Throwing up immediately after eating

My cat Mesha sometimes, more recently lately, has been throwing up her food immediately after eating. For the longest time she was fine but it's happened a couple times the last couple days and I'm worried.

I feed her Wellness pate canned food. I elevate her dish. I give her a half of a can (small one). I flatten it in her dish. I sprinkle a little crushed treats on top to entice her to eat. I feed her 4 times a day about 5 hours apart. I don't give her any dry. We use the chicken, turkey, chicken/lobster, Chicken/herring/ Turkey/salmon. I sometimes work in a fancy feast pate liver/chicken.

She will 3 in January

Any advice? Suggestions? Am I feeding her too often? Could she be getting too much of one kind?

Have you noticed any pattern on which flavor she is eating when she pukes? Does she eat very fast? (Sometimes when I give Oliver his "favorites" he'll inhale it so fast that he pukes. :frusty

I noticed you said you feed elevated. I have a gobbler named lucy who pukes often right after eating. I seperate her from other kitties. Make her feel less anxious but still happens often. I have tried a million protein sources.....I have found improvement with putting food on ground. I think the jump down off counter was sending a full belly of food against her esophagus. Maybe you can try.

Yes feed her alone in calm setting on the ground. You could also try vets best hairball remedy tabs. Sold on Amazon,inexpensive,all natural slippery elm and psyllium. Also give her a food without carrageenan, it might upset her try nutro natural choice chicken. You might want to worm her and use revolution drops between shoulders as it kills fleas and worms. Remove all dry food also. Worms cause vomiting and often go undetected.

I just want to put my two cents in, put the wormer, I use topical Profender, high up on the neck, where they can't lick it, you would be amazed at how far they can reach on their back. If they lick it, it can cause foaming at the mouth and even vomiting and illness. I had a cat do that when I applied the liquid too low.  I agree that worms can cause vomiting and almost all cats have them. I agree too that the problem could be eating too much too fast, you might want to serve small portions spaced a few minutes apart. Good luck!

It's not so much what you feed as how Meesha is eating. She is not so much vomiting as regurgitating - she's eating so rapidly she becomes nauseated.

How many times a day do you feed her? Does this happen more frequently at one meal than at the others?

One of my three will do this in the morning, when he gobbles his food down too quickly after the longish gap between bedtime and breakfast, but not at any other meal.

If it is the first-in-the-morning meal - and if you have the time - feed her by spoonfuls. Give a spoonful, let her eat. Wait a couple of minutes - not very long. Repeat until she's had the meal.

See if this doesn't resolve her problem. Let's hope it is a nice simple answer like this.

Yeah, I would try arranging mealtime setting before jumping to toxic dewormer meds. Or atleast go get a fecal flotation to know what you are dealing with..

I feed as C catapault suggested and I find it does help. Mind you, both my cats still throw up fairly often. Frustrating, but I know they're healthy so it's just one of those things.

pocho that's a good point about jumping down after eating.


meshas mom I hope Mesha settles down soon!

She gets a lot of chicken.  Not sure what flavor is causing her to puke.  It seems like it happens mostly in the morning???  But I'm not sure. 

I never watch her eat.  However, it seems like she does get done awful fast sometimes.  I do notice if she eats 1/2 of what I give her and go back a hour or so later she is fine.  There aren't any other animals in the house.  It is just me, Mesha and my husband.  We usually go away and give her private time. 

It just seems to happen when she tries to eat it all at once.  Of course other times she licks the bowl clean and no problem.  

Could it be the water content of the food????  Some of the Wellness lately I give her is awefully wet and mushy.  

I elevate her food dish.  It sits on top of another bowl so she doesn't have to bed over as much.  She still is on the floor.

She doesn't get any dry food whatsoever.  Other than a sprinkle of treats on her wet food.

Wouldn't I notice the worms in her puke or feces? I don't see any fleas on her.  She is an indoor only cat.  She was dewormed when I first got her. I would prefer not to put chemicals on here unless I know she really needs them.  Anyway to test for worms????  

YES, Catapault.  The food comes back up almost immedialtey after she eats.  Near where she eats.  I've seen it happened and have heard her a couple of time. I feed her 4 times.....morning about 5am, 11:30pm, 4:30-5:00, 10pm.  We use the small cans of food give her about half of it.  

Yes. Fecal flotation test. Take her poop in to get tested. Might indicate presence of worms. Chicken can also be a source of allergy. Try a novelty protein like rabbit....if she is longhaired brush often to help hairballs. Maybe even some pumpkin mixed in food. My lucy is just super sensitive. She gobbles and then regurgitates. I have also noticed I cant give her different textures of food. I feed raw but if after she eats I give her say a blueberry (which she loves) she will puke up everything.

My Charlie tends to do this too. It does seem like he just eats too fast and it comes back up right away, but I've also noticed that it happens more often with certain foods. In his case I think he's sensitive to chicken, because foods that aren't chicken based are much more likely to stay down every time. He eats both dry and wet, and since I changed his dry from a chicken based food to a turkey based one, this never happens with the dry food. Wet food is trickier, but so far he's doing better with turkey and fish based foods.

If she is eating too fast then try putting a billard ball in the bowl along with the food. It slows down eating, as she will have work her way around the ball.

Like others have said, you could bring her to the vet to ensure that there aren't any medical problems. 

My Bruno is the same. He eats so fast that he often regurgitates his food. I bought him a slow feed bowl on Amazon and it really slows him down. It has a big bump in the middle & then you put the food around it, like a mote. He hasn't had any issues since then. 

Wow! I love the idea of slow feed bowl! I have to try that for my lucy. Fyi, a fecal flotation test can be done without mesha having to go to vet. It is a good place to start if worms are suspect and cheaper. My old vet (said goodbye to that doc...) ordered all the most expensive blood work among other stuff. Lucy went through the trauma of needles and careless handling for no reason. They gave her back to me shaking with anal gland spray all over her and carrier. They express when scared sometimes.....and she had no worms. Very expensive too. Another reason I like this site. Have to educate yourself or be at their mercy.

Thanks for the information and all the advice.  I'll call the vet to do a test.  We are scheduled for one in June and had one last June but if all I do is take some poop in then I'll do that!   YES, if I can avoid the vet I do.  She get major traumatized.  We just took her to get her nails clipped and I've never seen her so upset.

One more question.  What foods do you feel your cats?  I'm doing the Wellness Grain free canned pate along with a couple Fancy Feasts Pate.  But what other foods are good?

I feed Primal raw that comes frozen and add a little pumpkin. I rotate the rabbit, turkey, pheasant and avoid chicken. They get some raw goat milk sometimes too. I do have one kitty who I feed canned because he has FIV. For him he gets natures variety rabbit. In fact, that was what cleared up his Ibd. Nature's Variety canned rabbit has no carragean (sp?).

My  don't vomit anymore now that they have a raw diet.Ever. Sometimes a food with liver as the first ingredient is to rich for a cat.It isn't the water though. That water is important, especially if she is throwing up. It will keep her from becoming dehydrated. look at what is in the food and try to give her food with minimal ingredients. Wild Calling is great it is basically meat and nutrients with some guar gum. It is as close to raw as you can find in a canned food. It is $1.69 per 5.0 oz. can at Pet Food Max here.

Try a hairball remedy. One of my cats puked up his food often after eating but stopped after I started using Petromalt weekly. 

Thank you for all the suggestions.  Mesha has done fine with the feedings since my original post.  I'm thinking it was hair also in her tummy because there was a clump of hair in her throw up.  I'm trying laxatone once in a while along with brushing.

Meshas mom said:

Thank you for all the suggestions.  Mesha has done fine with the feedings since my original post.  I'm thinking it was hair also in her tummy because there was a clump of hair in her throw up.  I'm trying laxatone once in a while along with brushing.

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