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[JBramhall]

In my household, we recently experienced this in our 13(ish) year old semi-feral cat. He was spewing up a lot and crapping all over the place. We solved it by giving him a regular (once a month) worming tablet. You might want to try something similar and seeing if it helps.

Remember though, do the most humane thing for the cat.

I hope the vet has some good news when you see them.

Good Luck
JBramhall

[Dutchling]

My dad's cat died at age 31. Hunted and roamed outside till age 30.

It probably died once or twice but your dad didn't want to see you unhappy and got a new one that looked alike.

[Caz]

Why're your parents trying to starve your cat to death? Bit harsh tbh.

Can you take the cat to vet for an answer about why it's throwing up?

Try feeding it more often in smaller amounts. Sometimes cats can get allergies to certain food later in life too.

Feed it some sardines or something.

[Caz]

In my household, we recently experienced this in our 13(ish) year old semi-feral cat. He was spewing up a lot and crapping all over the place. We solved it by giving him a regular (once a month) worming tablet. You might want to try something similar and seeing if it helps.

This is a good call if you aren't already regularly worming your cat. You need to do it every few months because of them eating infected mice etc outdoors.

[Robot Parade Leader]

No vet appointment so far.... They haven't talked anymore about putting her down (that I've heard at least) but they are convinced she's just old and dying....

I guess their thinking with the feeding the cat less thing is that she'll just puke it all back up if they give her any quantity. My dad says her body is "shutting down," but damn it I think we sorta owe it to her to have a vet say so....

Right now I feed her several times a day in very small amounts and she doesn't throw up very often or sometimes at all (as of the past couple days). I guess she can handle a small amount of food every half or whole hour or so, maybe 10 or 12 pieces of dry cat food.... If I were to fill up her bowl, she'd hork it up all over the place.

Mom and dad seem more concerned with the mess .

I don't know what to do really, except to keep feeding her about a dozen pieces of food several time a day so she doesn't throw up. Today I probably fed her 20 times and all told, that's probably almost a full bowl of cat food. Knocking on wood, she hasn't thrown up yet.... Hum.

The cat seems to almost constantly beg for more food, but there is some truth in the idea that she'll just throw it up if I give her all she wants. It isn't doing her much good to have a lot of food if she just pukes it all back up is it? I dunno. Am I wrong in thinking that giving her those several small snacks is better for her? The throwing up has made her kinda skinny.

Right this second, she's purring on my lap.... I don't really know how to help her.

[Darkmere]

If she were dying, she wouldn't be trying to eat at all.

You could try calling the vet yourself and telling them the situation over the phone. They'll tell you to bring her in, but I'm assuming at this point that you can't, yourself. If you can't get someone to take you and can't drive yourself or get someone to drive you, try explaining that to the vet's receptionist over the phone. Make sure you're as detailed as possible to the person you talk to, pointing out that the cat is eating and can keep small amounts of food down. Worst case is they can't tell you anything without an office visit (and I'll be honest, this is most likely), but that's pretty much what's going on now, so you have nothing to lose.

You could also nag the hell out of your parents, I suppose... but I'm more in favor of trying something yourself if they're determined to let an animal suffer.

[Robot Parade Leader]

They think there's no hope for her.....

[Darkmere]

Well, then you have to look at it this way: 17 years is a pretty ripe old age for a cat, and domestic cats lead pretty good lives. When it counted, you tried your best to be there for your pet (in my opinion, that's the most important part of it).

[martinuzz]

They think there's no hope for her.....

In my country (the Netherlands), your parents could be arrested and face 2 years jailtime (max) for serious pet neglect, for not taking an obviously sick cat to the vet (,plus, trying to starve it to death, which could be seen by a judge as abuse). I don't know how old you are, but I'd strongly suggest you ignore your parents, and take the cat to the vet yourself.

Very simple basic rule with cats: If it WANTS TO EAT, it WANTS TO CONTINUE LIVING

[Octobomb]

Get the cat to the vet. If your parents think there's no hope because of vomiting... do it yourself. Cats are completely at peace with themselves. If she wants to die she wouldn't be eating. Get to her to the vet. Fast. The quicker you go the quicker this gets sorted out.

[smjjames]

Maybe take her to your areas main animal hospital rather than the local vet? Getting someone with fresh eyes and doesn't have any prior experience with the animal to look at your cat might be helpful.

As for old cats, I had a cat who was like, 19 when she had to be put down due to complications from an enlarged heart due to age. Other than the resulting breathing problems, she was still quite healthy actually.

I'm sad now.......

[Robot Parade Leader]

Yeah, I'm pretty sad about the whole thing too.

Conerning the food thing, I don't think she's being starved necessarily, but she can't keep much of anything down for any amount of time. I feed her 10 to 12 little peices of dry cat food maybe 20 times a day right now. Thankfully, I'm able to even do that. If she gets any more, then she'll throw it all up almost right away. I want to give her more food, but I'm afraid to, because she needs to eat AND keep it all inside long enough to get something out of her food.

Overall, I am looking for affordable vet care options and to keep her in as good of health as I can until we can get her to a vet. I hope her digestive tract or whatever aren't shutting down. I'm just trying to increase the cat to fur ratio, cause right now she's all fur.

Sadly, in the US, we have people who don't get the medical care they need sometimes, so animals are a bit of a backseat. I don't like either of those things one bit.

I'm not really sure how to calm her stomach. She's tried munching on the houseplants lately and I know sometimes cats eat grass. I got some from outside for her, she didn't seem interested at all.

[martinuzz]

Contact local charity, or crazed cat lady, see if they can help you make vet assistance more affordable.

[smjjames]

It's dogs that like to eat grass when their stomach is unwell, which my dog often did. Although I swear she was part herbivore as she liked eating the grass as a bit of an aftermeal sometimes. Go figure.

Also, some houseplants can be toxic to cats.

[Robot Parade Leader]

Whelp, the ferns have cat mouth shaped bites on them, so either she's been nibbling on those or somebody has cleverly disguised their fern nibbling actions for not reason at all....

I also changed her food. She's only throwing up every couple of days or so. For a bit there she wasn't throwing up but yeah.

Still trying to get her to a vet somehow but yeah.... She's not yowling at night anymore and she seems a lil bit happier. I'll take a lowered frequency of throwing up. In any case my parents have shut up about possibly putting the cat down for the moment but I'd still like her to see a vet. Let's see how things go.