Cat Threw Up Clear Liquid? [ Here Are The Reasons ]

What does it mean when you observe your cat spurting out clear liquid? What is the matter, and what do you need to do in this situation? These circumstances could take pet-owners into a panic state. While throwing up clear liquid or vomiting is normal in cats, continuous vomiting can be your concern.

Cats might throw out a clear liquid that indicates various medical issues. To have a cat in the family is enormous and joyful, but loving a cat means observing them for any sign of injury. Whenever your cat throws out clear liquid, your cat would not tell you. So you must know what it means.

What does it mean when your cat throws up clear liquid?

Whenever your cat throws out clear liquid, it could be a sign of severe illness in the digestive tract. Vomiting is associated with health concerns consisting of internal obstructions, hairballs, pancreatitis, constipation, rapid eating, indigestion, poisoning, parasitic infections, depression, stress, and excess anxiety.

Observe your cat for other symptoms they will be showing to reach the root cause of vomiting. A cat continuously vomiting out the clear liquid and depicting other illness symptoms should be taken to a vet. There are a bunch of reasons behind your cat vomiting.

Hairballs

Hairballs act as the reason for clear liquid vomiting. As cats are clean animals and can groom themselves, small structures on their tongue become loose and then gulped down.

Half of the hair passes through the digestive tract with no trouble, but sometimes it remains in the stomach and transforms into a hairball. When your cat throws out clear liquid, it is their way to spit out hairballs outside their stomach. The best way to avoid this situation is to groom your cat regularly and offer them a high fiber intake.

Indigestion

Cats can vomit due to various reasons for an upset stomach. Like in humans, a cat’s stomach also produces various gastric juices and, importantly, hydrochloric acid to digest their food. If your cat skips the meal for any reason, or if not fed properly, then high levels of acid and juice can irritate the cat’s stomach and cause them to vomit.

If your vet knows that your cat is vomiting due to indigestion, then the vet will suggest feeding them small meals at a fixed time every day to avoid the buildup of stomach acids.

• eating rapidly and too much leads to vomiting. In this condition, feed your cat small meals during the day and make use of a slow feeder to avoid your cat from eating.
• Changing your cat’s food also leads to stomach upset and vomiting, so you should do this with the consultation of your vet.
• If your cat is not eating sufficient food, it might also lead to vomiting as your cat is hungry and its stomach produces too much acid. But if no food gets into the stomach, then the acid would irritate the stomach and lead to vomiting.
• More severe stomach conditions that include throwing up of clear liquid are irritable bowel syndrome and gastroenteritis. It might be possible that your vet might prescribe a special diet for this situation and enough medicines if required.
• Another type of indigestion that results in throwing up clear liquid is if your cat suffers from loss of appetite due to very grave diseases like cancer or diabetes.

Intake of foreign substances

Intake of various toxins and inedible things might result in clear liquid in your cat. If you are aware of your cat’s intake and know it is toxic, immediately run to a vet.

The vet can treat this condition by offering an antidote if the poison exists and is known. A vet could also try to make your cat vomit if the poison is unknown.

Hyperthyroidism

Vomiting clear liquid depicts that your cat might have hyperthyroidism. This condition happens in cats 12 years or older and can also be present in some younger cats.

Apart from vomiting, you might see other symptoms like weight loss, diarrhea, loss of hair, and hyperactivity. If that is the case, then your cat needs immediate treatment.

Gastritis

If your cat indulges in things they should not, then they might have upset their stomach with something they have taken. In this situation, you might see vomit along with blood in it. So, take your cat to the vet and find out the cause of the vomit.

Why is my cat throwing up clear liquid?

In cats, it becomes tough to spot the difference between vomiting, coughing, and regurgitation, as all these come up with different causes. So, it becomes quite essential to figure out between them first.

Vomiting is the active ejection of contents from a cat’s small intestine and stomach out through the mouth. Vomiting is very much different from regurgitation, as it is a passive process where no force is required to eject the contents from the cat’s mouth. The best way is to show your cat to a vet.

There exist various reasons why a cat throws up clear liquid. If your cat is vomiting just after drinking a massive amount of water, then your cat will vomit out clear liquid.

Several causes are there for vomiting in cats, and many of them might result in clear liquid puddles. We have divided the possible reasons cats throw clear liquid into two categories, non-gastrointestinal and gastrointestinal causes.

Non-gastrointestinal causes

• Neurologic diseases.
• pancreatitis.
• cancer.
• Kidney disease.
• Feline infectious peritonitis.
• Liver disease.
• Diabetes mellitus.

Gastrointestinal causes

• Ingestion of toxins.
• Dietary indiscretion.
• Ulceration.
• Foreign bodies.
• constipation.
• Parasites.
• Inflammatory bowel disease.
• Diet hypersensitivity.

What to do when your cat is throwing up clear liquid?

It is normal for cats to experience occasional hairball, but any change in its volume or frequency can become your concern. If you observe any symptoms like lethargy, loss of appetite, diarrhea, or fever in your cat, connect with your vet for further guidance.

But, there are a few things that you could try before consulting with a vet. Your cat might have eaten some unwanted substance and require some time to get it out. What can you do?

• Take all food away from your cat, but keep water available.
• After two hours, provide your cat with their formulated food or something bland such as fish or chicken.
• If your cat keeps down the food, offer the cat tiny bits of food every few hours for 24 hours.

But, if all this does not work, take your cat to a vet, as there might be something wrong with your cat that needs proper attention immediately. As vomiting in cats could result from varying conditions, there are various types of treatments also.

If your cat throws up clear liquid due to some systemic illness, or if your cat vomits due to hairball, your vet might prescribe supportive medicines. You can change your diet or offer a prescription diet for your cat if vomiting is due to a food allergy.

Vomiting a cat due to any foreign body is serious. At times, foreign material cannot pass through the GIT tract by itself and can damage if not treated immediately. In this situation, your vet could perform emergency surgery to get rid of foreign substances and any destroyed part of the intestine.

Never try to treat your cat’s vomiting at home without the guidance of a vet. Ensure not to give any medicine, whether over-the-counter or prescription-based, unless directed by your vet to do so.

Try out some possible measures to make your cat’s digestive system healthy and avoid vomiting in cats-

• Ensure that your cat is gulping a balanced and good quality diet.
• Don’t feed your cat large amounts of table scraps or treats.
• Never permit your cat to intake any unwanted thing like house plants, pieces of toy, or string.
• Feed your cat with a prescribed diet if your cat is diagnosed with a food allergy or inflammatory bowel disease and prevent vomiting.
• Ask your vet for some products that could avoid vomiting in long-haired cats due to hairballs.

When should I be concerned about my cat vomiting?

It will be helpful if you become concerned about your cat’s vomiting when it occurs frequently. Cat vomiting is normal when it happens a few times in a month.

But if your cat throws up more clear liquid, then it could be a cause of concern. You might need to feed your cat correctly, or in the worst case, your cat might have an early start of a disease.

It would be a great choice to consult your vet if your cat shows these things, and you should be concerned about these things:-

• Cannot keep water down.
• Frequent vomiting.
• Shows lethargy.
• Has diarrhea with vomiting.
• Have dry, pale, yellow, or cold gums.
• Have eaten unwanted things.
• Is suffering from renal disease or diabetes.
• Includes blood in vomit.

Is it normal for cats to throw up?

Technically speaking, it is normal for cats to throw up clear liquid. Specific cats have very sensitive stomachs when they eat rapidly and too much. They often gulp their fur during bathing. So yes, there are several reasons for your cat throwing up, and it is common among cats.

If vomiting happens more than once a week or frequently, that becomes a cause of concern. In this situation, consult with your vet and get your most lovable pet healthier.

The clear liquid might be due to hairball expulsion. When cats bathe themselves, small hooks over their tongue capture dead fur, and it goes into their stomach.

Usually, this fur gets digested and transforms into a hairball. At times, before hairball ejection, your cat would emit clear liquid. This condition is normal if it occurs from time to time but abnormal if it occurs rapidly.

Cats can achieve an upset stomach for particular reasons. If your cat vomits frequently, make an immediate appointment with your vet to search for the root cause of vomit.

Your cat might be coughing, regurgitating food, or experiencing some reaction to something they have taken. It is essential to observe them and ensure that they do not consume some harmful substance or have eaten something unwanted.

Final Words

You will be concerned when your cat throws up clear liquid. Cat’s vomiting always depicts something, but your cat will not tell you what that something is. Cats are different from human babies, as they do not come with instruction manuals.

So, it becomes your duty to take care of your cat just as you take care of your baby. Hopefully, this article will offer you some comfort now as you are aware of many things now about why a cat can throw up clear liquid due to various reasons.