What can cause vomiting only when feeding dry food?

solomonar

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My tomcat has gastritis, for 2 years now. He was on Nexium (esomeprazol) for 2 months. When I stopped the treatment (vet decision), he started to vomit and/or regurgitate (gastric juice + non-digested dry food) a few minutes after feeding dry food - Purina Delicat. I switched to Purina intestinal - the same result.

6 years old, integer.

The advice I got from the vet (to the moment of consultation) is to feed less than one spoon at once and, if possible to completely switch to wet food.

I am confused. Any clue?
 
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solomonar

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Talien Talien
Yes, I am doing that, but I do not understand what is happening.
To me, one can either eat or not.
 

Talien

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Dry food is known to cause digestive issues because it is full of plant material that is not digestible by Cats, and is nutritionally barren without the slew of supplements that have to be added to make it nutritionally complete. Basically if your Cat has been fed dry food his whole life that could very well be the cause and he may be developing an intolerance or allergy. If that is the case it won't matter what kind of dry food you feed him, he'll still be sick from eating it.
 

gilmargl

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I feed wet food but have always left some dry food out. Sometimes at night one of my cats will eat either too much, or too quickly and will vomit it straight back out. The kibble has not been chewed, it comes out not much different from when it went in. Many of my cats have had this problem. I'm sure it's not a health issue. Cats were just not made to eat dry food. Your vet is probably correct in telling you to feed only small portions - but, fill the cat up with wet food first so that he doesn't feel the need to eat it all at once.
 
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solomonar

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Thank you, Talien Talien , gilmargl gilmargl !

My tomcat is clearly in distress: attacks me (well, playful, not hurting but is still not the way he behaves usually) purrs without being petted.

Apart from feeding wet food only, I do not know what else to do.

Some say not to let him drink for 6 hours after vomiting, but I am very reluctant to do that.
 

bear

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Is he wolfing his dry food?
Sometimes they eat it too fast and it comes back up.

Does the kibble look pretty much whole and not broken up when he regurgitates it?
This can make it more difficult to digest.
It can also be an indication of dental or mouth problems.
Cats without teeth can crush some kibble against the roof of the mouth breaking it down.
However if it is going down whole, it might require softer food.
 
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solomonar

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Is he wolfing his dry food?
Sometimes they eat it too fast and it comes back up.

Does the kibble look pretty much whole and not broken up when he regurgitates it?
Exactly!
But he does that for some months, not so frequently as these days.
Yes, the kibbles look whole.
 
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FeebysOwner

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I am thinking that the dry food doesn't absorb the extra acids in his stomach, somewhat due to the flavoring that a lot of dry foods are coated with, along with the fact that most cats don't really chew up dry food and so a lot of it goes down to the stomach in nearly whole pieces. The Nexium reduced the level of acid being produced in his stomach, and as a result he threw up less.

Wet food will absorb the acids much better, and so would help to reduce vomiting. Eating too fast and going a long time without food will exacerbate vomiting and regurgitation. So, feeding him more often might help the situation. Will he eat wet food? If not, you can also try to add water to the dry food he likes to see if he will eat it that way as it might help with the stomach acids. You can also try to add a bit of wet food to his dry food to see if he might eat it that way as well.

A lot of people seem to think a cat should be denied food/water if they have vomited/regurgitated - I am not one of them. As long as you have a pretty good idea of what is behind the throwing up and can find solutions, such as wet food, I would be inclined to let them try to eat/drink when they are ready. Most cats will want to eat/drink soon after throwing up because they feel hungry. If your cat is regurgitating from the dry food hitting stomach acids, then after he has thrown up he may have vomited enough acids up to enable him to eat - but, if he will eat wet food that is what I would feed him first.
 

bear

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You may be able to slow his pace of eating.
Can you use a larger plate or bowl and give just a smaller part of his meal to start.
Spread the kibble out so that it slows him down.
When he finishes that first section, give him a little time and repeat the process.
If he is attacking his food like a kibble vacuum cleaner, that may require a different approach.

I have had two boys who would eat quickly and then lose it shortly afterward.
Both ended up being diagnosed with pancreatitis.

I switched much of their calories to wet food. This helped.
I was able to slow them down more by adding 2 to 3 ounces of water to their wet food.
They would start by lapping up the gravy.
This slowed them down by getting something into their stomachs easier to digest.
The stomach's digestive fluids and later the pancreas's fluids plus the bile could be partially diluted by the extra water with their food.

Cats normal meals in nature have a higher concentration of moisture than dry kibble.
 

bear

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I have not heard of keeping a cat away from water if he barfs.
Personally I rarely barf. I rarely garf (a sort of gargle barf).
I can't imagine that a cat, you or I, would want the acids in our food passage way, mouth or noses.
So having access to water should help put it back to the stomach which will handle it better.
If they vomit again, it's just what is going on and not their fault. They need to reduce the acidity in their upper pipes.
 

bear

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Since you have been working with your Vet for a while on your boy's gastritis, you have likely already taken this action.

Take an inventory of your houseplants (or check outside if he goes out).
Then look up each one for toxicity to pets.
I found out my first boy with gastritis was the reason my potted pothos plant was not doing well. I caught him eating the leaves. Once I found it in his discharge, I trashed the large beautiful plant and his gastritis went away for several years.
 
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solomonar

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bear bear I have some plants in the room - I will check the toxicity

I fully agree - the dry food is not appropriate. The only reason I opted for dry food is that he eats mostly during nighttime, so I cant leave wet food in the bowl.

If I could train him to feed daytime I could feed him wet food only.
 

Talien

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bear bear I have some plants in the room - I will check the toxicity

I fully agree - the dry food is not appropriate. The only reason I opted for dry food is that he eats mostly during nighttime, so I cant leave wet food in the bowl.

If I could train him to feed daytime I could feed him wet food only.
You could get a timed feeder and set it to open at night when he usually eats. daftcat75 daftcat75 can probably do a better job of explaining it than I can, since he's used them much more recently.
 

daftcat75

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I like the clamshell timed feeders. They are affordable and there's no time limit on a portion like there is with the wheel feeders. If you need more meals, get more feeders. Krista took to them right away.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FT93YM2/?tag=thecatsite

In the hundreds of times that I deployed these feeders, they only failed to open less than a handful of times. But that first time it failed to open and Krista had a stomach acid barf, that was all the convincing I needed to deploy them in pairs. I would split her meals across a pair. Even if one failed to open, she would still have the other. I never had a double failure. Unless you count the few times that Krista woke me in the middle of the night to convince me to pop one for her early. 🤦‍♂️ 😹
32682466-D9D7-4D36-B6FC-E73EBF63CEC3.jpeg
This was her parked before her nighttime feeders. I set one to open at 1am and the other at 3am. Sometimes I got a 2am paw asking for an early pop. 😹😻
 
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