Older Cat Nutrition/Behavior Questions?

My cat Spike is 13, going on 14 this year. He's usually very affectionate with me, has no problems with food, and is relatively playful. He's on the heavier side, though a lot of his weight is in his fur (he's a medium length tuxedo). Over the past month or so, he hasn't been keeping his food down as well. In fact, he vomits once or twice a day, where it used to be a much more isolated problem. The vomit has no traces of blood or abnormality usually, though sometimes it appears foamy. He's also become a bit more irritable (mostly due to my other cat, Persephone, who is just over a year old), though he remains as affectionate as before. He also pulls out his fur along his spine, no where else, though according to my boyfriend he's always done that.  His stomach is a little pudgier but that may be due to his food. His fur is also turning a rusty red, even when the sun isn't hitting it, which makes me think he may need more tyrosine in his diet (eggs? salmon?)

I should add that Spike is strictly an indoors only cat. Since he's an older fella, should I put him on food formulated for older folks? He currently eats Taste of the Wild's rocky mountain feline formula. 

Any suggestions/input would be great. I'm very worried about him. :c

I would take him to the vet. Vomitting that frequently really isn't good--if you vomitted once or twice a day without reasonable explanation, you'd probably go to the doctor, wouldn't you?

Pudgy stomach could mean worms, but the vomitting is such a vague symptom you really need tests.

I agree about taking Spike to the vet... his vomiting and hair pulling sound like symptoms our previous cat had -- she most likely had IBD caused by food sensitivities. (She was never fully tested and diagnosed because she was elderly and had numerous health issues that precluded invasive testing.) After that cat's experience -- and what I learned about cat foods because of her illness -- I would be careful about indoor and senior foods because many of them are low-protein and high-carb.

One other thought: if you haven't had a senior blood panel done on Spike, this is the perfect time to do one. Brooksie had one done at about his age: I admit that I thought it was silly at the time but it was invaluable for comparison when she got older.

this started happening with our 15 year old siamese months ago.  it was every 2-3 days and the cat would have multiple barfing fits those days.  projectile.  he maintained his appetite and even his weight for about the first month while i was seeing a vet that i think did a terrible job delaying diagnosis.

my cat would also crash every couple weeks and become lethargic, not quite walking right, seemed weak.  one night he curled into a ball in the laundry and i thought he was dead.

i went to another vet because these guys were terrible and got the ball rolling with imaging, etc. 

my cat had mast cell of spleen and a tumor on liver.  so decided by gut feeling alone to have that stuff taken out and they looked over things and continued treatment with potential ibd post surgery.

that was almost 3 months ago.  cat did so well he came home the same day and the regime of stuff he is taking with pred and he has gone from 6.5 lbs to almost 10 this week.  no crashes.  he has barfed once and a couple hairballs.  only had runny poop a few times.

he has been social, etc. since he came back home so basically the cat we knew.    hopefully we can keep this routine up for a long time and he will go naturally in the future.

so they can't link anything specific but it could have been ibd causing all those issues for us but we couldn't ignore the mast cell, they said odds say we could get another 18 months if we did that alone, even if it spread.

maybe you can get lucky and its an ibd case, sadly it can be worse, but i think you need to see a vet and come up with a plan asap.  hopefully its something simple for you.