My Cat Is Vomiting Yellow
Yellow vomit is bile, and it usually means the stomach was empty. When it repeats, or comes with other signs, it points at something that needs investigating.
Is this an emergency?
If the yellow vomiting repeats, if your cat has stopped eating, is lethargic or its gums look yellow, it needs to be seen the same day.
Yellow or greenish fluid brought up by a cat is bile. Bile is made in the liver, stored in the gall bladder and released into the small intestine to help digest fat. When it appears in vomit, it has travelled backwards into the stomach.
The most common reason
An empty stomach. Bile continues to be released whether or not there is food to act on, and it irritates the stomach lining when nothing is there to absorb it.
This is why yellow vomiting is most often seen early in the morning, after the long overnight gap between meals. Cats fed one large meal a day are the most likely to do it.
The change that usually fixes it is simple: split the same daily amount of food across more meals, and offer a small one last thing at night. If the pattern stops, that was the cause.
When it is not just an empty stomach
Look at what else is happening. Bile vomiting needs investigating when it comes with any of these:
- It repeats over several days despite more frequent feeding
- Appetite is dropping or weight is coming off
- Diarrhoea as well
- Lethargy, hiding, or sitting hunched
- Yellowing of the gums, the whites of the eyes or the skin inside the ears
- Drinking noticeably more than usual
What it can point to
Inflammatory bowel disease, pancreatitis, liver disease, intestinal worms, a partial obstruction, kidney disease, and in older cats hyperthyroidism.
Yellowing of the gums or eyes alongside the vomiting is a particular concern, because it suggests the liver itself is involved. Do not wait on that.
What to do
Feed smaller meals more often, especially one late in the evening. Keep water available. Do not fast the cat: cats that go without food for more than a day or two risk hepatic lipidosis.
Do not give human medication of any kind.
When to bring your cat in
If the vomiting continues past a couple of days on the new feeding pattern, if the appetite drops, if there is any yellowing, or if the cat becomes lethargic. We will examine it and usually run a blood count, biochemistry and a urine test to separate the digestive causes from the liver and kidney ones.