Kitten Vomiting Dry Food Not Due To Eating To Quickly

[Mrsheatherbush]

hi every one and thanks for taking the time to read his and offer advice and insight....

Here’s the situation

I took in a feral rescue kitten he was three months old when I got him (he’s now 6 months) and was feeding him a mixture of wet and dry food he never ate too quickly he always paced him self and he never emptied the dish of the dry food. She was having problems with vomiting he would never vomit the full amount of what he ate it would only be a couple little bits of dry food completely encased in foam... thick clear foam... I spoke to two different vets about the issue within the first month of having him and none of them really had an answer other than to tell me that he was probably just eating too quickly which I insisted he was not. I ended up running out of dry food one day and I wasn’t able to get to the grocery store for two days so for two days he had only wet food no dry food and the vomiting stopped immediately . So since then I have been feeding him only wet food and a bit of fresh cooked chicken whenever I happened to be cooking chicken . I have tried twice since stopping his dry food completely to give him some dry food again and both times within minutes he immediately started vomiting that thick foam. Last night I tried taking the dry food and I soaked in water for about 45 minutes to try and soften it up and I gave him a little bit of it and within minutes he was vomiting.

Has anybody else had experience with this happening to one of their cats I’m just not sure what’s causing it if he needs to be on an all wet diet then that’s what it’s going to be but I’m finding that he’s just so hungry on all wet and I want to make sure that he’s getting enough food to fill his belly

 

[Kieka]

It could be something in that specific dry food that is causing problems. My guess would be an allergy of some sort. With the timing maybe something they dust the food with or a flavor enhancer but it could be something the kibble is made with from a protein to a grain or veggie or even a type of vitamin. You could compare the ingredients and see if you can find the culprit. However, an all wet diet isn't bad and is rather a preferred state for many people. A wet food diet is higher in moisture and (usually) lower in carbs, both situations that are beneficial. I'd say compare and keep the list so if it happens with another food you can narrow if down more.

If your fine sticking with wet only the only issue is making sure he is getting enough. Kittens are growing and need a lot of food. The general rule is under a year you feed as much as they will eat. About a year is when they stop growing and then it's reduce intake to about 20-30 calories per pound. Both the when and amount are more on average type statements. If you notice your kitten is getting chubby or has stopped growing then reduce intake earlier. The calories per pound is dependent on your cats activity level and genetics. The better way to figure out how much is weigh your cat, do 25 calories per pound and see if they gain, loose or stay the same over a week. If they loose (or are always hungry), increase. If they gain, reduce. If they stay the same, you stay the same on weight. This assumes a good body condition to start with, if your cat is underweight then it would be feed more and overweight feed less.

 

[Mrsheatherbush]

Initially he just started out on Pierina kitten but after that wasn’t working out I went and bought orijens cat and kitten biologically appropriate cat food is what it says on the bag it was a really expensive one so I’m guessing it’s not a crappy one .... He was skin and bones (not even 2 lbs) when I got him and he’s put on a reasonable amount of weight (weighed in at 5 lb 10 oz today) but you can still feel his bones in his hips a lot so he does have a ways to go

 

[duckpond]

Sounds like a problem with the food to me, even if it is orijens, which i occasionally feed. Orijen also has a lot of different ingredients, so it may be something in the food that bothers him. cats his age do need a lot of food, maybe a smaller kibble, like a kitten food would help? When mine were that age they got Merrick dry kitten food, they did well on it. it has a small size kibble.

I also feed Dr. Elsey's dry food, it has a fairly small kibble as well. i think you would need to order online.

wet food is great for cats, sometimes its hard at that age to feed them enough times during the day to get enough calories in them.

 

[Mrsheatherbush]

I’ll look into those brands thank you

 

[ashenshugar]

I'm pulling this thread from the dead as a warning.

My wife and I used to swear by Orijens, but recently our Norwegian Forest cat started throwing up and losing weight while on the cat and kitten food.

We found out they (without notice) changed the ingredients of the food, greatly increased the protein by bean which we've researched cats have a hard time digesting and breaking down (making it fairly worthless as a protein), and it has a much (much) higher metal and other 'contamination' that appears to have been making our Norwegian sick (and in fact lose 3 pounds in 2 months).

He was getting lethargic, sleeping more, getting cranky, attacking other cats in the house, not playing, not being personal, and stopped waking us up for greetings and started vomiting at least once a week.

We have 2 shelter kitties (one a potential partial bombay (based on body markings)) and another a tuxido we got as playmates. They within weeks got so sick they were vomiting nearly daily. We knew there was a problem and decided to try new foods.

Blue buffalo and Farmina seems to work well for them and in the last 3 weeks they've been on it, their personalities have changed 180 back to what they were before, lost weight has been gained back, and they have stopped vomiting *completely*.

So again, big big warning for anyone feeding their cats dry Orijens food. Strongly *strongly* suggest *immediately* stopping.

 

[Makowiec]

I'm pulling this thread from the dead as a warning.

My wife and I used to swear by Orijens, but recently our Norwegian Forest cat started throwing up and losing weight while on the cat and kitten food.

We found out they (without notice) changed the ingredients of the food, greatly increased the protein by bean which we've researched cats have a hard time digesting and breaking down (making it fairly worthless as a protein), and it has a much (much) higher metal and other 'contamination' that appears to have been making our Norwegian sick (and in fact lose 3 pounds in 2 months).

He was getting lethargic, sleeping more, getting cranky, attacking other cats in the house, not playing, not being personal, and stopped waking us up for greetings and started vomiting at least once a week.

We have 2 shelter kitties (one a potential partial bombay (based on body markings)) and another a tuxido we got as playmates. They within weeks got so sick they were vomiting nearly daily. We knew there was a problem and decided to try new foods.

Blue buffalo and Farmina seems to work well for them and in the last 3 weeks they've been on it, their personalities have changed 180 back to what they were before, lost weight has been gained back, and they have stopped vomiting *completely*.

So again, big big warning for anyone feeding their cats dry Orijens food. Strongly *strongly* suggest *immediately* stopping.

Your post was really helpful to me as I was a big fan of Orijen dry food as well, but now with a new kitten I will move onto Farmina, which seems to be a very reputable brand.