Eating too fast???

One of my two boys, least once a week vomits up what looks like his complete undigested dinner (or breakfast). He acts perfectly normal, eats fine and drinks plenty of water. But he does this weird vomiting thing right (usually, but not always) after he eats. COuld he be expelling a hair ball or could he just be eating too fast? His weight is fine and seems perfectly normal so I'm not thinking it's a stomach problem, but I'm at a loss! Anyone else experience this or have any ideas?

Thanks!
Toni

My Snoopy, who is now 18 years old, used to do that same thing when he was a younger cat. It was like he swallowed his food without chewing it, and it would make him sick. I never did anything about it, except clean up the mess. He doesn't do it anymore. I always thought he got sick, because he didn't chew it properly. My mother always told us when we were kids, that we needed to chew our food, or we'd get sick, so I just assumed that was the problem with my Snoopy.

It kinda looks like he's just wolfing it down - there are usually entire peices of dry food in there! There's also hair but I figured that's to be expected. How young was your Snoopy when he did this and how long did it take for him to stop? Jake is kind of messing up my carpet.

I would feed the kitty very small meals several times a day. This should keep the vomiting to a minimum.

Snoopy did this off and on up until about 5 or 6 years ago. Then he slowed down, took the time to chew, and I didn't have that problem. He never did it with wet food, except the time we cut up some chicken and gave him that. He didn't bother to chew the chunks, just swallowed them whole. Now, that was disgusting.

I posted an answer here, and think the post would be relevant here too. Good luck!
Vomiting after Meals

He might be eating too fast or have food allergies. Try smaller meals throughout the day and you may want to have a vet check him out just in case. Maybe a special low allergen diet for a few weeks to see if it is an allergy to food might also be a good idea. Ask your vet.

Sphinx (my 17 year old) is on a special food for allergies and IBS. Its called IVD Green Peas and Rabbit. Its expensive but worth it. He hasn't had a problem since.

My cat Lucky does this now and again. He's approx. 16 and very robust - like your cat, he's just sick and then carries on as though nothing happened. It's almost always the result of him eating too fast. DragonLady suggests giving your cat smaller quantities and that has helped Lucky in the sense that he throws up smaller amounts - worth trying !

Smaller quatities throughout the day is a great idea, but, unfortunately, is not practical. I work all day long and don't get home until after 6 and work too far away to come home during the day. He seems perfectly fine. Maybe he's just a pig?

Thanks for the link too. I think I'll try to elevate the dish - sounds like a good idea!

Two of my cats do the same thing. They swallow their treats and food whole. Eventually, they puke it all back up -- usually once a week.
I haven't found a good solution that works. When I tried elevating the bowl, they knocked out the food onto the floor.

My cat did this for years, then when I switched to Science Diet because one of the other cats had tummy trouble, the barfer quit barfing. To think that she barfed all those years because of the food rather than because she ate too quickly made me so sad.

So, try feeding a higher quality food and see whether that helps.

Ours eat Iams Weight Control and still barf.

Try a different food and see whether that helps.

You are not alone. My cat ChiChi at my parents house used to do this at least once a week.. vomiting her entire dinner. She's fine otherwise.

Jake did it AGAIN last night. Or at least I think it was Jake (sometimes it's hard when you have more than one and don't actually see them do it.)

I'm gonna try to raise the food dish. Hmmm.. now I need to figure out how.........

You might look on the internet on sites that sell cat bowls, like maybe Peco or the TCS homepage. They might have something specially made for bowls that lifts them off the ground. If they don't have it for cats they may have them for dogs and that might work.

Good luck.

I tried something new that (so far) seems to be working. Normally, they have dry food available to them all day and in the evenings I give them their wet dinner. This seems to be what Jake has been scarfing up and then spewing back. Sooooo... what I did was to mix the wet with some dry so he doesn't think he'll have to gorge himself and it seems to be working. I've been doing it for a few days now and no "incidents" (fingers crossed).

So much for "no more incidents". Have had two in the last few days. Any ideas on better food (wet and dry) that won't break the bank?

Patches does this once in a while and i asked the vet about
it and she said that most animals will do this from time
to time