Prolonged Vomiting and Diarrhea in Your Cat: What Could it Be?

You have noticed that there is something not quite right about your cat lately. He has been somewhat disorientated and has been vomiting and maybe some diarrhea also. What could be wrong? Dehydration may be the cause; these are some of the symptoms of dehydration.

Dehydration may occur when your cat loses body fluids much faster than they can be replaced. This may occur when your cat loses electrolytes and water. Electrolytes are very important because they hold minerals such as chloride, sodium, and potassium which are very important to your cat's health. The loss of fluid intake might be because your cat is ill and just simply isn't drinking enough water. If your cat has a fever, that will increase the loss of water, and if your cat isn't drinking water to offset the loss, dehydration may occur. And other causes for dehydration would be that your cat has prolonged diarrhea and vomiting which will cause a great amount of water loss.

One way to find out if your cat has dehydration is to see if they have loss of skin elasticity. Grasp the skin along the back of your cat and pinch up into a fold, and if your cat has dehydration the skin will stay up in a ridge. A normal cat, the skin should spring smoothly back into place. Also look to see if there is any dryness in your cat's mouth, look in the gum area, they should appear wet and glistening. If they are dry and tacky when you touch them, and if the saliva is tenacious and thick, it may be dehydration. A late sign of dehydration is the appearance of sunken eyeballs and shock.

If your cat has noticeable dehydration, you should immediately take your cat in to see a veterinarian to prevent any further loss.

In mild cases of dehydration that doesn't include vomiting; the fluids can be given through the mouth. You will need to make sure that there is always clean, fresh water available to your cat at all times, so he can drink freely. If it appears that your cat doesn't have the desire to drink on his own, you can give fluids that have an electrolyte solution in it and give this solution to your cat by a bottle or you can take a syringe and place it in the cheek area to get him to drink. You may purchase this electrolyte solution for treating dehydration in children in most drugstores.

If your cat has obvious signs of dehydration, the best thing is to get your cat into a veterinary clinic as soon as possible.

Resources: Cat owner's home veterinary handbook, third edition