What to do if your dog or cat is vomiting
the info here applies to acute vomiting in adult pets only
Why do cats and dogs vomit?
There are many many reasons why pets vomit. Some are serious. Some are not.
Here are some (but not all) causes of vomiting. This list is here to highlight that there is no one first aid treatment that will fix everything. If you’re less interested in the why and want to know the what, skip ahead to the next picture.
gastric
Gastric (stomach) vomiting may be due to:
gastritis (inflammation of the stomach wall), which can be due to infection, irritation, immune-mediated disease, medications
ulceration
neoplasia
foreign bodies
outflow obstruction
motility disorders
intestinal
Intestinal causes of vomiting include:
inflammatory bowel disease
neoplasia
foreign bodies
intussusception (where the bowel telescopes in on itself)
enteritis (inflammation of the intestinal wall), which can be due to infection, irritation, medications. Read about the dog gastro going around
enteropathy (non-specific disease of the intestinal wall)
functional disorders
constipation (which has its own huge list of causes!)
Pancreas
Pancreatic causes of vomiting include:
Liver and gallbladder
Liver and gallbladder (hepatobiliary) causes of vomiting include:
hepatitis (liver inflammation), cholangitis (gallbladder inflammation), which can be due to infection, immune-mediated disease, toxins
biliary obstruction
neoplasia
cysts
spleen
The sort of splenic disease that causes vomiting include:
neoplasia
twisting
Genitourinary tract
The conditions of the urinary and genital tracts that can cause vomiting include:
acute and chronic kidney failure
nephritis (kidney inflammation)
pyelonephritis (kidney infection)
nephrolithiasis (kidney stones)
urinary obstruction
pyometra (uterine infection)
prostatic disease
neoplasia
peritoneum
No, the peritoneum is not the perineum (the area between the anus and the genitals). The peritoneum is a membrane that covers the inner wall of the abdomen and most of the abdominal organs – it acts to prevent friction and hold things in their proper location.
The peritoneum consists of two main parts: the omentum, which hangs in front of the stomach and intestine; and the mesentery, which attaches the small intestine and most the large intestine to the abdominal wall under the backbone. Both contain blood vessels, nerves, lymph nodes, fat, elastic fibres for stretching and collagen fibres for strength.
Conditions of the peritoneum that can cause vomiting include:
peritonitis (inflammation of the peritoneum), which may be caused by things like a bowel perforation, a penetrating abdominal wound, a leaking gallbladder, a leaking urinary tract
torsion or twisting of the mesentery
Metabolic and hormonal
Metabolic and hormonal causes of vomiting include:
uraemia (an excess of urea and creatinine in blood stream due to kidney failure)
diabetic ketoacidosis (an excess of ketones/acid in the blood stream due to uncontrolled diabetes)
hyperthyroidism (too much thyroid hormone)
hepatic encephalopathy (a brain condition that occurs when the liver isn't able to detoxify the blood properly)
hypercalcaemia (too much calcium in the blood stream due to cancer or toxicity) septicaemia (bacteria in the blood stream)
infections
Some of the more common infectious causes of vomiting include:
bacteria (eg salmonella, campylobacter)
parasites
Drugs and toxins
Almost all drugs and toxins have the potential to cause vomiting. Ones that we quickly rule out include:
snail baits
non-steroidal anti-inflammatories
human medications
Dietary
Dietary causes of vomiting include:
eating rotten foods
sudden change in diet
food intolerance or allergy
gorging (mainly cats)
Neurologic
Neurological causes of vomiting include:
vestibular disease (causes 'motion sickness')
encephalitis (brain inflammation)
neoplasia
head trauma
pain
strong smells
What to do
If your adult pet vomits once but seems otherwise fine, you might not need to do anything. Lots of cats will bring up the odd fur ball and some dogs love a good grass barf.
If the vomiting seems different to what your pet might do on the odd occasion, but your pet doesn’t appear really ill (eg very lethargic, unresponsive, also has serious diarrhoea) then you can:
isolate your pet from other pets – it might be contagious
remove food and water – a common mistake people with a vomiting pet make is to encourage food and water intake while the pet is still vomiting. Imagine someone waving food in front of face when you’re feeling queasy! Getting a nauseous/vomiting pet to eat or drink can make things worse by not allowing the stomach and intestinal tract time to rest, and can cause additional vomiting (and therefore more water loss and dehydration)
offer clear liquids – if there has been no vomiting after 6 hours, you can start to give water, an electrolyte solution or a light broth. The amount to give is about 10 ml (2 teaspoons) per kilo body weight every 2–4 hours (yes, during the night as well)
off bland food – if your pet holds down the liquid after 12–24 hours, you can offer a small amount of chicken and rice (or similar). If this is well tolerated, continue to offer small frequent feeds over the next 24 hours and then slowly return to normal feeding over the next couple of days
Vomiting and diarrhoea often go together. In most cases, we more concerned with controlling vomiting than diarrhoea – if we do this, we can reduce fluid losses and enable fluids to be given to compensate for loss in diarrhoea.
Seek veterinary attention/advice if:
your pet seems generally unwell (eg lethargic) or in pain
your pet is dehydrated (dry gums/tongue, sunken eyes, skin tenting)
there is blood in the vomit
the vomiting persists or returns when you off liquid/food
your pet refuses the food after a period of ‘gut rest’
serious diarrhoea develops (ie watery/large volumes, black/tarry, strawberry jam like)
Note that we do not fast puppies or kittens. Seek veterinary advice for vomiting in puppies or kittens.
What not to do
Unless you have veterinary advice, do not:
give any over-the-counter medication or prescription medication to your pet
allow or encourage food or water intake unless there has been no vomiting for at least 6 hours
persist with at-home first aid if your pet deteriorates or fails to improve