Cats and Vomit

One thing I'm learning about cats is that they like to vomit. A lot. Let me tell you a story.

I have a cat. Her name is Allie. We adopted her in October, 2007. It's been a happy time. Except for when she vomits. And she seems to do it on a fairly regular basis.

Allie is the sweetest cat that has ever existed. As my first cat, I was a bit leery, but quickly warmed up to her cuddling and purring. And the fact that she's never intentionally scratched me. Speaking of which, let me tell you a story.

There was this cat named Chloe. Chloe is a man cat. Actually, she-he is Jenn's family's cat. I say she-he, because young Jennifer was a little confused when she first met baby Chloe and decided to give him a feminine name. It turned out that Chloe wasn't as feminine as she thought. Little Chloe was too little to easily tell. Luckily, the Chloe incident has served as good practice for the distant future, when we decide to have kids. Oh, stop it, I'm just joking.

Anyway, since Chloe has grown up with gender identity issues, he has also developed a chronic case of paranoid schizophrenia. Perhaps it's because Chloe was declawed. At any rate, the cat is insecure and quick to let you know if you are the problem. One time, Chloe and I had sort of a bonding moment. I was laying in the recliner and Chloe decided to hop up and curl into peaceful sleep. As did I. It was a swell experience, except for that I involuntarily stirred in my sleep, causing Chloe to spring up and proceed to maim my arm. Since Chloe didn't have claws, he decided to grab my arm and gnaw at it with his teeth. Every time I look at the tooth scratch scar on my arm, I remember that Chloe and I aren't friends.

Allie's different, however. She doesn't attempt to maim me. It's quite nice, actually. She's little and cute. Except for when she vomits.

Unfortunately, this past summer, Jenn and I had experienced a lot of vomiting. For some reason, Allie decided that she wasn't going to hold her food down anymore. For weeks, she would throw up after every meal. It was frustrating, but we knew something was wrong. We decided to take her to the vet, where she was pronounced as dehydrated and was admitted for two days. Unfortunately, they didn't find any problems, so they sent her home with a big vet bill.

Everything was looking fine until a month later, we returned home from a trip to see our cat regressing into her vomiting behavior; except this time, Allie decided to stop eating altogether. We tried everything for two weeks, but she would hardly eat more than a bite of food. We took her to the vet again, who kept her for over a week. They couldn't find anything wrong with her and we were beginning to fear cancer. After the second x-ray, they found a mass in her small intestine.

Luckily after an expensive surgery, Allie made a full recovery. Well, I shouldn't say full. She still vomits occasionally. Well, at least she's sweet. I think I need a cat whisperer to tell my cat to stop vomiting.