What causes nausea in your cat?
The exact mechanism by which cats experience nausea is not yet fully understood. What is clear is that cats have different ways in which they can become nauseous.
Chemoreceptor Trigger Zone
There is an area in the brain of cats called the chemoreceptor trigger zone (CTZ). This area notices changes in the chemical composition of the blood. For example, the presence of certain toxins or unusual substances. When these changes are noticed, this zone can send signals to other parts of the brain involved in vomiting and nausea.
Vestibular System
The vestibular system, located in the inner ear, is responsible for maintaining balance. That way your cat knows how it is in the environment. So lying or sitting or upside down. Problems with the vestibular system can cause dizziness and nausea. This can occur, for example, with motion sickness.
Irritation of gastrointestinal tract
Irritation of the gastrointestinal tract is caused by food, toxins, bacterial or viral infections. This can send signals to the brain that induce nausea. It is one of the ways to warn and treat the body of potential dangers.
Stress and anxiety
Emotional stress and anxiety can also affect the vomiting center in the brain and cause nausea. This can occur, for example, with certain environmental changes, medical procedures or other stressful situations.
Symptoms of nausea in your cat
A cat with nausea can drool quite a bit. Whole threads of drool can hang from their chin. In addition, they may throw up. In some cases, there is only gagging and you do not see any vomit coming out. Because they are nauseous, they usually do not want to eat or drink. And in most cases, a sick cat is also less active or even a little apathetic. Other cats can become very restless and start walking around in an abnormal and restless way. Very often they keep their heads lower than you are used to from them. If a cat is also very dizzy, they can also tilt their head or even walk around as if they are drunk. These are the more serious cases.
What should you do in case of nausea in your cat?
Adjust food
There are a number of things you can do yourself to support your cat if he is experiencing nausea. It is important for cats that they eat a little. It is often advised not to give the food for 24 hours. I tend to disagree. Especially with cats it is important that they get some food to prevent the risk of fatty liver disease. It doesn’t have to be a full meal, but in 24 hours it would be nice if he could get about half of it. You can wait a few hours until the nausea has subsided somewhat.
The food you are going to give must be passed from the stomach to the intestines as quickly as possible in order to make your cat’s nausea worse as little as possible. This means that you prefer to give your cat a very easily digestible food. You can buy chicken fillet in the supermarket (for human consumption!) and cook it at home in water. You can then offer this to your cat hand warm. Because it’s warm, it gives off a stronger smell and your cat is more inclined to eat it when he’s sick. Give small pieces in small quantities so that the stomach hardly stretches and can digest it quickly. If your cat can keep this down without spitting up, you can give it to him every few hours. At least stay away from a fatty meal. This will irritate the stomach too much at this time.
If the nausea lasts longer, it is better to buy Hill’s Sensitive stomach & Skin catfood for him. This food is also easily digestible, but it is a balanced diet. Unfortunately, chicken breast is not.
Observe your cat
An important part of treating your cat’s nausea is keeping a close eye on him. Not obsessively, because that makes him nervous. But just a little casually. You want to know if he drinks on his own, what his stools are like, if he seems to have abdominal pain and, of course, if he is getting worse.
Use stomach relaxing substances
To support the stomach mucosal layer and counteract nausea, you can try Amber Naturalz Stomach Comfort to help your nauseated cat. This is especially helpful if your cat has nausea due to gastrointestinal irritation.
treat nausea due to stress with motion sickness medication
If stress is the main reason that your cat seems to be nauseous, you can try to see if remedies for motion sickness in cats can suppress the nausea in your cat. For example, HomeoPet Travel anxiety contains substances that work relaxing what also causes the stomach to relax if stress is the cause.
Ask your vet for medication
If your cat continues to suffer from his nausea, it is wise to take him to your vet. He will first check your cat completely, but if nothing really special is found, your vet can give your cat an injection with an agent that prevents nausea in your cat in the chemoreceptor trigger zone in the brain.
You can also obtain this same remedy over the counter in tablet form at your vet’s counter. You should then ask them for Cerenia tablets for cats. The only disadvantage is that if your cat is nauseous, there is a chance that he will throw up the tablet again. By having your vet give your cat an injection of the same product first and then continuing to give the product in tablet form once a day, you have a greater chance of success that the medicine will not be vomited out again. But for that you unfortunately have to consult your vet.
Your cat is nauseous and won't eat
If your cat does not want to eat itself due to its nausea, it is wise to try the above treatments. However, it is important that your cat eats a little bit of food to prevent fatty liver disease. If he does not eat independently, it is important that you force him to eat small amounts of food every few hours. You can do this by feeding him food with a syringe. Use a very high energy wetfood for this. You can also heat this up a little bit in the microwave to make it extra tasty for your cat. Also it is possible to mix some water through it so that he gets a little more water in his belly and you can give it more easily through the syringe to him. Try to give him at least half a can a day, but preferably a whole can.
Your cat is nauseous from anesthesia
As a result of anesthesia, your cat can suffer from nausea. This could be due to the anesthetic drugs that affect the chemoreceptor trigger zone as well as the stress your cat has experienced at the vet. In principle, most cats are back to normal the next day as far as nausea is concerned and they usually eat again on their own. If you are very concerned, you can contact your vet to discuss what you can do. It depends on the treatment your cat has had when he was under anaesthesia. But in general you don’t have to worry too much if it’s the same day of anesthesia at this point. You don’t have to do anything about it today. Tomorrow he should have recovered enough and start to eat again. Otherwise try the tips above and contact your veterinarian.
Your cat is sick from antibiotics
As a result of antibiotics, your intestinal flora can be broken down. As a result, the functioning of the intestines deteriorates and your cat can experience nausea and diarrhoea. The antibiotic course will not be given for nothing and must also be completed. However, if your cat does not eat at all, it is wise that you contact your vet. Perhaps a different course of antibiotics can be given. In some cases it can also be decided to stop the antibiotics and see what will happen without the antibiotics, but you should always make this decision together with your vet.
Your cat is nauseous after deworming
A deworming tablet contains substances that act on the nervous system of the worms. This causes them to die. However, it also has a small but significant effect on your cat’s brain and intestines. This can cause nausea in your cat. We see this especially with products that have been on the market for some time and less with the latest products for deworming. For example, we generally see it much less when giving the active substances milbemycin oxime + praziquantel and that is currently in at least half of all wormers. It is therefore expected that not much cats are really very sick after deworming these days. Does your cat suffer from this? Then give him a cerenia tablet 3 hours before you give him a deworming. You can pick up these tablets (against motion sickness) at the counter of your vet. This counteracts the nausea.
Good luck!
Hopefully your cat will no longer be nauseous and is able to play around and maybe even be a little bit playfully annoying. Good luck for the both of you.