Cats Throwing Up!

[hmorton92]

Hey everyone,

So we have two cats, they’re both about a year and a half almost!
Recently, one of them (can’t pinpoint which) has been throwing up. I decided to start trying wet food (horrible cat owner, didn’t know it was better for them!) anyways.... they stopped getting sick once we started to add wet food.
Usually they graze the dry food all day and at night, they get the wet.
Well we are coming home to a couple piles of vomit now and as soon as we give them their wet food, they don’t throw up for the rest of the evening or overnight but then sure enough, we come home the next day and there is vomit.

They are acting 100% normal, still eating and drinking normal!
Is this cause for concern? Should I just try and feed them more wet food and avoid dry more? Has anyone run into this before?

Thank you in advanced!!!

 

[lisahe]

It's possible there's something in the dry food that's causing the vomiting: one of our cats, for example, vomits if she eats potato, which is a common filler in many cat foods. Dry foods need carby fillers to make them into gunk that can be extruded into pieces that will hold their shape. Cats aren't really built to eat those fillers, which are vegetable-based, things like grains, potatoes, peas, and the like.

Yes, I would suggest switching them to wet food only, particularly since it seems they're doing best on that. There are other things, of course, that can cause vomiting -- everything from stress to hairballs -- but if the wet food seems to be helping, I'd go with that since, IMHO, it's better for cats anyway.

Good luck!

 

[mizzely]

One of my cats could not have dry either... Every single time it would make her barf. Switching her over to wet only eliminated the issue! She also dramatically reduced the number of hairballs she had! (2 to 3 a Month to one every 3 months)

 

[hmorton92]

One of my cats could not have dry either... Every single time it would make her barf. Switching her over to wet only eliminated the issue! She also dramatically reduced the number of hairballs she had! (2 to 3 a Month to one every 3 months)

Thank you so much!! Glad to know I’m not alone, going to try giving them more wet food to see how their little tummies take it!! If the problem doesn’t resolve, I will call the vet ASAP.

Thank you!

 

[hmorton92]

It's possible there's something in the dry food that's causing the vomiting: one of our cats, for example, vomits if she eats potato, which is a common filler in many cat foods. Dry foods need carby fillers to make them into gunk that can be extruded into pieces that will hold their shape. Cats aren't really built to eat those fillers, which are vegetable-based, things like grains, potatoes, peas, and the like.

Yes, I would suggest switching them to wet food only, particularly since it seems they're doing best on that. There are other things, of course, that can cause vomiting -- everything from stress to hairballs -- but if the wet food seems to be helping, I'd go with that since, IMHO, it's better for cats anyway.

Good luck!

Thank you for all the info! Been rather stressed out about the situation (over worryer lol). Then acting normal is what’s keeping me the most calm!

Going to try and give more wet food tomorrow and monitor over the next couple days, fingers crossed!

 

[daftcat75]

Even though vomiting is sadly common in cats, it is never normal. Frequent vomiting could point to a simple intolerance, an allergy, or the beginning of a disease process like IBD. Can you eliminate the dry food altogether? If you can’t, at least try one of the dry foods that is attempting to correct what’s wrong with dry food like Dr Elsey’s, Tiki Cat Born Carnivore, or Rawz. They are pricey. But you pay now or you pay later in vet bills.

 

[darg]

I don't feed dry any more. But, in the not too distant past I had a cat that would vomit shortly after a meal of his dry food if he ate a lot of it at one sitting. He was free fed and it didn't happen every time he ate so it took a while to figure out. Everything else was normal, including his stools and he was fine after vomiting. I finally figured out that what I believe was happening was that the kibble would swell when it absorbed the liquids in his stomach and he would then throw it up. I ended up switching him to a different (and better quality) dry food and the only vomiting he did from there on out was an occasional hairball.

I'm not saying that this is the cause of your cats vomiting. Just that it's a possibility and may be worth investigating as a potential cause. Some dry kibble definitely swells more than others when it absorbs liquid.

 

[hmorton92]

I spoke to our vet this morning, they advised us to buy a “slow feeder” for the dry food and give less then normal. Continue with wet food and add a little more to their diet.
So far they are assuming the dry food is being consumed too quickly or too much.

Going to start there!

Thanks everyone!

 

[lisahe]

Are your cats barfing up their food immediately after eating it and regurgitating it, so it comes out looking as if it hadn't been digested much or even at all? If so, that's most likely the old scarf and barf, like what darg mentioned, and likely related to some sort of mechanical failure, something in the "too much food at once" vein. We have a cat who does that with wet food and, yes, slowing her down does help.

If the food's not coming out until later and looks more digested, there's more chance there's something in the food (or some other cause) that's causing someone to barf. (I'm figuring you probably haven't figured out who that is, since you have two cats, right?) Those "some other causes" can vary a lot: an illness not related to the food itself, hair in the stomach (our fast eater has this problem, too), or ingesting something (like a plant) that causes indigestion. Sometimes our fast eater even seems to barf from being worked up, if she eats too soon after exercise/playing.

 

[hmorton92]

Are your cats barfing up their food immediately after eating it and regurgitating it, so it comes out looking as if it hadn't been digested much or even at all? If so, that's most likely the old scarf and barf, like what darg mentioned, and likely related to some sort of mechanical failure, something in the "too much food at once" vein. We have a cat who does that with wet food and, yes, slowing her down does help.

If the food's not coming out until later and looks more digested, there's more chance there's something in the food (or some other cause) that's causing someone to barf. (I'm figuring you probably haven't figured out who that is, since you have two cats, right?) Those "some other causes" can vary a lot: an illness not related to the food itself, hair in the stomach (our fast eater has this problem, too), or ingesting something (like a plant) that causes indigestion. Sometimes our fast eater even seems to barf from being worked up, if she eats too soon after exercise/playing.

It seems to be mostly just undigested food or semi digested, it’s like they are eating too much too fast and then shortly after are throwing it all back up. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when or which cat it’s happening with but I do know that one seems to chew more then the other.
I was thinking maybe she’s trying to scarf it down because he’s trying to eat too but even if he’s nowhere near her, she does the same thing. We’re going to pick up a slow feeder tonight, so I am really hoping that helps.

But yes, most of the throw up is undigested food and sometimes a little bit of hair!
I’d be curious to know if it’s something in their food upsetting the stomach, because they haven’t had any food changes for several months.

 

[maggiedemi]

I agree to try adding more canned food. That's really best for them.
Another thing I've noticed is that my cats throw up dry food if it doesn't have enough fiber in it. So I look for Indoor or Hairball dry foods.

 

[hmorton92]

I agree to try adding more canned food. That's really best for them.
Another thing I've noticed is that my cats throw up dry food if it doesn't have enough fiber in it. So I look for Indoor or Hairball dry foods.

So far there was no puking yesterday after giving them wet food in the morning and at night! We purchased a “puzzle feeder” to try and slow them down on the dry food. They do have a very good quaility dry food, so I hope it’s not that!

 

[maggiedemi]

They do have a very good quaility dry food, so I hope it’s not that!

Do you have a link to the dry food so we can look at the ingredients?

 

[hmorton92]

Do you have a link to the dry food so we can look at the ingredients?

Ranchlands • ACANA Pet Foods

 

[maggiedemi]

Ranchlands • ACANA Pet Foods

That looks good. The Fiber content is good, my cats do well on 6% and up dry food.

 

[hmorton92]

That looks good. The Fiber content is good, my cats do well on 6% and up dry food.

That’s a relief! Thank you for all your info and support here

 

[ailish]

I feed three wet meals and a dry in the automatic feeder at night. Ailish started throwing up mostly undigested dry kind of regularly, but a good 12 hours after her dry meal. I figured that since it was undigested she must have just eaten it before throwing it up and maybe she found a stash I had forgotten about and was getting into it. I looked everywhere and I found nothing. The really confounding thing was that she had eaten this same dry for at least six months before without a bit of problem. Finally, looking at a pile of dry she had barfed that looked pretty much the same, only wet, as it had when she ate it, I told my self to get a clue and stop that food. Went and got some Fussy Cat Chicken and Turkey for the auto feeder. Has not thrown up once in the year since. . I'm sure it makes sense on some level, but it's a mystery to me. I wish all cat problem were that easy to solve. It taught me that if there is an obvious possible solution, try it even if it doesn't make perfect sense. Cats can't talk, so we're not playing with a full deck when trying to solve their problems.

 

[hmorton92]

Status Update!
Two days of no throwing up. I have been doing wet food in the morning and at night now and leaving dry food in a puzzle feeder during the day and overnight!

 

[maggiedemi]

Two days of no throwing up. I have been doing wet food in the morning and at night now and leaving dry food in a puzzle feeder during the day and overnight!

Yay! It sounds like you might have found the solution.

 

[hmorton92]

Yay! It sounds like you might have found the solution.

I hope so!!