Cat Vomiting

I was sleeping when I heard Tiana meow/yowl really loudly and before I could get there, she had vomited white stuff along with a piece of ribbon that my sister carelessly left out. Before this, mom said she was acting normally and very hyper. She looks okay now and is upto no good by annoying my mom but this is not the first time this had happened. When we just got her at 3 months old, we use to feed her meow Mix not knowing better. She would vomit brown stuff atleast once a month. When we told the vet he said it's either the food or she's eating it too quick. So we changed to royal canin and then I changed the food to nutram just yesterday because it is better for her, not the best but I might change her to something I can find online without it being too expensive. Big paragraph but I've been worried about this since a long time. She's a picky eater so that's and doesn't get too excited for her dry food and sometimes even reject her favorite wet food. As I'm writing this she's on my lap demanding my attention, giving kisses and being a purr machine so that's good.

I've taken photos of her vomit to show the vet it might be graphic for some. According to my phone, the brown vomit was on Feb 15 of this year.

Hi!
I think, although I'm not a vet, that this vomit was due specifically to the ribbon, (which as you know, you might want to try and keep things picked up ).

Just keep an eye out, I know you will for any more vomit, but hopefully this is the last of it and she continues to eat the new food without troubles

Brown vomit sounds like food.

White vomit can be stomach acid. It’s probably due to the ribbon. If she’s acting great afterwards, it was almost certainly the ribbon. If it was food or other sickness, she wouldn’t bounce back so quickly. Keep an eye out for change in activity level, eating, drinking, and normal bathroom habits. If she becomes lethargic or one of those changes, take her to the vet.

When you say you changed her food just yesterday? Are you changing it right away? Cats usually need a slow transition over several days to change food. That could cause vomiting. But I’d expect that to be the color of the food.

Vomiting in cats is sadly frequent. But not normal. Once in awhile, it happens. Repeatedly, you should work with your vet to find the cause. Anytime the vomit smells like poop, that’s a potential emergency and you should take her in immediately. That would suggest a blockage such as a foreign body (ribbon?) that won’t pass or come back up.

Thank you for the replies!
The transitioning is very slow, I've introduced 1/4 new food and the rest her old food. She now picks out the new food and eats it

Oter than that she seems to be doing pretty great. Although her poop has changed into a softer form, much less hard but not falling apart I suspect that it's because of the increase in wet food and hydrated meals.

It's pretty hard to keep stuff away from her since my sister likes to craft and leaves pieces of paper everywhere but I'll be more vigilant now...
Also the vomit doesn't have a smell (I haven't tried to smell it ) but if it's stomach acid does it mean she is not eating or that there's nothing in her stomach?

Her poop could be softer from the food change. Soft poops can firm up with acclimation and/or probiotics. Poop puddles or poop soup rarely firms up in my experience though. That would be a good indicator that the food really doesn't agree with her.

The poop-scented vomit is an unmistakable odor. You won't miss it. I experienced my first (and hopefully last) on Friday. I had already taken something for my back so I couldn't take her down to the hospital. I just had to monitor Krista until morning when I could get her into the regular vet's office. Luckily, she seems no worse for the wear. I think in her case, she had an acute reaction to the carpet cleaner I used earlier that morning and didn't keep her out of the room until the carpet dried.

A stomach acid barf is often because of an empty stomach. I think there's probably stomach acid in a food barf too but you don't notice it with the food there.

There's also a bile barf which is yellow or green in tinge. These can be mild or serious in nature. I will see a bile barf from Krista if her gut is really angry and she's already barfed up food and an empty stomach with stomach acid. If she's still barfing, she reaches low and brings up bile. This would be another that would be a good idea to be safer than sorry and take her in if you see bile.

Krista is an IBD kitty so I've become something of a connossieur of barf.

Generally, you can judge whether a vet visit is needed by how they are acting afterwards. If they are lethargic, take them in. If they bounce back like it never happened, it was probably either a hairball or simple regurgitation (like a scarf and barf from eating too fast) and you can monitor them for changes in behavior, eating, pooping, etc.

Vomit once a month? Your lucky! I just cleaned barf, last night a hairball, just now a scarf and barf, if Oliver eats too much baaarf.. Allie hairball barf in her stroller today too

I cleaned barf 3 times today ughhhhhh!

If she vomited up the ribbon and seems okay, you're probably in the clear. The image of the ribbon looks like it's in bile. She probably didn't have anything else in her stomach when she vomited.

Just a word of advise for the future. If your kitty ever does accidentally eat a ribbon again, and it come out in her poop, do not pull it if it's hanging out of her butt. Take her to the vet. No telling how long the ribbon is or where in the digestive track it is. Don't wanna pull on organs.

That being said, try talking with your sister and let her know that properly cleaning after crafting is something that needs to be done for the safety of the kitten who doesn't know better not to eat things she shouldn't.