Question:
I have an 8 yr old long hair tabby and she gets hairballs quite regularly. She eats hairball formula food and it tends to control it most of the time. Today she vomited (the pre-hairball vomit) that smelled like raw sewage. I haven't noticed whether or not she's eating (we have three cats and they all eat out of each others bowls). She's kind of hiding but she has "people" days and "cat" days, so it's not abnormal for her to be "quite". Mostly, I'm just concerned because it smelled so very awful. Anyone know what I should be looking for?

Answer:
Here's an article on hairballs with a link to general article on vomiting.


In general - vomit does not smell good and can vary in intensity depending on what the cat ate.

If your cat is not back to normal in regard to its vomiting AND behaviour within 24-36 hours, it's vet time.

If this were my cat, and the vomit was clear and that's the ONLY vomit I noticed and the cat was behaving weird all day, I'd only wait 24 hours.
I'd also try to find out if the cat is pooping.

Good luck,

Marko

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