ever since i introduced my new kitten, my resident cat won't eat, and

[Sarah Spriggs]

has been puking and i'm getting worried? I just posted a recent question about my two cats being a little rough with each other, but I just recently noticed that my resident cat, Mordecai (6 months old) has not touched his dry food in days, and if so, has eaten VERY little.
I brought a kitten home, Nutmeg (8-9 weeks old) home, and she has been staying in the bathroom. They have some good interaction, and Mordecai loves chasing her around. Sometimes they do fight a little bit, and she just got fixed so we are trying to limit their play time together.
Mordecai usually LOVES his wet food. He cries and whines for it every morning and won't get off me or stop meowing until I get out of bed and give it to him. Recently, though, probably starting 2-3 days after we brought the cat home, he has not eaten it. I'm not sure if he is drinking anything, or not, but I am starting to get really worried because for the past few days, he's been vomiting. First, it was food, and ever since then, it has just been clear, like mucous our something. He's done this 3-5 times in the past 3 or 4 days. Also he has never puked before.
As far as I know, he is still using his litter box regularly, even though Nutmeg uses it sometimes as well. She eats whatever he doesn't when we let her out for a few minutes in the morning/early afternoon.

My question is, is it just the stress of having a new kitten around that is affecting him? Is this normal? Should I get him checked out by a vet? Will this stop any time soon?

Also, I changed his dry food brand about 2 weeks before the kitten came, and he used to eat it all and seemed to really enjoy it, and have kept his wet food the same for a while.

 

[Ariane deR]

There's no way we can know for sure what the cause is or if this will stop soon but if Mordecai were my kitten I would take him to the vet. It may be "just" stress but sometimes a new kitten coming in can spread illness; usually the kitten would be showing symptoms too but it is possible the kitten can be a carrier.
And even if this is caused by stress, it's not at all good for a kitten or cat not to eat for this long -- what is it now, a week? ( you said he had been vomiting for 3 or 4 days and it sounds like he was off his food a few days before that.) You are going to have to find a way to get food into him via syringe, tube etc.if he won't eat on his own.

Mordecai is still a kitten himself and he is still at a pretty susceptible age for some things -- speaking of which, I hope Mordecai had his kitten distemper shots especially the one after 12 weeks old preferably a few weeks after that. Vaccines are not 100% effective but even if they get it anyway it can reduce how sick they get.. it really seems to make a difference in kittens 3-6 months

Nutmeg is of course not old enough to have had all her shots; but she should have had the first set after 6 weeks but it may not have had much effect -- that's why they give a series of kitten shots, because it is hard to know just when their immune system will actually be able to respond. Has Nutmeg been tested for FeLV and FIV? I'm thnking if she is spayed this young she might have come from a shelter and she probably did have those tests and her first set of shots too.

Re the stress, I am wondering if you pushed the introduction too fast. After getting him to the vet you might want to back up, give him more time alone to recover. and then start trading items with their scent on them. And when you do basically let her out, try to make sure you are giving your older kitten a lot of individual attention while Nutmeg is in her room for a while. and hard as it is, since I'm sure she is adorable, try not to make a big fuss of showing lots of affection to her right in front of him...give each of them some individual cuddle time with the other one not around. and when they are together treat Mordecai as the top cat, greet him first, pet him first, feed him first, etc.
Give them treats at the same time several feet from each other, and in that case put his down just a split second before hers. so they are having a nice experience together but he still can feel like he is the king.
Hope the little guy will soon be feeling better.

 

[Farooha]

You need to take your cat to the doctor; my cat had the same symptoms when he was a younger cat and it turned out that he had a urinary tract infection. At this point, it's the best thing that you could do for your pet is take him to the vet so that they can do blood work and figure out what is wrong. In this way, they'll prescribe the right medication and your cat will be better in no time.