{Stomach/GI-Tract Issues}

{Cat Info}: Male, 4m9d, Domestic Shorthair, Neutered.

{Background Info}: MJ was born with a few siblings that he never got to know. He was immediately handed over to the SPCA. He was adopted not shortly after he got there. His previous owner took care of him as best as he could until he passed away when MJ was 2 years old. The circumstances in which his previous owner died are unknown to me (understandably). The next of kin to the previous owner returned MJ to the SPCA not being able to care for him. 2 years later, he was still at the same SPCA shelter, until I adopted him 6 days ago.

  Since the adoption, he has had an array of problems. I will talk about only one of the isolated incidents. Before we start, I have seen many different articles on the anxiety of a new environment but I just have a feeling it's not the culprit. I'll start with the incident: vomiting 3 times (within 2 days). Each time was 30 minutes - 2 hours after eating. The vomit was mostly bile, with a little bit of cat food in it. He is on Purina Gentle Cat food (the previous owner's next of kin recommended it to the SPCA shelter which he was held at). I have kept him on Purina Gentle Cat Mix being afraid of him having any stomach issues. He had vomited a few times at the SPCA over the 2 years, but never this frequently (according to the manager of the shelter). I originally believed it was because he was eating too fast (I now don't believe he was) so I used methods of slowing down his eating (which were effective). He still persisted to vomit after eating. His fecal matter seemed normal, no blood, average size, average moisture. I will attempt to describe the incident as best as possible. About an hour and thirty minutes after eating, while we were relaxing, he began belching. The belching persisted for 10-15 seconds until it finally came up. He moved around a little bit and began to vomit again. A day later, I began to space out his meals significantly. I put less food into his bowl each mealtime. I fed him twice that day, extremely miniscule portions in fear that he would vomit again. Today, (I felt that I shouldn't have but I still did) I started a completely different diet, cold turkey. (<-- No, the diet wasn't actually "cold turkey", but I changed without any weaning). I started him on a wet food diet. He hasn't thrown up since. 

 My questions are as follows:

1. Are incidents like the such normal?

2. Was it the change in diet that resolved the issue?

3. What is a better course of action should the vomiting reemerge?

4. What are the Pro's and Cons of Wet Food.

5. What are the differences between Wet Food and Dry Food?

Unrelated questions from a New Cat owner (Me!):

{I have read plenty of articles regarding these questions but I always prefer to get many different viewpoints in my database}

1. How can I train my cat to do things?

2. What are the first things I should train my cat to do?

3. When should I begin training my cat to do these things?

4. Any other tips for a new cat owner?

IMHO, wet food is the way to go!  Let me give you an article to read: 

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/how-to-choose-the-right-food-for-your-cat

It is NOT normal for a cat to throw up.  Even hairballs should technically go out the back end and not out the front end, although in most cats this is not what happens. If everything is working optimally, they WILL go out in their stools. 

Yes, the change in diet could very well have stopped the vomiting.  Hopefully this was all it took   It is ok to change wet food as often as you like, but not usually ok to switch up dry food without doing it slowly.  Also ok to switch from dry to wet quickly IF the cat accepts it. 

If the vomiting re-emerges, let's talk again about the circumstances.  It could still be the food, or what's in the food, or could be something else...

IMHO, there are NO cons in feeding wet food.  Some people think dry food helps with dental issues, but personally, I think that's a bunch of hooey (and I'm not alone)  One of my previous cats was only fed dry food, and he needed 4 teeth pulled because of dental issues at a fairly young age, plus needed yearly dentals.  Now a feed only wet food, and my 7 year old has never needed dental work. 

Wet keep them hydrated, dry doesn't and cats aren't prone to drinking much...i'ts not in their nature.

If you want to train your cat, I recommend maybe starting off by clicker training:

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/clicker-training-for-cats

When:  Whenever you want:

This may help you out with some tops as a new cat owner:

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/care-of-cats-the-responsible-way

Congrats on your new furbaby!!!!!!!