Cat Yowling, Vomiting, & Other Issues - Shifting to Holistic Treatments

[el_gato_blanco]

Hello all,

This is my first post as I joined a few weeks ago. Long story short (TL;DR) - I have an older cat (Kiki) who was living on the edge of demise and suffering horribly, but has improved in the severe areas, yet currently has three symptoms of concern: Yowling early mornings, vomiting, and an abscess over her eye. I'm trying to find out why she yowls and why she vomits so much. (I'm not concerned about the growth now.)

Kiki's Current Health Concerns

1. Yowling - Raspy, wild yowling repeatedly in the early morning at me when I'm sleeping - We previously had multiple extreme incidents of this in the middle of the night for which I had to take her to the ER, for thousands of dollars, as she was clearly in immense pain and had UTI and constipation issues. But since I have shifted her nutrition to frozen meats and freeze-dried (away from a thyroid medicine kibble), there have been no severe episodes like this for a couple of months. But similar and to a lesser degree, she will scream at me multiple times like 4 or 5 AM from my bedroom doorway until I connect with her or convince her to jump up on the bed and settle in and relax, or go to her litter box and take care of business. I tend to think that her UTI issues and constipation are under control now as I don't see her straining to do #1 anymore, and she does #2 daily and enough. Any ideas why she is doing this morning yowling?
2. Vomiting - she vomits once or twice a day, projectile vomit. 85% of the time there's a hairball in it, and 10% of the time a piece of grass, and 5% neither. Should I be concerned about hairball vomiting? Or grass vomiting? She goes outside a little every day in a yard with basically no grass but she finds little pieces through the fence. Are these normal? It just seems too frequent to be entirely healthy.
3. Abscess over eye - This was growing steadily for months, but I eventually realized it was caused by wifi next to her bed, now the house has no wifi. It's improved a little, losing coloration.

Some more detail and history on Kiki:

• Urinary tract infection (UTI) - She last had this in June 2025 - causing the extreme night screaming/ER visits/peeing all over the house - and was given antibiotics (I would avoid this now), completed late June 2025
• Hyperthyroidism - She was taking a medical Y/D kibble food until just over a month ago and the thyroid supposedly dropped from 14mm to 8 (normal is 4)
• Constipation - She had been to the vet numerous times screaming in the night with constipation and UTI, but these have not come back for a few months
• Choking - She used to have have chronic severe choking, but now it's just vomiting.
• A little heart murmur - probably caused by fast thyroid

Kiki's current primary foods

• Solutions organic Cat Chicken Recipe - Cat Chicken Recipe
• Feline Natural freeze dried chicken
• Running water from a dispenser

My health philosophy
In recent months, I have shifted my own health philosophy to terrain health/medicine and terrain nutrition - under a form of holistic health care. I don't subscribe to homeopathy, however. Prior, I was managing her health via alternative/holistic health means as much as I could, but without a holistic local vet and a very allopathic ER locally so she suffered treatments that I believe were very harmful. I will hopefully never give her another pharma "remedy" to toxify her.

Maybe this was too much information! But I'd be grateful for any insights.

Thank you in advance, Michael

 

[Dr. Christina]

Never too much information, Michael, though we may answer some at a time. good for you to rescue her and to realize the WiFi was contributing to the lump.

1. Where do you live?
2. Read the article on finding holistic veterinarians and go to all the websites. You may be surprised at who is near you. How is Kiki in the car - is it very stressful for her? That is one benefit of homeopathy as it can be prescribed virtually. If available, chinese medicine or homeopathy help the body naturally resolve all the problems (vomiting, yowling, constipation and hyperthyroid even, and maybe the lump).
3. You can purchase urine test strips and glass litter beads so you can see if there is still some UTI.
4. vomiting. Healthy cats do not have hair ball vomiting. Cats do often eat grass when they are nauseous, then vomit, so that is not super abnormal. Both are early warning signs that there is an energetic imbalance (which we know because she is ill in other ways). Vomiting 1-2 times a days is too frequent and does need to be addressed by rebalancing the energy flow. Is the vomiting happening at a regular time of day, or after eating, before eating, etc? That information can help with suggestions to soothe it while you are seeking deeper healing care.
5. The morning yowling can be from many things, and our cat expert Dr. Hofve may chime in on that. Cats often are active at dawn, so it may be just she is looking for food, play, or companionship. Checking in with an animal communicator may give you some guidance here.

Dr. Christina

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

Yowling and vomiting are cardinal symptoms of hyperthyroidism, which you are no longer treating having taken her off the y/d. Not that I'm a fan of y/d, but it *was* helping, although her T4 was still extremely high. That needs to be addressed.

Holistic therapies are wonderful but they take time to work, especially in an older kitty. Western medicine is really good at some things--trauma, acute conditions... and this is one that it's pretty adept at treating.

You may wish to consider using a bridge medication like methimazole to manage the disease as you work on getting her stronger overall. Untreated hyperthyroidism can lead to severe heart problems and an painful, sudden death. Here's my paper about it: https://littlebigcat.com/hyperthyroidism/

If she has a lot of hair in her system, you can give something like Vaseline to help it pass through the system and out via the stool, as designed. It sounds like she may benefit from having some cat grass indoors. This is an excellent product, I have worked with the company for decades: https://www.petgreens.com/ Of course, regular deep combing (not brushing) will help minimize the amount of fur she swallows that her system needs to deal with. Hair is extremely irritating to the stomach lining, and it's quite amazing how much they can accumulate that can just sit there for days or even weeks.

 

[el_gato_blanco]

Thank you for your replies, Dr. Christina and Dr. Hofve. That was a lot of useful info, though aspects of this don’t align with my personal health research. I live in Southern Oregon and there are two so-called “holistic vets” in the area but one uses a lot of allopathic methods and the other uses homeopathy. So, they would be using harmful methods (like antibiotics and pharmaceuticals), and unproven methods per my research. Thus, I need to find help via the Internet.

Dr. Christina mentions Chinese medicine – that may be something for me to consider (or veterinary Ayurveda). But even both of those domains may use antibiotics or pharmaceuticals, which I now clearly understand the dangers of.

Upon further consideration, I think I should consult Dr. Hofve’s guide on hyperthyroidism plus connect with Dr. Marlene Siegel, whom I found through this website – thank you, Holistic Actions! A few weeks ago, I searched this site’s Webinars for terrain medicine and found a great presentation that she put on. See this presentation. As Dr. Siegel explains at 20:00, killing germs has not proven to be the solution. Even Louis Pasteur acknowledged that germ theory was wrong before his death. (Also, that’s the theme of Dr. Marizelle Arce’s book, “Germs are Not Our Enemy”.) The keys to health and healing, per Dr. Siegel are 1. remove pollution (which I have), 2. nutrient balance enrichment (which I’m working on), 3. healing the gut, 4. detox, 5. feeding the mitochondria their building blocks (parent essential oils).

Per Dr. Hofve’s comment that Western medicine is really good at some things: My experience is that allopathic “medicine” is valuable to manage trauma and surgery; on that I would agree. But it’s virtually never good when it comes to pharmaceuticals (such as methimazole which nearly killed Kiki previously). Some pharma drugs will reduce symptoms, but while always toxifying and causing greater future harm.

Prescribing antibiotics presumes that microbes cause an infection – something which has never been proven using the scientific method nor satisfying Koch’s Postulates (basic scientific logic of cause-effect). There have been over 90 studies proving that contagion is a myth, and has never been proven to be the cause of illness (Dr. Tom Cowan, “The Contagion Myth”). And so, killing off imaginary viral invaders is not a remedy (presumed invaders which have never once been isolated, per Christine Massey’s research, nor proven as a cause of illness). So, antibiotics just attack the microbiome, the body’s own waste removal systems.

I really appreciate the tip about urine test strips, Dr. Christina. I have used the glass litter beads and taken those results to my local allopathic vet. But then, of course, they want to treat her by means that I now understand will further toxify her.

Also, thanks for letting me know that healthy cats don’t hairball vomit, particularly at this frequency. And Dr. Hofve indicated that this (and yowling) are signs of hyperthyroidism persisting. I appreciate the warning that the T4 was still very high. So I’ll need to figure out a terrain medicine way to treat that. I think I’ll see what Dr. Siegel says about that. Kiki has definitely improved her wild energy, look, and also has regained weight since I put her on real foods and got her off the medicated dry food.

I would like to review your paper on Hyperthyroidism, Dr. Hofve, but that link goes to a URL with a blank page. Your website is active but that page is blank.

I would sure avoid giving her petroleum-based Vaseline, as that’s a known toxin. I’m not sure which product you were referencing on the Pet Greens site, Dr. Hofve. And okay about combing.

I’m not closed to an animal communicator but have no idea how to know which to believe.

Thank you both much for your insights, knowledge, and commitment!

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

I understand your point of view, and of course it is far preferable to avoid toxins and chemicals. Though sometimes things get confusing. A lot of people avoid antibiotics, yet don't hesitate to use colloidal silver--which is absolutely an antibiotic.


As always, risks and benefits need to be assessed and weighed to make the best decision.


If an animal is old and very ill, there just may not be time for terrain improvement to work, and in such cases I personally use pharmaceuticals to prevent or ease suffering.

I love Vaseline for many uses. It has saved many cat lives for me. It is totally inert in the body, not at all toxic. I use it as chapstick, and one of my cats ate a big chunk of it daily as a treat. She lived well past 20 years of age, happy and active to the last day. Oddly enough I came across this video on FB just a little while ago. Hope it will post all right here. 63K views · 5K reactions | Vaseline is harmful for your skin?! Before you comment about how unsafe it is read this article: Petroleum jelly: A comprehensive review of its history, uses, and safety Kamrani, Payvand et al. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Volume 90, Issue 4, 807 - 813 #petroleumjelly #vaseline #petroleum #cleanskincare #holistichealth #chemicals #debunk #deinfluence Iamjasyra on tt | Scott Walter MD, FAAD

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

BTW thanks for mentioning that the web page wasn't working. I can't figure out why, as it looks fine from the back end, but I republished it here Hyperthyroidism in Cats | Little Big Cat - Dr. Jean Hofve

 

[el_gato_blanco]

Thanks for understanding and that's interesting about colloidal silver. (I don't think I've used it.) And I get your perspective. We all work from the understandings/learnings we have gathered to date. That's quite a story about your cat living over 20, including the Chapstick treats.

You're welcome about the web page. Thank you much for reposting that and sending that article on hyperthyroidism in cats! That was an excellent article and very helpful. I had been feeding her wet canned food treats of mostly fish for one phase. Bloody BPA. And fire retardant?! In cat food?! And I appreciate the treatment options. I'll either go with radioactive iodine, back to Y/D (which did lower the T4 [I think]) but is full of so many toxins per my animal nutritionist, or terrain medicine to get her body back into healthy alignment. Though your point is noted that my cat may be too old to recover in time with that.

I hear that you have have much anecdotal success with Vaseline, including your long-living Chapstick cat. Along that line, I know that we can reduce symptoms (our body's cleanup process) that may short-term look like healing, but toxins are always harmful to some degree. It isn't classified as a toxin from a regulatory perspective, but from terrain logic, it's a toxin because it burdens elimination rather than nourishing or supporting life processes. The body must isolate, expel, or compensate for it, so it's not a nutrient and it's not neutral; it's something the body must manage, fitting the functional definition of a toxin.

I very much appreciate the recommendation to clear the hairball issue but obviously I have concerns about petroleum (always, as I believe our bodies cannot process synthetics, especially from oil.) I will consider looking into a non-petroleum jelly alternative; and will probably see what Dr. Siegel's take is before I buy anything.

The rest of this long post is my overkill in responding about the Vaseline video from Facebook. The guy made so many (9) false or dubious claims that I started refuting the first few, and didn't quit.

On the Facebook video, to me: his whole case is full of holes. Specifically:

1. "It's been around for 150 years." - That proves nothing.
2. "It is highly purified." Arsenic, mercury, formaldehyde can be highly purified - proves nothing.
3. "It has never been shown to be carcinogenic." One of the safest things you can put on your skin!" No one has ever done (and likely never will do) long-term, controlled studies in either humans or cats that could prove it does not cause cancer. Cancer is a slow, multi-factor process, and such studies would be unethical and impractical. There’s no evidence that pharmaceutical-grade Vaseline causes cancer in either humans or cats — but there’s also no way to prove it never could, because no long-term studies have ever been done. There were some short-term tests done on rats, or in cell cultures, and as skin applications which found no DNA damage, but those tests were not designed to detect cancer. It hasn't been shown to be carcinogenic because it has never been tested for that. He could honestly have said, "It has not been observed to cause cancer," but that would prove nothing.
4. "People say it's full of chemicals." What matters is not the quantity of components but the toxicity - this is an irrelevant point.
5. "It's inert." Inert chemicals can interfere with detox and the body's processes, trap heat, block pores, etc... Various sites express warnings against animals ingesting petroleum-based products (Petroleum Product Poisoning in Animals, Poisonous Household Products). They claim that cats licking Vaseline can cause digestive issues and mild lipid accumulation used long-term. In humans, Vaseline can impede natural skin respiration and trap toxins or microbes if overused. But these sources don't appear to cite studies. Also, there are some petroleum-free balms cited in this article which you may find interesting, Dr. Hofve.
6. "It's just an occlusive ointment." - Being occlusive is one functional property, not evidence of safety. That does not speak to ingestion. Sitting on the skin does not mean it's harmless to ingest or that it's harmless on open wounds, and it doesn't address dosage either.
7. "It helps keep the water in your skin, which means it helps reduce transdermal water loss. It's actually the best thing out there for doing so. (Points as chart of petrolatum vs. high-fat cream and vs. ordinary cream)." A substance can be great at reducing water loss and still have downsides (blocking skin respiration, trapping toxins and microbes, causing issues when ingested or overused) - not a useful point to demonstrate 'no harm.'
8. He tries to debunk concerns that it's comedogenic (that it clogs pores) and he claims that it aids acne reduction. I see that there was one small human study on ten acne patients that showed no worsening or acne with Vaseline. Other reports are anecdotal. There are also case reports and studies showing acne formation due to petrolatum use. - He's cherry-picking and making that one study sound like settled science; it isn't.
9. "It is one of the safest things you could use on your skin." This is another evidence-free claim. There are citations that it's widely used in dermatology. This doesn't prove safety. It's been tested for flammability, causing allergy, and causing acne (mentioned above). That tells us nothing about cell detox or long-term tissue impact. And the regulatory approval just means that it meets a purity level. None of these things prove long-term harmlessness.

This doctor sounds heavily biased and I would never waste my time listening to him again.

I didn't mean to get that detailed but he makes a lot of dramatic claims in a couple of minutes.

 

[GinnyW]

Hey, it's your cat...but there are times when risk/benefit directs us to take action. How much "long-term" effect is tolerable when you are encouraging improvement? The very inert nature of vaseline is why it works well in these sorts of cases.
I appreciate your aims and your extensive research, but as Dr. Hofve says: "If an animal is old and very ill, there just may not be time for terrain improvement to work, and in such cases I personally use pharmaceuticals to prevent or ease suffering." I would, also. Right now, it is much more valuable to your cat, I believe, to ACT. Thyroid issues MUST be addressed, in order to have the luxury of making refinements later. I'm not a vet, but I surely hate suffering, and the animals don't count the days but only know how they FEEL. Pardon me....I'm not intending to argue.