cat does not have something very serious. They gave me probiotics and hepatic food, and today they injected her with an antibiotic.

The vet also made an echograph and said that the uterus of the cat is completely clean and fine and the reason for her symptoms must be some sort of food poisoning. Also, he specified that the mucus of the intestines is indeed inflamed.

He said that reason of her illness was the food I fed her: in the last days, I gave her some wet canned food and some treats (Applaws more exactly). I don't know what to believe about this.

Anyway, any idea about her illness and any advice about what to do would be very much appreciated.

Answer 1

Your vet is in the best position to offer you advice, as he has examined your kitten. If your vet is not highly worried about your kitten then I would give the treatment of antibiotics and new diet a little time to work.

I suspect your vet already talked to you about causes and diagnostics relevant to this case. If she doesn't get better, then by all means take her back to the vet. There are loads of causes of vomiting and diarrhea in kittens, and with common things like gastroenteritis (inflamed stomach and intestines) we never find out the underlying cause, which could be some kind of bacteria or virus, or she may have eaten something that upset her stomach.

Blood work is one thing that you didn't mention that I'm sure your vet would be willing to perform on request. In all likelihood it is probably unremarkable, but it's something that could be easily checked. The other thing I might consider checking at this stage is a fecal sample, or even just empirically deworm since parasites are so common in kittens and can cause vomiting.

The bottom line is you need to continue your conversation with your vet if she does not get better. While there are always more tests that could be run, your vet is probably trying to rule out the common things first.