Study: When change upsets cats, they let you know by "refusing to eat and vomiting excessively"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

They don't talk, but when cats are upset about a change in their environment they let you know by acting sick – refusing to eat and vomiting excessively, even if they're healthy, a new study finds.

"For veterinary clinicians, when you have a cat that's not eating, is not using the litter box or has stuff coming up out of its mouth, the quality of the environment is another cause that needs to be addressed in coming up with a diagnosis," said study researcher Tony Buffington, a professor of veterinary clinical sciences at Ohio State University.

When cats in the study experienced "unusual external events," such as a change in the caretaker or feeding schedule, the healthy ones were just as likely as the chronically ones to exhibit sickness behaviors. (Related: Cats Stress Out, Too http://www.livescience.com/animals/081017-animals-stress.html)

The study used two groups of cats – a set of healthy catsand a set of cats with feline interstitial cystitis (IC), a chronic illness characterized by recurring discomfort or pain in the bladder. Both groups demonstrated the same number of sickness behaviors in response to unusual events, and in both groups, the risk of acting sick over disrupted routines tripled from when everything stayed the same.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40894710/ns/health-pet_health/

[panader0]

1. I would think it difficult to vomit excessively if there no food in your belly

Must be the dry heaves.

[WingDinger]

2. Honestly, it hadn't occured to me to projectile vomit on the GOP!

[Ian David]

3. That explains so much.

My cat stopped eating for a week after I hired Merry Maids to spend 4 hours helping me clean one day.

[Gormy Cuss]

6. My cat stopped eating when I boarded him at the vet's...

and the vet gave him an appetite stimulant. That fixed it for that round and taught us that he's much happier home alone when we leave town. We have friends who come over to feed him and he greets them at the door, totally unstressed.

Cats really do hate change.

[Iggo]

4. I gotta get me some study money. (n/t)

[NNN0LHI]

5. I have been battling this problem with a dog for a while

Since I found her 2 years ago actually. Pretty sure she has Addison's Disease. She had the ACTH Challenge done yesterday to confirm or rule out the diagnosis. She had been exhibiting all the classic symptoms. The Vet is pretty sure she has it. Not sure if cats can get it or not?

Don

[drmeow]

7. Cats can

I had a cat who had Addison's Disease. It is much rarer in cats but it does happen.