Frequent Vomiting, Possible Food Allergy

My 3.5 year old male DSH cat has been vomiting weekly, on and off, for probably a year or more (I've lost track). His vomit looks like a mostly undigested pile of kibble. He's social, active, indoor only (with occasional supervised balcony time and rare leashed walks), and generally healthy. I took him to the vet in June for a check-up and he said to keep an eye on it and check back if it doesn't improve. For a long time, I figured he was eating to fast, so I put less food in his bowl at a time and spread it out a little so it was a 1-2 kibble layer instead of a mound of food.

Around June, I started tracking his vomiting on a calendar. I decided it could be food related so I switched him from Blue Buffalo fish (after the lawsuit scandal) to Orijen fish. I'm not sure if that helped. He vomited a few times in June, once a week, until the kibbly vomit had a hairball. Then he didn't vomit for 3 weeks. I read somewhere that cats can vomit 1-2 times a week because a hairball is stuck at the pyloris and eating causes it to move around in the stomach eventually either expelling it or passing it. Her explanation seems to fit perfectly with what my cat does, but I don't fully trust this site because it was copyright 2000 and this is the only site I've ever read this explanation, and I've looked at a lot of sites.. http://www.suevet.com/cat_vomiting.html

In mid july, he vomited two days in a row one week and again the next week two days in a row. At the end of July, I'm thinking he has a fish allergy, so I switched him to Orijen cat & kitten. According to my calendar, he didn't vomit in August and September (which is a long time for him). I think switching the food helped. Then he started vomiting again in October, about twice a week every other week. November has been once a week every week thus far.

My theory is that it's a combination of factors: he eats too fast sometimes, develops a food allergy after a few months, and occasionally has a hairball stuck.

I'm thinking about switching his food again and would like some advice as to what to feed him next. I'm also interested to hear your thoughts on other possible causes and suggestions.

aznmlfan said:

 
My 3.5 year old male DSH cat has been vomiting weekly, on and off, for probably a year or more (I've lost track). His vomit looks like a mostly undigested pile of kibble. He's social, active, indoor only (with occasional supervised balcony time and rare leashed walks), and generally healthy. I took him to the vet in June for a check-up and he said to keep an eye on it and check back if it doesn't improve. For a long time, I figured he was eating to fast, so I put less food in his bowl at a time and spread it out a little so it was a 1-2 kibble layer instead of a mound of food.

Around June, I started tracking his vomiting on a calendar. I decided it could be food related so I switched him from Blue Buffalo fish (after the lawsuit scandal) to Orijen fish. I'm not sure if that helped. He vomited a few times in June, once a week, until the kibbly vomit had a hairball. Then he didn't vomit for 3 weeks. I read somewhere that cats can vomit 1-2 times a week because a hairball is stuck at the pyloris and eating causes it to move around in the stomach eventually either expelling it or passing it. Her explanation seems to fit perfectly with what my cat does, but I don't fully trust this site because it was copyright 2000 and this is the only site I've ever read this explanation, and I've looked at a lot of sites.. http://www.suevet.com/cat_vomiting.html

In mid july, he vomited two days in a row one week and again the next week two days in a row. At the end of July, I'm thinking he has a fish allergy, so I switched him to Orijen cat & kitten. According to my calendar, he didn't vomit in August and September (which is a long time for him). I think switching the food helped. Then he started vomiting again in October, about twice a week every other week. November has been once a week every week thus far.

My theory is that it's a combination of factors: he eats too fast sometimes, develops a food allergy after a few months, and occasionally has a hairball stuck.

I'm thinking about switching his food again and would like some advice as to what to feed him next. I'm also interested to hear your thoughts on other possible causes and suggestions.

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He could be developing inflammatory bowel in the upper GI, but it could also just be a recurring food intolerance.  I would do as your vet suggests and bring him back in.

Welcome to TCS @aznmlfan  ! 

I think you're doing tremendous work documenting this. It's a great way to try and find patterns. I agree with you that it could be a combination of contributing factors. I also agree with @StephenQ  that it might be time to get back to the vet. If you're not getting any good answers there, you could try getting a second opinion from a vet who is a nutrition specialist. The way to find one is through the http://www.acvn.org/ website. I believe some of these vets offer phone consultations as well.

As for possible food sensitivities and feeding options, one thing to keep in mind is that food that is said to be fish or chicken isn't necessary hypoallergenic. Some of these single-protein foods are manufactured in a way that doesn't ensure they won't be "contaminated" by other types of protein. If your cat is allergic to certain foods you may need to switch to medical grade hypoallergenic foods. I'll tag one of our moderators here @jcat  for you. She has a lot of experience with food allergies in cats.

Welcome to TCS!

Our Mogli has both IBD and food allergies (chicken and all grains), and quite a few of the cats at the shelter where I work are unable to eat certain proteins (very often poultry).

As the others have said, you should work with a vet on this, preferably one with a background in animal nutrition. Blood allergy tests can be done; in my experience they've been quite accurate, but that may depend on the test and/or lab (we live in Germany). The other alternative is an elimination diet, which is done over a number of months. A unique protein, like kangaroo or reindeer, is fed for several weeks. If there aren't any problems, a second protein is added, and so on.

Will your cat eat canned food? It's more difficult to find limited ingredient kibble than it is to get single protein/single carb wet food. Many of the prescription limited ingredient dry foods contain hydrolyzed protein to make them hypoallergenic. That may work for some cats, but it didn't for Mogli, a coworker's cat and several of the shelter cats.

Keeping a food diary is the right thing to do and a big step towards pinpointing the problem.

Thank you for your replies. I looked up IBD and it seems to fit, only out the front end though thank goodness! I should probably take him back to the vet, but I fear that won't help much...Like running a bunch of costly labs that come back normal. It's the best I can do for him though as I'm at my wits end. I feel bad that I'm feeding him food that's making him vomit. It's especially frustrating because I'm a degreed chemist/biochemist and I hate that I can't figure out what to do for him. I don't know much about cat nutrition; there's so much conflicting information out there, and some of it sounds quack. He's been "grain free" almost all of his adult life (that I've had him) as per vet recommendation..different vet, we've since moved across the country.

Back in June, I tried researching the best dry food, and had to go to a natural pet food store to get it (it's like a "Whole Foods" for cat and dog food). wild caught and free-range whole prey stuff, I don't know if that means anything or if it's just marketing...I'm not much of a heath food nut myself. The switch from fish to chicken/turkey/etc helped for two months. Maybe it's time for [other animal a cat can eat]. I also try giving him canned food once in a blue moon because I know it's better for him than kibble, but he's he doesn't eat much of it. He's a free fed kibble grazer and I can't leave the wet food out all day. I've tried mixing it with kibble, no luck. I could try establishing meal times 2x a day with wet food only but I don't want him going hungry and then to gorge when I finally feed him.

I looked on the ACVN site and there aren't any acvn vets in my state. I guess I'll start by making him an appointment with his vet and going back to the food store in the meantime to find something with limited ingredients and a novel protein, which seems to be the treatment for IBD anyway. I'm kinda taking a shot in the dark here so if there are any good foods/brands you've had success with, I'd love to hear it.

aznmlfan said:

Thank you for your replies.

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EDIT: fixed post from earlier that had a big formatting issue:

Hey there
What's your cats name I can't seem to find it?

The following is about IBD, but I am NOT diagnosing your cat with IBD, no one here can do that, so this is just an IBD info post.

Ok so from where I come from and my experience there are 2 types of IBD.  Group 1: Mild/moderate and group 2 severe/life threatening.  If the cat's weight is stable then it's in the first group, if loosing weight then in group 2.

Group one is usually diagnosed symptomatically and by process of elimination and then most vets will at this stage not suggest expensive or invasive tests but will treat the cat conservatively.  Yes diet is a part of that (more about diet below), as are other standard low costs medicines like Tylosin, Flagyl, Pepcid (to help control vomiting) and Cerenia, a wonder drug for nausea when nothing else works) and B12 given sub q by injection (super easy to do, cat doesn't even feel it when using a diabetes syringe.

Group 2
If the vomiting isn't controlled by some combination of the above but the cat's weight remains stable, then while you don't have the IBD in remission, you at least haven't progressed to group 2.  A great idea is to buy a baby scale (Amazon is just one of many places to get them for under $75) and weigh your cat weekly.  1st weight is baseline (keep a record) if there is even a loss of an ounce in another weigh in, that is considered loss but it is not yet a trend.  If the next weight shows another loss (2 losses in a row) that's a trend and it's time to go back to the vet as your cat may be moving into group 2 but because you have a baby scale, you may have caught it MUCH earlier than otherwise which is GREAT.

If the cat moves clearly into group 2, expensive and invasive tests aren't required but are considered optional because regardless of the test results the cat will be treated the same way, at least for now which is to go on Prednisolone a great drug for cats and almost always will result in weight gain and remission. There are more issues with group 2 but I will hold off for now as this isn't supposed to be a book!

As to diet and all you have read, I will try and keep my POV as short and to the point as possible.
1- forget fancy labels like free range chicken.
2- IBD cats reacting to an ingredient (protein generally) that they can't tolerate and in time can result in inflammation of the intestines and a decreased ability to absorb nutrients which results in weight loss and is the group 2 issue.  The only food essentially at this point that can help is what's called a novel protein/novel carb diet (like venison, duck, rabbit, kangaroo) which the cat doesn't react to, at least for a while and then it's time to try another one. If this works then great, if it doesn't then the diet method may not be an option.
3- there are 2 types of novel protein foods. OTC from a pet store, and prescription food from a vet.  According to my vet, DNA testing of OTC foods has shown Dna of regular proteins (in other words contaminated) so I would suggest the prescription food. Some people may recommend raw diet as another option, and it may help but it isn't a dry food option.theremcan
4- there is one other food option and there is a dry version of it called hills Z/D, which is a hydrolized protein (i.e. Smashed beyond the intestines ability to recognize it as a protein and therefor doesn't react to it).  Some cats (like mine) react very poorly to it and get terrible diarrhea.

Again your cat may not have IBD.  cats who scarf their food often throw up due to eating to fast, and there can be other causes to, but if your vet suspects IBD then it's time to start treatments.  If the cat reacts positively to the treatments, then that strengthens the diagnosis.

Ok that's what I've got for now.

Hi A aznmlfan ! I'm curious as to how this worked out for you. I adopted my Lizzie about 9 months ago, she's now about 2, and we've been dealing with intermittent vomiting the entire time. I'll change something with her food, it'll help for about two weeks, and then it starts again. She's had dental extractions(which was needed anyway but turns out was not the issue), full blood panel, tried a GI diet and is now on Hill's z/d hydrolized wet food. We're a week out and she's eating better and keeping it down, but I'm not claiming success just yet because it seems to take a couple weeks for the vomiting usually to come back. Your story seems kind of similar to ours in that other food allergy stories I've seen seem to tend to revolve around itchiness instead of the vomiting, so I'm curious. How did your diet trials work out?