Cat vomiting

Szewan

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Pancake vomited twice today :( - one in the morning and one at night - both times vomited right after he took the first bites of the meals. I could see distinct kibbles totally undigested, and no hairballs. He had vomited a couple of times before right after meals, and I suspected it was all because he was eating too fast. Every time after he vomited, he would go back to eat the remaining meal soon after as if nothing had happened :)

Today I happened to mix in some new weight management kibbles into his regular kibbles (but both are of the same brand - and he had been eating the regular food for over a month now). Any case the slow feeding dish I ordered should arrive in the mail tomorrow and I will then test the hypothesis that eating too fast is the root cause for his vomiting.

Appreciate any other tips that you may have!!
 

daftcat75

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How old is pancake? It could be scarf and barf. But it could also be dental issues. Kibble isn’t very digestible to begin with and cats are famous for chewing. But throwing up unchewed and undigested kibble was the first sign my Krista was having dental issues. She was trying to eat without chewing and it wasn’t agreeing with her.
 

jen

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I respecfully disagree with the above, cats dont typically chew their kibble, they usually just break it once and swallow it whole. This is why it is even ok to give to cats with little to no teeth. They dont throughly chew their food.

Throwing up undigested kibble is usually because they ate it too quickly. Once you get the slow feeder the vomiting should stop. I will always agree to be aware of dental issues though, have the vet check the teeth and gums at the next visit for sure. If the vomiting keeps up there could be something else going on.
 

daftcat75

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That was supposed to say:
Kibble isn’t very digestible to begin with and cats are famous for NOT chewing.

It is not unusual to see undigested kibble in regurgitation/vomit. But it could point to dental issues. Especially if this problem recently developed. In Krista’s case, she ate the same kibble for years. Out of nowhere, she starts vomiting it up unchewed and undigested.

By all means, try the slow feeder/puzzle feeder first. If that doesn’t solve it, consider a dental exam.
 

Leomc123

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I had two cats, one cat never chewed his dry food, and the other one would eat one kibble at a time and chew it. With kibble they dont digest well in the stomach, maybe make the kibble wet by soaking it in water for a few minutes. Also like daftcat says a slow feeder and puzzel is good, or maybe try hand feeding small kibbles at a time. I had to hand feed leo as he would scoff everything up litterally inhaling the food lol.
 

MissClouseau

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both times vomited right after he took the first bites of the meals. I could see distinct kibbles totally undigested, and no hairballs.
This sounds more like regurgitation than vomiting to me. You are right it could be because of fast eating but it could also be over reasons like,

- Getting bored with the food
- Having had nausea with that food the last time and now the same makes taste makes her get nauseous
- Food intolerance which may develop later so the same food that wasn't a problem before might become a problem
- Hairball, constipation, or anything else that doesn't allow a proper speed and way of things moving down inside

Today I happened to mix in some new weight management kibbles into his regular kibbles (but both are of the same brand - and he had been eating the regular food for over a month now).
Ingredients matter too though, not just the brand. My own cat Hima recently started to react badly to the foods with high fat content - I suspect she has had some stomach inflammation due to couple different factors and she can't digest fat well during this time. Also sometimes it takes time to see symptoms with food intolerance. I'm not sure if it would take a month that seems rather too long but, with Hima the things she's very intolerant too, I see symptoms within the same day whether it's stomach noises, allergic itching etc but with some other foods it builds up. Like she seemingly has no issue the first day, a mild symptom the next but more/longer she eats the symptoms get more severe too.
 
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Szewan

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Thanks everyone! Just a bit more about us:

- Pancake is about 6.5 years old. I adopted him on last day of August. And I am a new cat owner. So he has been with me 1.5 months now.

- Pancake was adopted out as a kitten back then, then he was given back to the rescue group after 5 years :( He had stayed in foster home for a year (being an older cat and all) before I adopted him.

- The foster worked full day from home like me, so she practiced free feeding with Pancake and two other cats of her own. Because of that she never really knew how much Pancake ate each day.

- Since he has been with me, I have been using an automated feeder. And since he is overweight (20 pounds OMG!) I measure his food to meet the calories recommendation of the vet, divide it into two portions, feed him the morning portion before I leave home, then the auto feeder will dispense the evening portion about 12 hours later - in case I work late and can’t be home by then.

- I tried mixing his old food and the food I want to feed him for a few weeks to transition, then in the past couple weeks I have been feeding him just the new food, and he seems to be adapting well. His appetite has always been good except for the first 1-2 weeks with me. Since yesterday I tried mixing in some weight management versions (same brands of regular food I’ve been feeding - Nulo and Tiki Cat) into his food.

- I took him to the vet two weeks after he was adopted, and the vet said while there might be some plague with his teeth, there is no need for teeth cleaning under anesthesia now. She actually said he can wait until the next vet checkup in 2020. So I would think his teeth should be ok.

- the last vet visit record before adoption that I managed to get hold of was from 2017, and I saw a comment saying sometimes he vomited after eating too fast. The rescue group and the foster were not that great a help in giving me more info. So my guess is this vomiting problem is not new to Pancake. He is not competing for food with other cats now but the fact that I now stop the free feeding and start rationing his food for control his weight may make him eat faster instinctively.
 
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