Problems with foster

Our foster cat Madeline was found on October 18 at the local landfill.  She weighed six pounds, when she should ideally weigh around 12.  She's up to nine pounds now, so she's gaining weight well.  Her fur was falling out and has now started looking a little fuller.

The problem is, she's throwing up.  Not regularly but every other day or so.  Sometimes there are huge hairballs in it; others it is just her last meal.  I am feeding her Blue Buffalo duck dry (she gets about 1/4 cup a day) and two 3.5 ounce cans of wet food (half a can, 4 x a day).   Mostly duck but also FF turkey kitten food.  Sometimes FF chicken classic.

I haven't been able to determine if there is a particular food she's not tolerating or if its because she's still recuperating from almost starving.

She has never thrown up the FF but has thrown up Wellness, Merrick's and ProPlan kitten.  I've pretty much got her on the FF kitten and classic (turkey or chicken).

Do you think she's still recuperating?  Any other ideas?

I am hoping she doesn't have something wrong.  She does have a round belly, although she's been wormed twice and her fecal sample comes  negative for parasites.

She could be sensitive to one of the ingredients in the canned food.  Maybe try a process of elimination to figure out what.  How often is she vomiting?  If it's every day I would recommend getting her checked out by a Vet, she could have something wrong with her.

I haven't been able to figure it out.  She has a vet appointment Monday, so I am definitely going to mention it.  She hasn't thrown up more than once a day and it's only happened every other day - sometimes every third day.

It's good you have a vet appointment sheduled, and not too long to wait to get things checked out, and know if you should check out more if there are any food sensitivities. 

I am sending good vibes that Madeline's belly getting more rounded is a healthy thing.  I am assuming she is not showing any signs of discomfort when you touch her belly, and it is reasonaly soft to touch.  Of course this will depend on whether she lets you get that close.

It sounds like she is having quite regular furballs, is she long haired, and is she still shedding quite a bit as well as her fur growing back?  Wondering also if your cat bolts her food or if you feed small amounts on a regular basis, or if you find that hasn't made any difference to her throwing up.  May be her system just can't accommodate digesting larger quanitities, esp if she's ingensting a lot of fur too.  

Is she wolfing her food and then vomiting? I had a hard time with Gadget recently with beef, only to come to the possible conclusion that he was wolfing down the rich beef and thus causing him to vomit. If she's excited over a food she doesn't get often, I'm thinking this might be a possibility?

Do you groom her?  That would help with the hairballs.  Also, has she been dewormed?  She may need another deworming treatment.

Thanks, guys!

She gets small meals several times a day.  I brush her every day - almost always twice a day.  She has medium length hair and she is still shedding a lot, which is what makes me think its hairballs.

I gave her some egg yolk lecithin when she first got here and may start that again.  The vomiting started after I stopped giving her that, so ...

She has been dewormed (she had hookworms and God knows what else).   But her last two fecal tests have come up negative.

Her belly is a little firm but not distended.  She is such a sweetheart, she lets me flip her over and check her out.

We'll see what the vet says.  I'd be more worried if she wasn't still gaining weight.

The other thing you could do is keep a food diary.  Make a note of what you feed (what variety) and when/if she throws up.  That might help narrow down what's going on food-wise.  She's probably shedding because of her ill health when you brought her in and the stress of a new environment.  Good thing she allows you to groom her!

Thanks, Stephanie.  That's a good idea.  I only feed her three or four different foods, so it won't be hard to narrow it down.

I wonder too about eating too quick not helping matters - I wonder if she eats fast because of food being scarce at the start of her life? My cat always threw up when he ate dry food (swells in their tummies) or after his first meal of the day. I think the first meal was because he'd not eaten all night and wolfed it down fast. I've been since feeding a fairly large meal (wet) just before I to to bed and I think it's helped - the sickness has stopped pretty much. I do not feed him dry any more after a UTI.

Good luck with Maddy, I hope she'll be ok soon.

Surprisingly, she does not wolf.  She did at first but as soon as she realized she could depend on me, she was fine.  I am beginning to think it might be the dry - I gave it to her only because I worried about her going hungry at first.  I will begin to taper that off after the vet visit if she's gained a sufficient amount of weight.

I will also try giving her a larger meal at night and see what happens.  Thanks!