Can anyone figure out what is wrong with my cat?

[Tigmimi]

Hi everyone,

I will start from the very beginning of when I first got Tiggy as a kitten (7 years ago). She has always had a sensitive stomach. Whenever she was given a small amount of cooked chicken meat when I was cooking or something, she would throw it up immediately. Didn't matter what kind of human grade meat, could be beef as well, she would vomit but she could eat both these meats in a wet food can. Anyway I just avoided giving her bits of food and didn't think anything of it. At that point she has a purely dry food diet - grain free chicken and kangaroo and she seemed to do ok on it, maybe the occasional vomit but nothing too concerning. I don't seem to recall many hairballs but I can't say for sure as this was a period of time where I wasn't too aware about nutrition, their health etc.

Anyway fast forward to end of 2020, my other cat was quite unwell and had to be transitioned onto a wet food diet. Since this scare I have been sooooo paranoid about their health. So to make things easier, they both moved onto the same food, This is a top, expensive vension wet food that is probably the best you can get without going for a raw diet. It basically doesn't have anything in it other than meat, liver, green lipped mussels. The vension was a brand new protein for both cats. My unwell cat has thrived on it and done really well and I feel so bad for giving them a bad diet for so long.

However, Tiggy seemed to be allergic to something and was scratching herself a lot and started vomiting (regurgitating) a lot straight after eating. After a bit of research, I thought she might be allergic to green lipped mussels as I read some cats don't do well with these. So I bought her some new food, again the best I could get but without the green lipped mussels and instantly she stopped vomiting and has been doing well on it since. I have noticed that there have been more hairballs - well at least I think so, because like I said, I didn't pay too much attention to these things before. It has been about one hairball a fortnight since January this year.

I read about the egg yolk, so I added 2 egg yolks a week into her food but she started regurgitating this after a few weeks and only the meal with the egg yolk added. So I stopped adding yolk and the regurgitation stopped. The hairballs are still coming up fortnightly so I just bought some lecithin thinking that might be better and just started that last week. On the first day I gave half a capsule and she regurgitated immediately so I went with a lower dose thinking she needs time to adjust and have been slowly adding it in with no more regurgitation. At the moment I am up to just under half a capsule a day without regurgitation which is good but she has been making a few funny noises right after eating, like she is going to vomit but nothing comes up. She looks nauseous with lip smacking but then after 10 mins goes back to her normal self.

With all other meals, she is fine and the other end is working perfectly and she is otherwise happy. I am so confused so I took her to the vet and they just said its hairballs and not to worry. If anyone has any ideas why she doesn't tolerate so many things, I would be interested in the underlying reason.

I did read somewhere about how some cats genetically have smaller food pipes and so they do better with small frequent meals. And I have to say this sounds a bit like her. I really have no idea though.

Thanks so much for reading

 

[Anoxia]

Hello! How big are Tiggy's meals? Mine had a habit of regurgitating right after eating as well, and it's always affected her since I got her at 6 months old. I cut her meal sizes down to 0.5 oz to 1 oz per portion depending on the food (15 minutes between potions; 2 portions per meal; minimum of 2 hours between meals) and her regurgitation has stopped.

Of course my other cat can scarf through 6 oz in five minutes without regurgitating.

 

[Tigmimi]

Hello! How big are Tiggy's meals? Mine had a habit of regurgitating right after eating as well, and it's always affected her since I got her at 6 months old. I cut her meal sizes down to 0.5 oz to 1 oz per portion depending on the food (15 minutes between potions; 2 portions per meal; minimum of 2 hours between meals) and her regurgitation has stopped.

Of course my other cat can scarf through 6 oz in five minutes without regurgitating.

Thanks for your reply!

not huge but she does eat fast and she's extremely food motivated and acts likes shes starving 24/7. But I do notice she does better on regular small meals.

Still, the hairball once a fortnight worries me. I read it should be every couple of months

 

[Anoxia]

Based on your description I'm inclined to think it might be the fast eating causing the regurgitation. Some users use textured plates (e.g. lickimat, slow feeder bowls) or put things like golf balls inside the bowl to manually slow down the eating, and those would be less time-consuming than doing a bunch of tiny meals.

My cat used to have hairballs every three weeks on the dot and half an egg yolk a week solved that for her (over eight months and no hairballs!), which I saw you already tried. Did it (or the lecithin) seem to help, sans regurgitating? My cat used to regurgitate when I added egg yolk or pumpkin to her meals, too, but after portioning she seemed to have better odds of keeping it down. Other ideas include using the hairball-preventative as its own treat so it won't bulk up the meals, like just feeding the yolk with a topper between meals. Some users have tried vaseline or hairball preventatives sold as treats as well which I think are just dabs on the paw so shouldn't be big enough to cause regurgitation if the cause is eating too much too fast.

Some users have found increased brushing to slow down hairballs, but it didn't seem to affect my cat even though I brushed her daily with a Furminator when I was trying to solve her hairball issues (and even brushed a bald spot on the base of her tail, oops!). My cats are both short-hairs; the brushing may be more pertinent if your cat has longer hair.

 

[Tigmimi]

Hello! How big are Tiggy's meals? Mine had a habit of regurgitating right after eating as well, and it's always affected her since I got her at 6 months old. I cut her meal sizes down to 0.5 oz to 1 oz per portion depending on the food (15 minutes between potions; 2 portions per meal; minimum of 2 hours between meals) and her regurgitation has stopped.

Of course my other cat can scarf through 6 oz in five minutes without regurgitating.

I just did the conversion as I work in grams. She eats about 1.4 ounces per meal and eats 3 meals a day. A fair bit higher than what you suggested. I didn't think that was a lot but maybe it is.

 

[Tigmimi]

Based on your description I'm inclined to think it might be the fast eating causing the regurgitation. Some users use textured plates (e.g. lickimat, slow feeder bowls) or put things like golf balls inside the bowl to manually slow down the eating, and those would be less time-consuming than doing a bunch of tiny meals.

My cat used to have hairballs every three weeks on the dot and half an egg yolk a week solved that for her (over eight months and no hairballs!), which I saw you already tried. Did it (or the lecithin) seem to help, sans regurgitating? My cat used to regurgitate when I added egg yolk or pumpkin to her meals, too, but after portioning she seemed to have better odds of keeping it down. Other ideas include using the hairball-preventative as its own treat so it won't bulk up the meals, like just feeding the yolk with a topper between meals. Some users have tried vaseline or hairball preventatives sold as treats as well which I think are just dabs on the paw so shouldn't be big enough to cause regurgitation if the cause is eating too much too fast.

Some users have found increased brushing to slow down hairballs, but it didn't seem to affect my cat even though I brushed her daily with a Furminator when I was trying to solve her hairball issues (and even brushed a bald spot on the base of her tail, oops!). My cats are both short-hairs; the brushing may be more pertinent if your cat has longer hair.

I tried the brushing but it didn't seem to make any difference. I think because they lick their belly a lot and it is hard to get down there as they are brushed while sitting usually.

The egg yolk didn't seem to do much other than induce regurgitation after a few weeks but now after your help i am starting to wonder if it was too big a meal rather than the yolk itself. Maybe I was too hasty to give up on the egg. Too early days for the lecithin so we will see.

The smaller meals might be the key. I thought I was giving small meals but maybe I am not. She might be better with say a tea spoon at a time .

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. You could try a dab of butter/margarine for the hairballs, or a drop or two of olive oil in her food. Both are supposed to help a cat pass hairballs more easily. If you do the butter/margarine, do it for a few days in a row and then start giving it to her 2-3 times a week. You can put it on her paw or on your finger for her to lick off. The olive oil can be put in one of her daily meals, everyday. Hopefully, she can tolerate these without regurgitating her food. But, you are probably right, it seems more likely to be related to the size of her meal portions.