Cat Ralph.....

I have a 14-15yr old small black & white spayed female kitty who makes it an irregular habit of heaving up everything she just ate, and I'm unsure why. This has just recently started. She eats separately from the others, so there's no competition at the feeding trough; she acts fine before and after, and doesn't appear to be sick. She shows a good appetite later in the day, and usually can manage to keep that feeding down. She also has been eating/digesting/passing something, because I see evidence in the litterbox daily. I suspect that maybe some moist foods are giving her difficulty (certain flavors or brands?)? Generally my cats are on a canned-food diet only, with dry coming into play when either: A) I accidently run out of canned stuff, or B) I go away for the weekend. There are other cats in the household and some are on special diets, and no one else seems to have this problem. I've been whittling down/out the brands or flavors that she seems to be having difficulties with, but that list now seems to be changing (again). I'm home ill this week, so I've been better able to monitor her. And I'm trying smaller portions more often during the day and that seems to be somewhat working. However, when I go back to work next week, she's going to be back on her old schedule again (moist in the AM, moist when I get home). I'm thinking about leaving out her special dry food (Hills Sensitive Stomach) so she'll at least have something to nibble on. She's already an underweight cat, and these "ralphing sessions" aren't helping my cause of trying to put some weight back on her. Additional note: a few months before I adopted her last year, she underwent a hernia operation (who ever heard of such a thing in cats???) She also was nutritionally deprived for about a month prior to that, when her first owner died, and she was left starving in the residence until someone figured out that she was in the same home as the dead person was. She was near death, but the rescue/shelter group "brought her back" - perhaps her history has something to do with this? Any suggestions?

Hi

Sometimes cat vomit because they eat too fast or develop an intolerance to an ingredient, but you have a senior cat with a recently developed vomiting issue so your cat really need a vet visit.  It might be as simple as a diet change, but it could be more serious and repeatedly vomiting isn't normal.

Unless this all started when you made some obvious change to her diet (in which case you could try switching back) I would see your vet.

Stephen

My cats will randomly throw up sometimes, particularly my piggy cat. It can be quite a regular occurrence, then they'll go ages without vomiting. The cause seems to be eating grass, hairballs, and eating too fast.

If you don't know the cause and this is a new behaviour, then a vet visit is in order to try and find out.
You could be on the right track with the food changes, but my gut feeling is that it has something to do with her hernia operation last year. Poor old girl, what a traumatic episode! Glad she's in a good home now though.

Hello

Cats eat grass as a medicine in order to make themselves sick and rid their tummies of something that is making them feel unwell.