Regularly vomiting undigested food

sarahp

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My neighbours cat vomits up her food at least a couple of times a week. She's on the Science Diet Weight Control food I believe. They give her small amounts 3 times a day.

My thoughts were:

1) She's a piggy, which is why she's on the diet, and just gets hungry and eats too fast. Maybe switch to a more natural dry food which may fill her up, but still be healthy?

2) Try Purina One Sensitive Systems dry in case there's something in the Science Diet she's sensitive to.

3) Raise the food bowl in case she's just not digesting it properly.

Does anyone else have any other suggestions I can give her?
 

ronit

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Hi !
maybe her stomach wont tolerate it or maybe she is constipated or has hairballs, was she doing the same with other foods before Science Diet Weight Control ?

Regards
 

sharky

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My thoughts were:

1) She's a piggy, which is why she's on the diet, and just gets hungry and eats too fast. Maybe switch to a more natural dry food which may fill her up, but still be healthy?

Great idea ... start with no by products ... then no wheat and soy ... then no corn ...
HOW old is the cat ??? Wt control may not be the best choice

2) Try Purina One Sensitive Systems dry in case there's something in the Science Diet she's sensitive to.

It is not that much different than SD so no
3) Raise the food bowl in case she's just not digesting it properly.

YES raise it and or use a plate or flat dish

Does anyone else have any other suggestions I can give her?
 

sandtigress

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I was going to suggest the plate, and spread the food around so it takes her longer to eat it. It might be just that she's wolfing food down too fast, and then throwing it up as a consequence. That would certainly be an easy thing to try, while you're looking for food alternatives.
 

mom_to_four

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You can also try to add a little water to it. Let the food soak for a few minutes then give it to her. It will slow her down some.

The flat dish works too.
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by Mom_To_Four

You can also try to add a little water to it. Let the food soak for a few minutes then give it to her. It will slow her down some.

The flat dish works too.
If you mean adding water to dry food, that's not a good idea. It's better to feed a wet food than add water to a dry food. Sharky, help me out here because my menopausal brain doesn't always function well, but I believe it has to do with a bacterial issue.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by Yosemite

If you mean adding water to dry food, that's not a good idea. It's better to feed a wet food than add water to a dry food. Sharky, help me out here because my menopausal brain doesn't always function well, but I believe it has to do with a bacterial issue.
NO issues


A bacteria bloom can occur from wetting dry food if not eaten in 20-30 minutes
 

going nova

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My Nova was throwing up undigested food, and the vet thought it might be hairballs. Hairballs did come up a couple of times, but most of the time it was just food.
 

emrldsky

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Nuh uh...might give me away!
If she's just eating too fast, have them place a golfball in the dish. She'll have a hard time pushing it out, and will have to eat around it, slowing her down in the process.

Other than that, I don't have any ideas. :/
 

artgecko

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I'd suggest that they take her to the vet...We had a cat that would do this ocassionally (she was ~10 years old) then she started doing it more frequently. We decreased portions, even tried olive oil on the food.

We ended up taking her to the vet, after I found her not moving under a bed one day. Apparently she had a blockage in her digestive tract (intestines I believe) and the food would go that far and then come back up... She died while at the vets office and it was to late to do anything for her... If we had taken her to the vet when we first noticed the throwing up, might have saved her. He did an autopsy (which is how we found out what it was).

Has she been on that food for a while and just started this? Our cat had no changes in diet, etc, just started the throwing up one day and it got progressively worse. If her diet has recently changed, could be the new food, but I'd take her to the vet anyway, just to make sure.

Art
 

mom_to_four

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I was thinking if the cat was going to eat it right away. If not then no it shouldn't be done.

Also, I was just meaning it as a thought. Sorry I didn't put that. My mistake.
 
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sarahp

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Originally Posted by Mom_To_Four

I was thinking if the cat was going to eat it right away. If not then no it shouldn't be done.

Also, I was just meaning it as a thought. Sorry I didn't put that. My mistake.
Don't apologise for trying to help


The cat has been doing it for ages. I was telling my friend about everyone's advice, and she said more recently she's actually been throwing up more bile than actual food, and they discover most of it in the morning. I didn't realise it had changed.

They are going to take her to a vet, but will also try lifting her food up higher, and changing to a better quality food.

They have a baby, so my friend comes downstairs in the morning with the baby, tripping over the cat who's meowing for breakfast, puts the baby down, only to realise there's cat spew everywhere, so runs around trying to clean up the spew before her baby can get to it, all the while still tripping over the cat who is still demanding breakfast. All before she's even fully awake.
 

artgecko

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Hopefully it won't be anything like a blockage, but because this has been ongoing, I am certainly glad she is taking the cat to the vet... Ours did the vomiting thing over a period of months, gradually getting more and more severe.

Even if not a severe health problem, it's good to at least have "peace of mind" that you know it isn't something bad (by going to the vets).

Art
 

shashagirl

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Shasha started vomiting over the summer. I took her to the vet and they ran all kinds of test and told me she had food allergies. I changed her diet and so far so good.
 

jellybella

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Bella has been an off and on spewer for the last year. She's had x-rays and vet exams and we came down to she just eats too darn fast (in her defense, she did starve for a period of time before she came to the rescue). We have: raised the bowl and given her a wider bowl, put more water in her WET food, tried big rocks/marbles in the dish (I don't advise that one it was more work than it was worth for me to clean them) and giving her small regular meals.

Changing the dish and giving her frequent small meals of wet food has helped. In addition, if I give her dry food, I put half of her portion in a puzzle box and she has to work for it
 

fishtreatsmom

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Hi,

I am having the same problems with my 7 yr old Monty. He is vomiting every other day and I'm finding wads of fur in there. I'm starting to wonder if some of the fur is his or maybe the other two cats we have??? hmmmm I have the cats on Purina One indoor formula. The oldest one throws up hairballs sometimes too (she's 14) but she sheds a lot, the youngest one doesn't throw up at all! We have carpeting and kitty condos and soon we'll have to change everything due to all the kitty puke. Help! Anything I can do to stop this mess?
 
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