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My senior cat is vomiting daily and losing weight. Is she dying?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 6 lbs

My cat is 15 yrs old, female, has lost all her teeth, last tooth recently, and has vomited nearly daily for almost a year now. She eats right afterwards although she has lost weight and has also drunk soapy dish suds frequently in the recent past until I caught her doing this and quickly put an end to it! She still plays when I attempt to play with her. I cannot afford a vet sadly. I love her dearly, are her organs damaged? Could she be slowing dying? Please help as much as you can, thank you.

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Strydom, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on October 18th, 2017

I'm sorry this is going on with Precious but she needs to see a vet. The most common issues we see with older cats are: 1. diabetes 2. kidney disease/failure 3. hyperthyroidism Any of those can cause her symptoms and all are treatable (to an extent). All can be ruled out with simple blood testing. The best one she could have is hyperthyroidism - it is not expensive to diagnose or treat. Of course it may not be any of those and she could have something else going on entirely. First step is you need to know what the diagnosis is. I don't know what prices are in your area but an exam and bloodwork is probably right around $200. All you can do is call around for prices and see what you can work out. Some humane societies these days have low cost services so maybe check with them.

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    Answered By Ricardo Fernandez, DVM

    Veterinarian, Veterinary Oncology Resident

    Published on

    Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! First of all she is adorable! It is possible that the vomiting that was going on before was due to the soap ingestion. Since she is still vomiting while not drinking the soapy water anymore, there may be something else going on. Possible reasons for chronic vomiting and weight loss include pancreatitis, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic kidney disease, dietary indiscretion, among others. Ideally, she would have labwork and abdominal ultrasound performed to check for some of those possibilities. However, if you are unable to have her checked by your veterinarian at this time, you can start by changing her diet to a sensitive stomach diet and see if there is improvement as it could be as easy as that. If that does not help, consider a visit to your veterinarian. It is hard to know what is going internally with her organs and lab work and imaging would help with that though usually she should be feeling sick if that was the case. I do not think that she is dying, especially if she is otherwise eating, drinking and being active. Good luck and have a great day!

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