Ten Year Old Kitty Suddenly Started Barfing For No Apparent Reason

[linkworshiper]

For the last few days, my oldest cat, Reginald, has been barfing his brains out. He was always a hairball upchucker, but he never seemed to lose his lunch. Lately, the barf has been thick and food-tinged. Just now, he was napping and then jumped to the floor, barfed two giant puddles and then got back up on the couch to lie down. My only guess is that he's been eating too fast? Though if that's the case, it's been a good four or five hours since he got breakfast. The biggest change in his diet is that he's been eating pate, where I used to feed him shredded chicken food. The main reason I started doing this is because one of my new cats prefers pate and I'm trying to keep the other cats from feeling like there's a competition over food. As it is, I feed Reginald in the bathroom with the door closed, but it doesn't stop him from sniffing around for leftovers when he comes out. I suppose I'm trying to figure out if he needs the vet or not. Last year, he did something sort of similar, except instead of gorging himself, he was on a hunger strike for a few days and barfed up anything I gave him when he caved in to eat. At that time, the vet gave me an appetite stimulant, but I don't think that is what is going on now. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi
How long ago did you make the change to the different food? Can you utilize a slow feeder, or even put a clean pingpong ball or a fishing bobber into the dish so he has to eat around it and is slowed down a little bit?

Throwing up for this long is going to cause him to be dehydrated plus he's losing nutrients. For that alone, if he were mine I'd be taking him in to see if he'd need fluids.

 

[lisahe]

If Reginald had eaten too fast, he would have regurgitated the food much faster: our regurgitating cat usually acts within 5-10 minutes. The food comes out completely undigested and it usually lies on the floor like a long, ropy sausage. Something that comes up hours later and/or looks puddly (even if it has some shreds of food in it) is likely caused by something else.

In our experience, with the same cat, Edwina, barfing four to five hours after a meal generally indicates a sensitivity to something in her food. We went through this with potato, we went through this with agar-agar, and, most recently, we went through this with green-lipped mussels.

It sounds like Reginald started this barfing after you changed his diet, is that right? If so, I'd try switching him back to the shreds to see if he stops barfing. (If I suspect a recent diet change is causing a problem, I like to go back to the last diet that wasn't causing a problem!) FWIW, Edwina has a history of getting better almost immediately after we take the foods with the "bad" ingredients out of her diet. As I said, her sensitivities usually make themselves known within about four or five hours. Like Reginald, she has a history of all sorts of stomach and eating issues.

As for the vet, Furballsmom has a good point about dehydration. If Reginald has barfed up all his meals in the last several days, he's probably pretty dehydrated. If you were to take him in, you might want to ask for Cerenia, which worked really well for Edwina when she had a barfing problem (most likely not food-related) earlier this year.

What, by the way, is in the pate you've been feeding? Lots of things can cause stomach issues in cats. We avoid ingredients including carrageenan, all grains, peas and other legumes, agar-agar, gums other than guar, potato, green-lipped mussels, and fish.

Good luck!

 

[linkworshiper]

Hi everyone! Thanks for all your replies.

So the pate is Weruva, the same brand as the other food. Most of the flavors are chicken combined with something else, usually a fish, though there is a pure salmon/tuna combo as well. The main reason I buy this brand is because they are one of the few with chicken-free options, which one of my other cats needs to eat. I restocked my supply today and got the shredded chicken for Reginald, still Weruva, and gave that to him for dinner. That was about an hour ago and so far he seems normal. I'll update as needed.

The barf was definitely smooth and thick, almost like a chocolate milkshake. No hairballs or food chunks. I feed them dry food before I go to bed, though there's usually a little bit to nibble on during the day. But there was no chunkiness to the barf. I usually mix water into his food and make it a kind of slurry to make sure he's getting water, because he's only so-so at drinking from the bowl. His behavior has otherwise been normal. He even had the zoomies this morning, which is rare for him.

 

[lisahe]

It would definitely be worth comparing the ingredients of the shred foods vs. the pate foods. Is there something in the pate that's not in the shreds? Edwina, for example, had a horrible time with potato ingredients that were in some Weruva shreds.

 

[Furballsmom]

That was about an hour ago and so far he seems normal.

 

[linkworshiper]

Welp, we are about five-ish hours from dinner and still no barf. I just looked at the ingredients and it seems the only noticeable difference I found was that the pate has potato starch. So maybe that bothers him? Feeding time is such a ballet around here, because the one who can't have chicken loves chicken, but of course Reginald prefers chicken, then two others only seem to like dry food and the last... I'm still trying to figure him out. He seems to change his tastes daily haha. CATS, amirite?

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[lisahe]

Welp, we are about five-ish hours from dinner and still no barf. I just looked at the ingredients and it seems the only noticeable difference I found was that the pate has potato starch. So maybe that bothers him? Feeding time is such a ballet around here, because the one who can't have chicken loves chicken, but of course Reginald prefers chicken, then two others only seem to like dry food and the last... I'm still trying to figure him out. He seems to change his tastes daily haha. CATS, amirite?

First off, hurray for now barf after five hours! I hope that just taking the potato starch (and any other potato ingredients, like just plain "potato" and "potato protein") out of Reginald's diet resolves things. It's used in multiple forms. Given that he's had other digestive blips, I'd strongly suggest keeping at the no-potato diet for a few days even if there's a barf or two. Though we've generally had quick results with Edwina, it can take a bit for a digestive system to resolve itself.

And yes, cats change their tastes very frequently!

Fingers crossed that the potato was the problem and you can move on!