Can not keep food down

My 19 year old cat can only keep down canned food if it is purred. Now and then he will also vomit the purred food up also. He uses the litter pan with both solid and liquid waste deposits. He does not appear to be loosing weight and acts normally.

Has anyone out there experienced this? Any ideas what I can do to remedy this?

Thank you in advance for your help. 

Hi kittyperson.  Lovely to hear you have a 19 year old in you home.  Until a 3 years ago I too had pensioner cats in my home and was extremely fond of them as they grew older and their cat ways changed.  It is good to hear your cat is not loosing weight or showing other signs that something might be wrong.  Is the only tolerating pureed food a recent thing or has he had this issue for a long time? Also, with his bringing his food back up, is this a new thing?

Have you noticed if it makes any difference if he eats small amounts at a time, or if you give him different varieties / flavours?

Vomiting food back up can be a sign of a few different conditions common in older cats and if this is a change since your vet last saw him it would certainly be a good idea for you to arrange for him to have a thorough check up.  Particularly if it doesn't matter whether he has only eaten small amounts, or if it is with any kind of food.

I have had Gibbs since he was a kitten. He started urping up food about 6 months ago. He did not do it consistently but it became more consistent until I began pureeing his food. That worked for a while and then he started urping up the pureed. Now sometimes he keeps it down and sometimes not. I think I will take your advice and see if another food would help.

The unfortunate  thing is that I have two other cats. I have had to move Gibbs to a bedroom so that he does not eat the other two cats kibble and from the can food. He wants to be with his friends. He is a very social fellow. I have the door to the room he is in open with two wooden expandable gates atop each other so he can see what is happening. 

Thanks. I will try another brand of high end natural food and see what happens. I am also going to try some DINO VITE. Has anyone had an experience with it?

I hope you find this helps, but as it has been a gradual change over 6 months, if he hasn't seen a vet in this time I would think about taking him along due to vomiting or having difficulty keeping food down being one sign of a number of health issues.

I am attaching a link here for an article on health and older cats for your general information. I hope it is useful in keeping your 19 year old happy and comfortable, 19 years is a long time to have a fur companion sharing your life, and it is a very special relationship to be nurtured.  I hope he can be reintroduced to his cat friends soon as I am sure this isolation will be hard for him.

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/health-concerns-in-aging-cats

If he hasn't seen a vet and had bloodwork ran, that would be my first recommendation.

kittyperson said:

 
I am also going to try some DINO VITE. Has anyone had an experience with it?

Click to expand...

Hi kittyperson !

There's only one reference of an intention to try that product here on TCS....that was 4 years ago by someone who's still active here, so you could message her/him http://www.thecatsite.comhttps://thecatsite.com/members/1035"quote-container">Quote:
The primary objective of this study was to evaluate whether antioxidants, alone or in combination with other nutritional supplements, increase longevity in a population of older cats when compared with cats fed a nutritionally complete control diet....

In summary, senior cats fed a diet containing supplemental antioxidants vitamin E and β-carotene, dried chicory root, and a blend of n-3 and n-6 fatty acids lived significantly longer than cats fed a standard nutritionally complete feline diet. Positive trends for decreased incidence of thyroid and gastrointestinal pathologies suggest that the nutrient blend may provide some protection against certain disease states that may contribute to their increased longevity....
[URL]http://www.jarvm.com/articles/Vol5Iss3/Cupp%20133-149.pdf

Hope that helps!
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