An old concern around her for sure I suppose. My cat, Marzi, had good bloodwork, acts and eats normally except for frequently vomiting after the first feeding of the day - almost exclusively, rather than other times during the day. Like clockwork - after about 3-5 minutes after eating. I suppose it's distinguished from regurgitation being that there are stomach contractions and what comes out is loose / liquid rather than solid. I have tried different foods, including a Purina 11+ designed for easier digestion, as well as a higher non-vomit bowl. She had teeth cleaning a few weeks ago. Picky eating at times and so have to crumble up dry treats on top of her wet, canned food. But...good appetite (once she starts eating anyway). Vet and I have often discussed getting her for an ultrasound, which is about 30-40 minutes away. As she gets older (around 13-14 I guess...not sure), she's increasingly stressed by a car trip so hate to put her through more than truly necessary. Possible inflammatory bowel issue? Of late the vomiting is several times this past week, but then can go for as long as two weeks without any. She has a long history of vomiting over the years. Not a new issue at all, but probably more frequent of late. She's back to eating the brand of food that she did for the past 12 years. I had gotten her off of it after it seemed like she no longer wanted it. Since then, over the past several months she's been on several different wet foods and actually, right now, her feedings are a varied combination of 4 different wet foods - probably overkill in the search for something she'll want to stay with. This is a cat who was NEVER fussy about food her whole life until the past year or so. Oh well...any suggestions appreciated. If it's felt the ultrasound is truly worth it, I can schedule it.
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To get an ultrasound or not for frequent vomiting of food and mucus?
- Thread starter three4rd
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Hi. It would seem odd for her to have something like IBD/IBS with her only throwing up food in the morning. The other most common symptom of irritable bowel issues are either loose stools or sometimes constipation. Does she have either?
When my cat was throwing up in the morning it turned out to be from her going too many hours overnight without eating. As soon as I started giving her something to eat a little later at night and a little earlier in the morning, the vomiting stopped. Hers was a case of stomach acid build up. There are other cats who eat too fast when going too long without food, but that typically results in regurgitation, as you noted.
It seems older age brings on some pickiness with food too in some cats (mine included), so rotation is a good idea to help ward that off.
As far as the ultrasound, it is always nice when someone can afford to have one done as a cat ages. A few things were identified with my cat when she had her first ultrasound, so they can be beneficial. However, in your circumstances, I would look to see if feeding her later in the PM and earlier in the AM resolves the problem as the first step.
When my cat was throwing up in the morning it turned out to be from her going too many hours overnight without eating. As soon as I started giving her something to eat a little later at night and a little earlier in the morning, the vomiting stopped. Hers was a case of stomach acid build up. There are other cats who eat too fast when going too long without food, but that typically results in regurgitation, as you noted.
It seems older age brings on some pickiness with food too in some cats (mine included), so rotation is a good idea to help ward that off.
As far as the ultrasound, it is always nice when someone can afford to have one done as a cat ages. A few things were identified with my cat when she had her first ultrasound, so they can be beneficial. However, in your circumstances, I would look to see if feeding her later in the PM and earlier in the AM resolves the problem as the first step.
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Thanks Feebys. No loose stools. Have never seen that. She often does get her last feeding quite late - 10 / 11 pm - BUT till I get up (around 8 am) in the morning and get her food, it's often 8:30ish. Guess I should get my butt out of bed and down to the basement to get her an earlier feeding!! My wife is usually up by 7:00 or so, and thus undoubtedly the cat is already awake and hears her moving around upstairs, so figure she's waiting who knows how many hours feeling hungry till I get to her. Agreed on continuing to experiment with and/or rotate foods. It's a struggle sometimes. I can't believe that after trying lots of different brands and textures, I circled back to what she was eating all along! Maybe having taken a break from it for a few months, it was sort of 'new' again. She loved the Tiki shredded chicken food for awhile, but then passed it up after a month or so. It was a big change from the usual pate, and she went wild for it...for awhile. Picky picky....
I'm not so worried about this at home, but might be tough when she next goes into a kennel, which will be awhile yet though.
I'm not so worried about this at home, but might be tough when she next goes into a kennel, which will be awhile yet though.
You can always get an auto feeder to use overnight. They have ones for wet food with an ice compartment underneath to help keep the food fresher.
My cat will do better if I can find at least 7-10 different foods to rotate. Even then, there are times one or more of them just doesn't cut it - until the next time when it might.
My cat will do better if I can find at least 7-10 different foods to rotate. Even then, there are times one or more of them just doesn't cut it - until the next time when it might.
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I agree that it's probably stomach acid buildup. Especially if she's awake for several hours before she gets fed. Betty gets her last meal of the night at 9pm. It takes her two or three passes so it lasts her at least until midnight. Then I'm up at 5 every morning to get her breakfast and her morning meds. She takes meds twice a day and as much as I don't like waking at 5, I find 5 and 5 is the easiest schedule for both of us. After preparing her meal and giving her her medicine, we both climb back into bed for what I call "third sleep" (because I'm usually up at least once in the night) for a couple more hours.
Krista required even more frequent meals than that towards the end of her life when her IBD had progressed to lymphoma. Between the steroids and the lymphoma, she was always hungry. For her, there was often one to two overnight meals that were covered by timed feeders. Before the pandemic normalized work from home, I more often than not had to go into the office to work. She would get a daytime meal or two out of a timed feeder as well.
IBD or not, cats do better with smaller more frequent meals than two large ones a day. This seems to be especially true as they get older. Krista was taking about six meals a day between the steroids and the lymphoma. Betty has successfully come off steroids and has settled into four meals a day: breakfast at 5am, lunch at noon, dinner at 5 pm and second dinner/overnight at 9 pm. If I ever have to return to office or days when I can't work from home (power or internet outage or other engagement), I will set out a couple of feeders for her.
I like the clamshell design because it doesn't enforce a time limit on a portion like a wheel feeder does. You can use an ice pack under the meal compartment if you're worried about food freshness. But since this is an early morning or overnight meal, you may actually have the opposite problem. I suppose you could either warm up the gel pack in the microwave or put some hot water in the ice pack compartment to keep the food from getting too cold overnight. I recommend buying single feeders for maximum flexibility but deploying in pairs for maximum reliability. Malfunctions are rare. But if the cost of a malfunction is an acid barf, it's not a bad idea to split her meal across two feeders. While a single feeder failure is already quite rare (two or three times in hundreds of uses here), a double feeder failure has never happened in my experience with them.
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Krista required even more frequent meals than that towards the end of her life when her IBD had progressed to lymphoma. Between the steroids and the lymphoma, she was always hungry. For her, there was often one to two overnight meals that were covered by timed feeders. Before the pandemic normalized work from home, I more often than not had to go into the office to work. She would get a daytime meal or two out of a timed feeder as well.
IBD or not, cats do better with smaller more frequent meals than two large ones a day. This seems to be especially true as they get older. Krista was taking about six meals a day between the steroids and the lymphoma. Betty has successfully come off steroids and has settled into four meals a day: breakfast at 5am, lunch at noon, dinner at 5 pm and second dinner/overnight at 9 pm. If I ever have to return to office or days when I can't work from home (power or internet outage or other engagement), I will set out a couple of feeders for her.
I like the clamshell design because it doesn't enforce a time limit on a portion like a wheel feeder does. You can use an ice pack under the meal compartment if you're worried about food freshness. But since this is an early morning or overnight meal, you may actually have the opposite problem. I suppose you could either warm up the gel pack in the microwave or put some hot water in the ice pack compartment to keep the food from getting too cold overnight. I recommend buying single feeders for maximum flexibility but deploying in pairs for maximum reliability. Malfunctions are rare. But if the cost of a malfunction is an acid barf, it's not a bad idea to split her meal across two feeders. While a single feeder failure is already quite rare (two or three times in hundreds of uses here), a double feeder failure has never happened in my experience with them.
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