Home › When it's an emergency
Skip the wait-and-see: emergency signs
The go-now list
- Yellow ears or gums, repeated vomiting with food refusal, or a cat that is weak, hides and avoids food, or drools at food needs urgent veterinary advice. Contact a vet immediately for a young kitten or an already ill cat that is not eating. Do not wait to finish the log.
- Hiding and bowl-avoidance. Cornell describes affected cats as reclusive, with some refusing to go near the food bowl at all. A cat that flees or hides from food is past "picky".
- Repeated vomiting with food refusal. Raises obstruction and pancreatitis on the possibility list - neither waits well.
What to say when you call
Vets triage on specifics. Have ready: when the cat last ate a normal meal, what it has eaten since (treats count separately), water intake, vomiting or drooling, hiding behavior, and any yellow tinge to ears or gums. A printed appetite log covers most of it in one page.
What to expect at the clinic
Based on Cornell's descriptions of the workup: a physical exam and history, blood tests (liver values and the underlying-cause hunt), and imaging such as ultrasound when liver involvement is suspected. If the cat needs nutritional support it cannot get on its own, Cornell describes feeding tubes as routine and well tolerated - the cornerstone of hepatic lipidosis treatment, and often manageable at home after the vet places them. The pattern across every source is the same: the earlier the cat arrives, the simpler the story ends.