Cats vomiting--tainted catfood? Help please!

After the cat food poisonings of a few years ago, I am really worried as my two cats, who are 8 months old, have, suddenly began to vomit. I have had them since they were 9weeks old and so their recent vomiting, for no apparent reason, is something new, as they never have done this prior.

I am certain that hairballs are not the reason, as they are so young, short haired, and do not groom themselves excessively.

The only two common denominators are that they are sisters (a possible allergy or sensitivity genetically in both cats) and they eat the same food.

I feed them Fancy Feast, Friskies in the can, and Purina Kitten Chow. All products purchased from Wal.Mart.


I am also extremely vigilant about keeping their environment safe. So no foreign body, cleaning product, or drug is suspect.

I was a vet tech for 10 years and am observing them with an educated eye. My conclusion, since both are vomiting is not an intestinal obstruction as I worried when only one was vomiting, but that the food could be tainted.

If anyone is having this problem currently, or can advise me what to do, I would be very much appreciate a reply.

As many of you know the place that our pets hold in our lives is great. My cats are crucial to my well-being and I can not lose them to something that I can prevent.

I am also on a very limited income due to being disabled which means vet care is not offered to me, here in Spokane, even though both cats are certified therapeutic animals by the state of Washington, so if anyone knows how I can attain low cost vet care in the Spokane area, please reply with that valuable information too.

Meanwhile, even though it will be a financial drain, I am looking for a quality cat food to feed as I am NOT risking their lives by feeding them something that could be poisonous.

I shall search other cat message boards to see if others are having this problem and also put out my info in case it turns out to be tainted food like it was before.

If anyone can assist me with any of my questions, please reply.

Thank you all

It may be an intolerance to some of the ingredients in the foods - most especially the kibble - rather than something "off" about them.

Try switching to an all wet diet... preferably, if you can, a grain-free one. Wellness and Natural Balance both sell grain-free wet foods through the big-box stores (Petco, etc.).

I lost a cat in the 2007 pet food poisoning, so I share your concern on a fairly intimate level. Please let us know how your kitties do when you switch foods!

Best regards!

AC

Hi and welcome! I would switch food. Since both girls are vomiting at the same time, it must be food related. Bad bag of dry? Get them off of that purina kitten chow. I do feed fancy feast canned sometimes but only the higher quality flavors my cats do love this. I feed Wellness Core dry, it is pricey but I don't use alot of it as I feed mostly wet food too. Three quarter wet and one quarter dry. I use wellness, evo, solid gold, fancy feast wet food. These food are more pricey but you don't need to feed as much of it as the other you were feeding.

Not sue if that is the problem, but I would start there. There are others on this site that will have more info for you. I sure hope you get to the bottom of this.

I will take a completely different guess here, for something that has been going on in my house, and judging by the fact that you are feeding different brands.... That would be a heck of a coincidence right there...
Have you had a sudden temperature change lately? Did the weather over there suddenly warmed up?
Here in Dallas we had an increase of over 50F in an week - the results? In my house I had so far one blockage and 2 other cats (totally 3 out of 4) throwing up hairballs. Lucky, the one who had the blockage, regurgitated everything she ate.
Gracie, on the other hand, vomited yellow fluid with pieces of hairball. Bugsy did the same. Basically, out of 4 cats, only one didn't start throwing up with this temperature change - I was suddenly in a hairball nightmare!

The furminator is out, and so is the Vaseline. Lucky of course was way more complicated - she had to have an enema, SubQ fluids, injection of Vit-b for appetite, appetite stimulants, and was syringe fed for 3-days.

They will be getting a Vaseline dose every couple of days for a good while now. You might want to consider hairballs.....

Are they throwing up or regurgitating? Regurgitating would be undigested food, you will see the pieces, and it will be soon after they eat.

If they are vomiting on the other hand, the situation can be much more serious, and you really want to consider taking them to the vet.

I would take them off the dry to-but keep them on the same wet to see if it clears up. I had an issue with some dry food from walmart a few years ago(no idea brand but it was either friskies or purina) a few months later I saw something that convinced me to never by dry there-the roof was leaking(edit-all in the cat food overstock above the normal shelf space) and the birds were flying around the pet food section.

Was that the reason who knows. Only issue I am having lately is Purina pro plan urinary health-cats refused it-like ALL!!! my cats. The dog ate it...hes got BAD runs(he gets mostly dog food but tends to take the outside cats leftovers, Being that the outside cat refused it he got about a cup of it.

I keep the trial bags(good coupons/amazing buy) in a plastic food storage container as I use that as a "treat food" So dont have the exact code/lot otherwise would have called it in(when will we learn to not throw them away???)

The more wet imo the better. I am treating a diabetic cat right now first thing I did was move him to all wet friskies. After my dry runs out(awhile..) I am going to do the deals for canned only.

Depends on when you see the vomiting? Is it vomiting or is it regugatation? Regurgiation happens when the food gets stuck in the throat and it won't travel any further. Vomiting happens later and it can be because of a heavy parasite load, gulping when eating (they swallow a lot of air) hairballs (yes short-haired cats get hairballs) food intolerance or health issues. I don't think I would press the panic button and assume the cat food is tainted. Did you check the expiration date before you bought any? Wal mart isn't that effiecient about moving stale food off their lines.

Just use this check list

when does this vomiting appear?
what color is it?
is it solid or liquid (liquid can mean a huge hairball in the way)
how soon after they eat do they vomit?

You can provide cat grass or organic catnip for them to lick and chew to help with digestive upset. Sadly, the new form of pepcid is now toxic to cats but the older form isn't. Some drugstores still carry the old brand.

Make sure their water bowl is away from the food so they have to actually walk away to drink

elevate their food bowls

check for fever, lethargy etc- but if you are a vet tech you know this already.

In the last pet food poisoning I lost several cats and I was feeding a "quality" branded pet food. I now feed the brands you mentioned and I haven't had any problems with my crew.

Originally Posted by hissy

Just use this check list

when does this vomiting appear?
what color is it?
is it solid or liquid (liquid can mean a huge hairball in the way)
how soon after they eat do they vomit?

Click to expand...

Oh dear. Presley started vomiting clear liquid and foam over the weekend. He also vomited undigested food right after eating. I am thinking it is a hairball. He did this for two days and not today. He is only seven months old, I assumed he was too young for hairballs!!!