My Cat Dry Heaved For 20 Seconds?

[SeanS]

So maybe once a month, my cat will vomit out her food. Always happens an hour after she eats, and only happens if she hasn't eaten all day, and suddenly eats a lot.

So she was sitting on my lap, and she starting gagging, she did it for 20-40 seconds, but nothing came out. She got out of my lap walked a bit, calmed down, and went back on my lap. I gave her some water in my cup, and she went back to sleep.

Should I be concerned?

She doesn't seem to be any different.

What should I watch for?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Vomiting after she eats could suggest she has gone too long without eating, and stomach acids have built up irritating the lining of her stomach causing her to throw up. The only way to fix that, if that is the problem, is to get her to eat more frequently.

The dry heaving seems to be more related to trying to unsuccessfully cough up a hair ball. When she does throw up, do you ever find hair in it? My cat will dry heave on occasion, and inevitably within a day or so, she coughs up a hairball.

 

[SeanS]

Vomiting after she eats could suggest she has gone too long without eating, and stomach acids have built up irritating the lining of her stomach causing her to throw up. The only way to fix that, if that is the problem, is to get her to eat more frequently.

The dry heaving seems to be more related to trying to unsuccessfully cough up a hair ball. When she does throw up, do you ever find hair in it? My cat will dry heave on occasion, and inevitably within a day or so, she coughs up a hairball.

The thing is, she is free fed, but she just eats at certain moments really.

Never notice much hair ball. She is a short hair cat.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I gather if she is free fed, she is eating dry food only? That being the case, you might need to entice her to eat a bit more frequently by trying some canned food, particularly when you notice she has gone a fair number of hours without eating. You could also try (dry) treats, or lickable treats as well. You have to first test things like this to see if that stops the vomiting.

The other thing is if you vary the dry food you feed her and can track that to when she vomits, one of the foods she eats might not be totally agreeing with her. But this is more likely to be the case if you can't stop the vomiting with suggestions I've given above.

I have a short haired cat who gets hairballs, so being short haired is not a preclusion to hair balls. Do you brush her? That does help with my cat. Checking her poop for hair is something else you might consider just to see if she is passing hair.

Lastly, depending on her age and how long this vomiting has been going on, she might need a thorough vet exam just to see if her blood work and urine are in order. Sometimes, especially in older cats, vomiting like that can mean there is an underlying issue beginning to brew.

 

[SeanS]

I gather if she is free fed, she is eating dry food only? That being the case, you might need to entice her to eat a bit more frequently by trying some canned food, particularly when you notice she has gone a fair number of hours without eating. You could also try (dry) treats, or lickable treats as well. You have to first test things like this to see if that stops the vomiting.

The other thing is if you vary the dry food you feed her and can track that to when she vomits, one of the foods she eats might not be totally agreeing with her. But this is more likely to be the case if you can't stop the vomiting with suggestions I've given above.

I have a short haired cat who gets hairballs, so being short haired is not a preclusion to hair balls. Do you brush her? That does help with my cat. Checking her poop for hair is something else you might consider just to see if she is passing hair.

Lastly, depending on her age and how long this vomiting has been going on, she might need a thorough vet exam just to see if her blood work and urine are in order. Sometimes, especially in older cats, vomiting like that can mean there is an underlying issue beginning to brew.

I'm in the process of transiting her to raw, but she gets a lot of wet before still as well. She hasn't had dry food in 2 days now.

I brush once a week. Probably should try to do it more though.

She is only 5.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I'm in the process of transiting her to raw, but she gets a lot of wet before still as well. She hasn't had dry food in 2 days now.

Not sure how that - or her giving her wet food before as well as now - plays into her being 'free fed'. Usually with either food version, leaving it out too long - as is the case with what is typically known as free feeding - can promote bacteria growth, which can most certainly cause vomiting. You might find that the vomiting stops when feeding her on a schedule, with anything other than the dry food. Dry food can be left out longer as a backup food, but if her main source of food (wet or raw) is on a schedule, that might end up in stopping the vomiting. I think you are going to have to track what she eats going forward and see when/if it provokes the vomiting.