Spolied Cat Throws Up All But One Brand And Type Of Food!

catpat1230

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5 year old male cat.
He never liked wet food which is strange because the 4 other cats I had before LOVED wet food. He does however LOVE to just lick the gel off of wet food. A few years ago he had bladder crystals but vet gave him prescription food that solved that and the problem never happened again (his urethra was blocked and he was peeing blood). I then got him a water fountain and he drank water much more often, plus I give him now they make these like gel-only wet treats but they get pricey (I need to learn how to DIY those if possible to make him eat even more wet stuff but he seems fine in terms of the bladder crystals for over 3 years now).



I rescued him when he was about 8 months old. I started him on cheap dry food that was mostly corn or soy. Then I started giving him more expensive food which had little to no grains etc. I don't think he ever ate wet food other than licking the gel off so I stopped giving him wet food not knowing that cats (especially males) need a decent amount of water/wet in their diet to avoid bladder crystals he eventually got (I always gave him fresh water though).
Slowly but surely now he basically won't eat anything but dry CRAVE brand food (chicken-only flavor), even the CRAVE Chicken with Duck he sometimes throws up. The puke is just undigested food looks like he just ate it a few minutes ago. It's never yellow or slimy etc which could be hairballs or a potential problem. I think he learned that if he pukes up anything besides Crave chicken then I clean out his bowl and put the crave chicken he loves.

So should I just give him crave chicken only forever or what? I've tried like 10 brands of other non grain dry foods with Chicken as the main ingredient but he still sometimes pukes those up.

I think I'm going to just not give in to him for a couple days, let him puke but not replace it with crave. Then he should get hungry enough to learn to digest something besides crave. Because like it just seems strange that he seems to only eat this one brand and food, he'll eat a lot and he's got a bit of a belly but is a 'big guy' in a cat's body basically he's big and strong, plays strong, but with a gut, I do limit the food daily to about a cup it says but he's an indoor only cat most of the time and I don't always find time to play toy-on-a-string tug of wars etc with him or take him for walks (yes I take my cat for walks on a leash).

Any suggestions besides "go to a vet"?
 

KarenKat

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Have you simply replaced the food with this new one or have you tried transitioning slowly? Some cats can be very sensitive to food changes, and it’s best to mix in the new food slowly - in increasing amounts - over a week or so to allow his digestive system to adapt. Our boy Trin needed extra slow transitions so it came out the other end ok. He might just need more time.
 

daftcat75

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Cats are also hesitant with new foods. Any food my Krista is willing to try more than a bite (even if it’s just two bites), I will offer again. She does her own slow transitions sometimes.

Don’t starve a cat into eating something it doesn’t want to. They can do hunger strikes a lot longer than is healthy for them. Also, the longer they go without eating, the less they feel like eating again. The conversion of body fat to energy is tough on a cat’s liver. Especially cats with weight to lose.

The only thing that trying ten foods tells me is that you tried ten foods. There is so much variability in wet food recipes that you could try 100 and still keep hitting ingredients, textures, or tastes that your cat just doesn’t care for.

Some wet foods with fairly clean recipes (few if any inappropriate ingredients like corn or peas) that are popular with cats:

Fancy Feast Classic pates (only the Classic pates don’t contain inappropriate ingredients like wheat gluten.)
Tiki Cat After Dark
Rawz Chicken and Chicken Liver

Also consider turkey flavors. My Krista was a chicken addict until her IBD created a chicken allergy in her. Now she thrives on Rawz turkey.

Btw, her IBD started with throwing up undigested kibble. Don’t think common = normal. Keep trying to find foods that won’t make him throw up. Try turkey. If he keeps throwing up chicken, he may be developing or already developed an allergy. Be diligent though. Chicken is in a lot of turkey recipes.
 

darg

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I agree with the sentiments here. Check the ingredients of the foods that the cat throws up and look for common ingredients. Then check the food that he doesn't throw up and compare the ingredients. It could be as simple as the meat/poultry source, filler/fillers or gums/binders. And it could be as simple as one common ingredient or a little more complicated in that it could be more than one. But the key may be what isn't in the food that he doesn't throw up that is present in those that he does.

It's not likely that this is a case of digestive revenge for feeding him something he doesn't really like the taste of.
 

ailish

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Ailish began throwing up, undigested, a food that I had given her for awhile. I couldn't quite figure it out and didn't think it was the food because she had been eating it for months. However, I decided to stop the food and she's thrown up maybe once in the past year since the day I stopped giving it to her, and that time it was because she ate some sticks. So from now on I'm stopping thrown up food at the second gack. She doesn't gulp her food, so if she upchucks I know that isn't the cause.
 

lisahe

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Why don't you want him to eat the Crave food? Are you trying to switch him to wet food?
That's what I wonder, too! C catpat1230 is the reason that you want your cat to eat more wet food?

No matter what, please don't try not giving in -- as daftcat75 mentioned, that could end badly if your cat just doesn't eat. daftcat75 also mentioned some good foods without fillers. Most cats love Fancy Feast pates; Sheba pates are another very decent option.
 

daftcat75

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Also stir pates before serving so the cats don't just lick gravy or gel. Everything in the can is supposed to go into the cat. If they aren't using an emulsifier like lecithin in the recipe, then you will get separation. Fatty stuff in the gel glob and watery stuff elsewhere. The cat should eat it all since you have no idea if the vitamins and minerals are separating. Stir first, mix well, and then serve.
 

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Cats don't throw up food because they don't like it. If they don't like a food they don't eat it in the first place. They throw up food if they are allergic to an ingredient in it, if it was too cold, if it doesn't feel right in their stomachs (you know that feeling, you've had it too) or if there is something wrong with it.

Several cats have saved their lives by refusing to eat food that was later recalled for being contaminated. I'm not saying the food you are offering is tainted, I'm saying it's a possibility. I think it more likely that one of the ingredients doesn't agree with your cat.
 

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Maybe raised dish helps? Oliver uses the wooden one which is even higher then the white one..It helps align his body when eating and has helped regurgitation greatly

7F32F32E-C038-4C18-ACA0-6249246A54F6.jpeg
 

lisahe

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As an addendum to K Kflowers says, some cats also throw up their food if they eat it too fast and/or are excited/worked up. This is only worsened if they're fed large meals or free-fed and can eat as much as they want. We have this problem with one of our cats: we have to feed Edwina five small meals a day and we put her food dish on a platform a few inches off the floor.

And just as I was about to finish that previous sentence, up popped Burts Burts 's post with a great illustration! Burts's use of the word "regurgitation" also seems apt since the OP's cat is barfing up undigested food.

Edwina was underfed as a kitten and she's still insecure about her food six years later so eats too fast and too much and then oopsy!, she'll regurgitate it all if given the chance. This is a mechanical (and cat psychology!) issue rather than a diet issue but of course every cat is different and we don't know a lot about the OP's cat's food history.
 
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catpat1230

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thanks
yea I'll try mixing it slowly to transition, he sometimes throws that up too though.

true I know not to deprive him of his preferred brand because cats will sometimes go without eating longer than is healthy for them, I remember that from when he needed to eat the prescription food to dissolve bladder crystals (he actually loved the prescription food though).

what he really hates too is topping wet food (that he only licked the gel from which is probably his favorite food) if I put crave chicken (only thing he likes to eat) on top of wet food or mixed together he'll barf that up too.

It's strange that like 4 of my previous cats would eat anything meat-based, loved wet food, cold cuts, etc. This cat now though he only likes crave chicken dry lol but does like water a lot now since the fountain and the bladder crystals a few years ago that he doesn't even need the fountain anymore (PITA to clean as thoroughly as I did), now I just give him spring water in a clean glass bowl he seems to drink plenty, anyway, thanks for the suggestions, I think I can gradually transition him to eat more verity.

----

read all the replies now, thanks, I'll compare ingredients and go from there.
I don't want him to only eat crave chicken because I yes I want him to eat more wet food for bladder crystal prevention, (he's a male , most my other cats were females which don't get crystals as easily because their p hole is larger and they never had an issue), also don't want him eating just crave in case I can't find it - I order it online is the only place I've seen it and it's also on the pricier side.
I've given him turkey crave but it has chicken too and IDK what else, I think he's thrown that up from time to time, it seems like recently he's been barfing a lot hence I made this thread, if it were bad I'd take him to vet right away but it's always kind of been this crave chicken or nothing mentality.
could have something to do with it's summer and shedding and maybe barfing is helping him avoid hariballs which he's luckily never had one but all my other cats have and seems like they're in pain, he's even somewhat long-haired.

grass from lawns (organic no pesticides etc I won't let him chew on anything else) too he throws up grass so I'm not sure about if I should even let him eat grass. I have soft oat rye barley or whatever it is "cat-grass" too but that probably makes him barf too.

Both his water and food bowls since a couple years ago I elevate them about 4" because I remembered reading about it could help their throat/thyroid in the long run.

- Great point too about multiple small feedings per day. I always give him 1 cup or whatever the bag recommends (plus a little extra) for about 4 of his 5 years old (something like that) because I noticed he was getting a belly even though none of my other cats got this heavy and their bowls were almost at all times filled with food.

This will be tricky for timing when I'm not home but I can try to work out 2 or 3 separate feedings.
 

danteshuman

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It might also be that the duck is more fatty?

My mom’s reformed feral, if he gets stuck outside to long, he over stuffs himself & he throws up every time! No health reason he is just a nutty putz that thinks he might starve.

I just wanted to add that for years my cat was on sensitive stomach food because he was throwing up ...... then I found out he had food allergies making him throw up about 4-6 times a month. I suggest you take him to the vet, just in case ........ along with the names/ingredients of the two foods.

About the wet food my teen twerp, well he hated ANY texture until he discovered Sheba perfect portions in gravy! He gobbles those right up (especially the fish ones!) So I would go to target, pet stores and try one can of every brand/flavor you can over the next few months. Record any ones he shows interest in and the ones he hates (that way you don’t waste money on a whole case.) Also you can try adding a dollop of wet food into his dry food (mixing it in) & slowly increase the amount of wet food over many months.

Cats hate change. They are all about patience, baby steps & repetition.
:hangin:
 
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catpat1230

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so far so good on the giving small portions instead of one feeding a day.

I don't give him fish anymore I read it might be bad.

I'll learn to DIY wet food to make the gel-like stuff in the wet food, so he's more hydrated. But not in a way that it's like all nutrient-void or possibly unhealthy ingredients like the canned foods might be for what the jelly stuff is that he only licks off.

They sell just the liquid (Squeeze up) "wet treat" but they get pricey and probably aren't that good for cats.

I've documented so many brands of what he likes and not, wet and dry foods, in terms of wet cans he's just not a fan IDK why.
 

lisahe

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Our cats love their homemade food! I use two supplements that are added to boneless meat: Alnutrin and EZ Complete. Both companies offer free samples. The cats like Alnutrin (made with egg shell calcium) the best, though you need to add liver to the meat for that one. Neither kind of food comes out with any sort of gel (which our cats also like in canned food) but they enjoy the real meat (which I cook) that they're fine with no gel.

You can get jelly-like stuff by cooking meat in water but it gets blended in with the rest of the sauce so doesn't look like jelly when it's fed.
 

daftcat75

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Simmering meaty bones in water for a few hours is going to produce a meat stock that will be very nutritious and it will go a long way towards healing and sealing his gut from all the irritation it has seen. It will also produce that meat/fat jelly that cats like.
 

mysterylover

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I agree with much said here. We adopted my mom's cat when she went to memory care (sadly we lost him suddenly last year to likely an intestinal cancer), and he only ate dry food when Mom had him, and my first attempts at wet food were rejected by him. What worked to get him to eat wet food was to first stop free feeding dry--only scheduled meals (3 a day--but if you are not home, you could do one before leaving, leave some out, and then feed again when you get home), and then I started putting a spoonful of wet food in his bowl beside the dry food over and over and getting it closer and closer to the dry. Then I dipped a few kibbles in the juice of the wet food. The brand I was using was Nutro minced chicken and shrimp for starters. I figured once he started recognizing wet food as food, I would worry about whether I thought the quality of the food was great or not. He finally "accidentally" at some kibble with a little juice on it a few times, but really, one day, I put his food down, walked away, and came back and the wet was all gone! I think the whole process took 2-3 weeks. Yes, I threw out some food--and I did microwave the leftovers so I only threw out the food that he ignored next to his kibble. It was like, after it kept appearing in his dish next to the kibble, he finally decided it was okay to eat. Once he discovered wet food was food, it was not that long before he was fine with other brands. Unfortunately, he also discovered that the people food in the kitchen was also food, so we had to keep the bread where he could not get to it and watch out when we were eating or he would steal off our plates! LOL!

Also, I have two cats who will scarf and barf wet food if I just put the whole meal in a bowl or even on a plate. They are speed eaters. My three cats were also rescues--kittens their mom brought to me after she weaned them. My vet said that many cats who were once stray or outside finding food for themselves will always eat fast and too much, like they are afraid that is their last meal ever. I now split meals of wet food into several rounds, and I spread the wet food on a plate. Even if kibble is all you can get him to eat for now, you can get a plate, spread a spoonful of kibble out on it and then come back in a few minutes with another spoonful and do that several times several minutes apart. It might help slow him down. I have also heard of people placing several plates down in the area where they feed the cat, so he has to move from plate to plate, making them pause while eating. I also elevate bowls, but slowing them down seems to be the best for scarf and barf. As I transitioned my cats from kibble to wet, I actually hand-fed the kibble portion of the meal a few kibbles at a time. They still literally inhaled them.

Don't give up on him. Change is tough, but as you said, the moisture in the wet food will be good for him. I do think that certain foods are more enticing--Fancy Feast, Sheba, Nutro... Kibble has that animal digest or flavoring sprayed on it, so I think that some of the cans that have "natural flavorings" that might be that same thing, might be a bonus. Some people even get Fortaflora and sprinkle it on the wet, since it basically has that coating they love on dry food in it.

Hang in there! Loving cats can be so complicated, but they are worth it! This site has some great info and really nice people!
 
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