Is it my fault?

I came home tonight finding my 6 year old male cat had thrown up in our dining room. Now this was not a hairball with some vomit, it was pretty much strictly food.

I had fed him a different "type" of the same brand of wet food this morning than I did this afternoon. I also was running out of his usual dry food and replaced it again with the same brand, just different kind. I feel awful because I am a very NEW cat owner and I'm not sure what is appropriate and what isn't. I had a dog in the past and they are like garbage disposals but I'm finding my cat's stomach to be very finicky. Do you think the reason for the vomit was because of all the change in the food today?

Does anyone else find that their cats vomit every so often? I adopted him around 5-6 weeks ago and this is the first real vomit I have experienced. Is this normal. I could use some advice/reassurance. I feel horrible! (

Maybe you cat ate to fast? Maggie sometimes does that and up will come unchewed dry food. You can't do anthing about how fast they eat so I would not blame myself if I were you.

Were you able to recognize the food (the dry food)? If so, that was regurgitation, which is often caused simply by eating too fast. Cats have a shorter digestive tract than we do, so tossing their cookies isn't always quite the awful experience we as humans feel. Or was it actual vomit? In any event, an occasional bit of vomiting isn't always an emergency, if the cat is otherwise acting ok (fairly energetic, peeing and pooing ok). if your kitty continues to vomit, do contact your vet, though. Or if he seems otherwise out of sorts (hiding from you, not using the litter box, really lethargic), please call your local e-vet to describe the symptoms (I'm giving you the real worst case scenario here - if he ate something really bad for him).

Many cats do seem to have far more sensitive tummies than we would think - especially with dry food. The bags will usually tell you how to transition from one food to the other.

I learned all this the hard way myself - and, yes, I do have my vet's office on speed call, why do you ask? I have learned to always pick up a new bag of food, or case of wet food, when I get about half way through the current food, so I don't run out. Sure, I'll run out of milk myself,but I learned to always make sure I have kitty food around.

But we all learn from experience - I was a nervous wreck at the beginning. The first hairball - gee, I was practically ready to toss mine in the car and run to the vet! But I did learn the occasional tossing of cookies can be nothing too terrible - but I do try to keep a log of any unusual event, so I can see if there's a pattern.

How's your guy now? If he's still seems upset, if you can poach a plain chicken breast and feed it to him slowly when it's cooled, it may settle his tummy a bit. No spices - no onion or garlic!

Also, THANK YOU for adopting an adult cat - they're too often passed over. Mine were adopted at about age four, and I can tell you that they are the most loving cats you'll even find - I think they may appreciate a forever home even more than a kitten.

Sometimes it upsets a cat digestive system to switch foods suddenly. I would mix it together in equal portions and then increase the amount of the new food gradually until the cat is eating all new food. Hope you kitty is okay now.