Hi there,
My 14 week boy was at the vets yesterday with symptoms of a viral upper respiratory infection. The vet said to increase his l-lysine dose (he's been on it since before he left the breeder) and to be sure he's eating and getting fluids. He's been doing fairly well but has thrown up about four times since yesterday. He is not lethargic and is eating okay. It seems to happen about 45 min after he eats. He is still very active sometimes, so I'm not sure if he's just shaking up his stomach contents or if I should be concerned about this.

Any words of experience?

Thanks,
~Liz

Hi Liz. Since you just had your baby to the vet, give them a call and ask them about the vomiting! Any time a kitty has an infection, it can affect their entire body. Vomiting is usually not common with an URI, but every cat is different. The key is whether your kitty is eating and acting normally. Most cats with a URI do act a little lethargic. I give my outdoor kitty lysine daily and there are no problems and he never vomits! My bengal has been vomiting every couple of days, but he's on some new dry food that he inhales like there is no tomorrow.

That being said ... give your vet a call and explain what is going on. They have recently examined your baby and can probably tell you what you need to do and ease your mind over things.

Hope your baby gets through the URI. They aren't easy on the kitties or humans.

I would call the vet just to be on the safe side. And maybe try smaller meals, if it's happening about 45 minutes after eating it could be that once the food starts expanding in the belly it's too much. You could cut the meal in half and give an hour or so to see if there is any vomiting.

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Dallas, TX USA
Diesel - snow Bengal born 09/01/2013 adopted Feb 2014
Tuck, Chloe, Buddy, Lewis & Tia - rescue kitties
Clyde, Bleu & Coal - Great Danes

*shrug* I got nothing really, wish I could be more helpful. The times that I've taken my cats in for URI's, they get a jab, are sick for 24-48hrs, and then are good after that. The fact that it lingers would cause me some concern, as would the fact that he may have been sick prior to even taking him home. Dunno, hopefully your vet can help you sort this out. I would definitely take it seriously though.

[edit] One thing that just occurred to me...maybe the stomach upset is for some reason other than the URI. Perhaps trying an experiment like instead of a normal meal, just give him some cooked chicken, and see what effect that has on his stomach. That might give some insight into that part of his ailment anyway. Good luck, let us know how this progresses...

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The little monsters 3

Thanks for the replies. He's doing a bit better today - no vomiting since last night, so that's a relief. His appetite is down from what it usually is (though before he got sick he'd eat a huge amount of food every day). Today he's had about four small meals of his regular raw chicken food, plus his extra lysine.

Both cats have been very quiet and sleepy, but it's very hot today and they tend to laze around more in the daytime and spring into action at night.

Just to clarify, brianj12, he only just showed signs of being sick a couple of days ago; this isn't a lingering illness since we got him from the cattery. What jab have your cats had when they've had URIs? The breeder we got our two bengals from has all of the kittens on l-lysine before they go home as the stress of moving and travelling can make them vulnerable to this type of infection. Our vet told us that most cats carry this virus and the l-lysine helps the immune system keep it at bay - antibiotics aren't effective as it is a virus, not a bacterial infection.

Just got back from the emergency vets. He's there overnight as the vomiting has nothing to do with a URI. I'll start another thread with details :(