Regurgitating food

My boy Ozzy has started vomiting up his food.  It looks like he vomits very shortly after eating, and the food that comes up looks whole (by that I mean undigested).  This is recent, and has been going on about a week.  We had tried switching the cats over to a healthier grain free food so we'd been mixing wet Friskies with a small (3 oz.) can of I forget what brand of grain free.  This was being divided between three cats so it was a very small bit of new food.  Now we've switched back to straight Friskies in case the food was what was upsetting his stomach.

Ozzy is quite a hunter and the past few days he has been bringing in and eating part of the rodents he's caught.      So I'm wondering if it's the rodent "parts" in his diet upsetting his stomach.  He hunts every year, though, and never had this problem before so I'm not sure.

He's four and has had absolutely no health problems up until now.  I've been putting off taking him to the vet, thinking it's his exotic rodent diet that's making him sick but I don't want to ignore something that might be serious, either.  

Any thoughts on what might be causing the sudden spell of vomiting?

Did this start after you went back to Friskies? 

stephanietx said:

 
Did this start after you went back to Friskies? 

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No, it was after we started mixing Friskies with the grain free food (I think it was Nature's Variety).  But he had also been doing a lot of hunting (like a rodent a day!) so I wasn't sure if it was the new food, the rodent parts, or something else.  Just a couple of days ago, I switched him back to just Friskies in case the Nature's Variety was the culprit.

Switching dry foods too quickly can often cause vomiting and diarrhea, so I was wondering if that was the root cause.  So he's back on Friskie's only and still vomiting?

Right.  The amount of regurgitation doesn't seem as much the past couple of days, so maybe it was something he ate outside that bothered him for a few days.  I'm just not sure.

Yeh, it sounds to me like it could've been something in the new food or something from outside. If it was something from outside, I guess there's really no telling what it could have been. My Caesar used to regurgitate his food terribly. It stopped once I switched to a different food. I suspect it was the venison in the first food, as some cats can't handle a red meat like that.

Could Ozzy have a hairball that needs to come up?

Do shorthair cats have problems with hairballs?  He never has before.

Maybe I just need to keep an eye on him for now.  He seems fine otherwise.  If he's still getting sick in a day or two, though, I'll probably take him in to the vet, just to be safe.

Keep an eye on him for now.  Keep a log of what you feed, when, and how much.  It could be that he's developed an intolerance to one of the ingredients.  Do you also feed canned, or just dry?

The food I was referring to above is wet food.  They also get dry but I haven't tried to switch that over yet to grain free--I didn't want to make too many dietary changes all at once.

I've always fed my cats Friskies brand, but after dealing with the two new IBD kitties for the past six months, I decided to try to get my younger cats switched over to something healthy so hopefully they don't start having troubles later in life, you know?  Rico and Zoe aren't minding the new food at all, just Ozzy.  

Dietary changes CAN upset a cat. Unless he ate a diseased animal, I doubt it's the rodents. After all, that's what he'd be eating in the wild - small animals! Maybe he had an allergy to something in the new food. Also, sometimes, cats just get vomit-y. My Noelle vomits up her food whole now and again.

Bottom line is, if he's getting enough food and water in his system and he's not having diarrhea, and if the vomiting has slowed and is stopping, I wouldn't worry. Cat stomachs are finnicky, so it was probably a minor upset. Just look out for continuing symptoms, diarrhea, not enough food and water, added lethargy, etc.

    to all.  My intuition says it's a temporary upset, but I thought I'd get a "second opinion" from all you wise folks at TCS.  I'll keep an eye on him and if it keeps up, I'll get him to the vet.

My Abby does that!  She goes and gorges on dry food. Eats as much as she can as quickly as she can and then 2 minutes later she starts hacking.  Up comes the food.  More hacking! Up comes some more food, maybe some liquid.  And then finally a hairball.

That's her way of getting rid of a hair ball. Annoying as all get! 

Yeah, all is well so far today, and in fact I did find a little pile of what looked suspiciously like a hairball on the dining room floor last night.  So hopefully that's that!

I think I've had IBD on the brain so much with these other kitties I've got, and I kind of overreacted....but I appreciate all the input.  So nice to have a knowledgeable and supportive community to bounce these things off of!  :-)

Ozzy's been just fine the past couple of days.  I think you were right, Natalie, about the hairball.  It just took so long to get it up--the poor guy puked for days!  

Now my little lovebug just showed up at the door from his usual morning romp outside, missing his collar, again.      Ah, well, I do have a collar stash.  :-)

Ugh.  Now that Ozzy is done with his regurgi-thon, he has passed the baton to Travis.  Travis is one of the inherited cats--he's done super well integrating with our cats.  In his kitty room, I used clay litter since that's what he and his roommates had in their previous home, but I use Swheat Scoop wheat litter for our cats.  Now that Travis is out in the house most of the time with our kitties, he's exploring everywhere.  Yesterday he started licking the wheat litter--and then promptly vomiting it up.  

I had him in to the vet a month or two ago, blood work and urinalysis done and the vet said that for his age (17) he's remarkably healthy.  Tests were all good, he's on no meds; he eats, drinks, pees and poops fine.  And he's not really EATING the litter, just sort of licking small amounts, so I'm pretty sure he's just experimenting and it will be a temporary thing.  

But good grief, cats, can't I have just one cat-puke-free day, PLEEEEEZE?!    

I have two cats and one will happily eat any brand of dried food with no problem ... the other will throw up anything that is not Whiskers Hairball Control.  They are both short-hairs but the sick-up one does groom itself more often than the other.

A follow up--we've now got the kitties mostly on Wellness grain free (wet).  I still give them some Friskies pate because they seem to like it, but they eat about 80% Wellness now.  Ozzy has had no problems at all.   I'm guessing he must have had an allergic reaction to the Nature's Variety.  

And Travis has stopped experimenting with eating the wheat litter!  LOL  So everybody's tummy seems to be doing well for the time being.  (hope I didn't jinx it by saying that!)  

Glad to hear your kitty is doing better on the new diet.

Great update!