Vomitter

[bluebirdy]

Hello All,

I have a bonded pair that are 1 year 5 months old. The female is a vomitter, always has been though it comes and goes. It typically happens immediately after she eats, and she is a food gobbler. I feed a combination of Royal Canin dry and wet food. I feel wet twice a day and leave a bit of dry around which is typically finished up by the evening feeding.

My little girl vastly prefers the dry and enjoys gobbling quickly. She typically pukes 2-3 times after eating each meal 3-4 times a week. It never affects her energy levels, and poop/peeing is fine though she is smaller than her brother (but she's more tuxedo and he is more tabby) She is a medium hair (longer around neck, shorter elsewhere), which may contribute to the problem. If she ever gets outside, she goes immediately to chew on plants. I can't have any plants in the house because she hovers them all.

I will be taking them to the vet in a couple weeks (had planned now but changed jobs and they messed up my pay and are working on fixing it). I had tried her on a GI sensitive food previously but it did nothing. The problem is the way that she eats I think (hooverer) combined with her longer hair which I comb regularly. I considered using slowing feeding, but I'm already worried because her brother already eats more than his share and is starting to get a bit chunky. Both of them are also plastic lickers (but thankfully not chewers).

Anyone else have this problem? Is it a sign of something more serious? I mentioned it to the vet each time we had a check (and we had an extra wellness check when I moved a few months ago). They all said she looks healthy and is a healthy weight. We gave her an anti-worm pill just in case.

 

[duckpond]

I also have a cat that scarfs and barfs occasionally. I feed wet twice a day and leave dry out also. I notice with my guy if i am late with the wet food meal he tends to barf. It seems if he has eaten dry and then eats quite a bit of wet he over eats and barfs. I try to never be late

You can meal feed dry, just like you do wet, sometimes this will help. little more work, but so is barf 2 wet meals a day, then 2 dry meals per day, this way you can control the calories each cat gets better than free feeding?

You may also want to change up the food to something different and give that a try, some brands are worse than others.

If my cat gets bigger chunks of food he barfs. smaller chunks or shreds not so much, and smaller sized kibble helps too. Others have posted that just the opposite with their cat, large sized food works better, so you may have to play around and see which works best for your girl.

With dry food i use a large paper plate, anything flat would work, and put out a single layer of food. slows down the eating better than a deep bowl that he can grab a mouth full.

Your vet may have other ideas, and im sure people will post ideas as well. good luck.

 

[maggiedemi]

Have you tried hairball paste or treats every other day? That helped my long haired girl.

 

[Timmer]

something Duckpond said reminded me of my girls years ago and I had a cat that threw up a lot. I switched to feeding them on plates. Small dessert plates that I picked up at a garage sale. That slowed the eating down. See if it's in a bowl type thing, they push the nuggets up against the side but if it's flat on a plate, they sort of have to chase it to get it into their mouths. That works.
My other thought is what if she has a food allergy.
Kidney issues is another thing. That's what ended up happening with my cat who threw up a lot. I had her for years and later on she was diagnosed with kidney problems. My vet told me that kidney cats produce more stomach acid.
I also have a cat who is obsessed with licking plastic. Always has been like that. She's fine, 13 years old now. I wonder what it is about the plastic.

 

[abyeb]

You’ve already gotten a lot of great advice from other posters, but I’d just like to link you to an article that you might find helpful: Your Cat Throwing Up?

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi - one other thought, I read somewhere that someone with a cat that ate way too fast was able to slow things down by putting a bottle cap in the food dish. Good luck!

 

[bluebirdy]

Thank you everyone for you feedback. Feeding Lillie ona. Flat plate seems to have helped the last couple days. It’s didficult because she does best if there is food available regularly (she prefers to graze and meal times usually mean vomit because she eats quickly when hungry) but her brother will eat to much of food is available 24-7. She also does better with only wet food but she vastly prefers dry food. I might try other wet foods and see if there is something f she likes better.

 

[Furballsmom]

I don't know the cost, but a possibility might be to get an automated food dish that has a chip in it corresponding to a chip on a cat collar tag, and when the cat comes near the door flips open to allow access to the food for only that cat.
Also, regarding getting her to eat wet food, you could try some tempters/toppers of tuna, tuna juice, baby food with no garlic or onion, mixing in goat milk, heating up the food a little bit, trying some kitten food or even Kitten Milk Replacer.