Food & chronic vomit/regurg questions, please.

Clapton - neutered male, 8'ish yo, DSH, heart murmur otherwise healthy - is my feeding challenge.

He vomits. Hairballs. Bile. Bile with semi-digested food (wet or dry). Regurgitates both wet and dry - appears as unchewed.

Usually vomits 2-4 times over the spam of 2-3 days. Then weeks without an issue.

Feeding my dogs was easy, including one with horrific allergies.

In the last 2+ yrs I've learned: "obligate carnivores", single protein, no gums, no carrageenan, fish as potential allergen (not to mention the mercury), feed wet not dry, hydration awareness, rotation diet for nutritional balance and taste enjoyment... and more.

As I've learned more, I've made healthier choices for him. Of course for Layla too but she just joined us 3 months ago and, bless her sweet belly, she's not nearly so complicated as Clapton.

He only seems to like chicken. Will tolerate duck on occasion if he's feeling benevolent. Even then I'm convinced he eats it with one hairy eyeball staring at the back of my head while he plots the most "upsetting-to-her" spot in the house where he will return his meal to me.

I've given him chicken, duck, beef, fish (once), rabbit, turkey, venison. All as wet except the rabbit (freeze-dried Wysong) which was served per package directions and also offered with chicken. She ate some of it. He ate around it.

I've given him countless brands and recipes. He's sticking to Weruva paw lickin' chicken and NutroMax minced chicken. Plus the odd Nature's Balance LID Duck and Pea. Oddly, he LOVED the LID wet from the Vet (think it was Hill's?) to rectify Layla's initial tummy upset upon her arrival at Chez Moi.

1 - How do I sort out what he'll eat without breaking the bank?

Not cheaping out on them. I know the costs of pet guardianship and I accept them for their lifetime when I bring them home. It's simply that the money tree in my backyard failed to leaf this spring.

And, yes, I saw a link to itsapetslife.com where I can purchase single cans!
I have 5 cases and two pouches of different freeze-dried foods here that neither of them will eat. Happy to donate all of it to cat rescue and will. But I've already donated ample goods & time this year.

2 - How do I make sure I'm not setting us both up for a big problem with food later if he one day wakes up and never wants to see another chicken again as long as he lives?

3 - What to do about this chronic vomit/regurgitation problem?

He's been checked 3x for thyroid/metabolic issues - always negative/normal results.

Best advice I've gotten from any Vet has been to feed him very small amounts often. It lessens the sensitive stomach product but doesn't eliminate it.

Plus vomit and regurgitation are not sources they are symptoms!

4 - Are there effective hairball management products - other than dry food formulations - to address hairballs and/or sensitive stomach? If so, please tell me what you use, where you get it and why you like it.

5 - if there's so much information about single protein and potential fish-associated problems are these premium and ultra premium food manufacturers pushing "health", "back to nature", etc messaging yet delivering "sockeye salmon & wild boar" and "Chilean sea bass & bluefish"? I need to go into the cat good business.

I know this is super long. It's all been swirling and building in my head ever since I got Clapton. I've been reading here but none of my friends have cats. We're all dog people. Ok, I'm the only convert in my group...

I hope Mr. Chewy will give me some consideration for all this uneaten food...

Thanks for your patience and advice. :-)

Vets best hairball relief tabs. Cats live them buy online amazon.com. Natural balance ultra or limited ingredients canned. If you need dry small amount of natural balance lid dry. My cat only vomits rarely now. And yes smaller meals never more than 1.5 ounces at a time or tablespoon of kibble. No free feeding left down all day.

Thank you! Jumping on the hairball product today. Thank you for the food reco's. I hope he'll eat them.

The dry comes up today, thanks to your advice.

Let me know how it goes remember 75 to 80 percent wet food. I now have my cat on only 1/2 tab daily. Started at 1/2 am and 1/2 pm she is small a bigger cat might have to start at 1 tab am and 1 tab pm. Initially she brought up a hairball the first day and then mostly passes them out the backside which is what you want. Also I would feed them separately in case he is eating to much too fast because other cat there! Separate dishes separate rooms.

More thanks. He doesn't eat the dry unless I'm home late for his normal mealtime.

I monitor them at meals. At first, she was moving in on his dish and hardly touching her own. She still prefers to eat his remnants than whatever is on her plate but the bullying has stopped. I will give your recommendation a try, though.

Yes, thanks again!

It's actually possible your boy has IBD, or may be developing it. Many vets make the same mistake of writing off vomiting in cats:

http://www.veterinarypracticenews.c...c-vomiting-in-cats-isnt-normal-after-all.aspx

As you're already familiar with what's healthiest for him, that's an important step in the process. You might want to consider adding digestive enzymes and a probiotic to his diet.

Having a rotation of proteins (and, IMO, having several different brands) is actually very important. The way I handled getting my cats to eat what I want them to eat is to just decide what food you want him eating, start with one protein of that food, and introduce it veeeeeeery slowly into what he currently loves. With cats, it's about getting them used to new things, and making very slow changes. When he's eating that, do the same thing with the new protein. Then a new brand. The process, if done properly, can take months or a year to get all you want into rotation.

I also rotate natural balance ultra, natural balance chicken & liver, natural balance catatouille stew, weruva Peking ducken, and yes FF classic chopped grill and chicken & liver, my cats love chicken I have gone thru most brands and this is what they liove[emoji]128062[/emoji][emoji]10084[/emoji]️[emoji]128062[/emoji][emoji]10084[/emoji]️[emoji]128062[/emoji][emoji]128077[/emoji]

LDG: Thank you! The article was genius. I'd heard cats vomit. Once I lived with a cat I became very concerned about damage to his esophagus and teeth from the chronic contact with stomach acids (just as in acid reflux and bulimia/purging for us). I'm glad someone realized throwing up isn't something to accept. It's been frustrating with the response from the Vets but having had a very allergic dog recently also aware that food quality and composition really do matter. They're not like us... They don't live to eat, they eat to live.

I will look into the probiotics and enzymes. Need to get educated before I give him anything.

I will be taking your advice on the how of introducing new foods to him. Been treating him like my dogs. Bad, me.

You will find some of those natural ingredients to help digestion in vets best hairball relief

It's unfortunate but many vets seem to believe that IBD always equals diarrhea.  My IBD kitty is prone to constipation and vomiting, he is 11 now and has yet to have diarrhea.  I think that is why it took several years of vet hopping to get the IBD diagnoses.  He would get sick enough with flares that he would be hospitalized on an IV until he started eating again.  I got the 'diagnoses' of he's just a very sensitive kitty and one feline only vet, not a certified specialist just a feline only vet said he had pancreatitis.  

Oy Denice, what a horror story to have him hospitalized and the Vet only coming back with "he's sensitive".

I've been surprised that none of the Vets I've spoken to about his vomiting seem concerned to find the cause.

Last night I saw an ad on here for a mobile vet local to me. I'm calling tomorrow to feel her out about this issue. Getting them to the Vet is a comedy of errors...