Cat Throwing up!

I have 2- 10 year old cats (brother and sister) My Male cat throws up after he eats. Recently, I changed them back to canned food from dry food in an attempt to put a stop to this. It seemd to work a little, but he still does it. He has always been a thin cat, and has a hearty appetite. He acts normally, so not sure what the situation is. He turns into quite the pig when I oput the food out, sometimes preventing his sister from eating (he has always been like this). Any thoughts?

I would say first of all a vet visit is warranted giving the age of the cat. Also a lot of time people over feed their cats and since cats are gulpers, they will always eat fast and that can cause regurgitation. Siamese are known to regurgitate their food frequently.

You can try adding fiber to the diet to bulk it up, or elevating the food dish to get the cat to slow down. But if it is always occurring a vet visit is warranted just to be sure it isn't something serious.

First thing is to have a vet check him over thoroughly to see if there is anything medically going on.

If not, then slow him down eating and offer him smaller more frequent meals throughout the day (same should or could be applied to your other kitty. You can (as Hissy said) is to elevate their dishes (water dish too) off the ground but not too high and add a little extra fiber to their food.

Also try more high quality food and/or low allergen food.

With the dry food you feed... is it in swallowable kibble size? If its small, many cats don't chew it but gulp it down. My cat would always shovel it in, then bring it back up. What worked for me was to buy a high fiber food that had big pieces that forced her to chew them. Hills Science Diet Hairball formulas have big pieces and 10% fiber, but I know you could find others if you were looking.

I hate to disagree on this one - I had no idea how big a piece of kibble kitties can swallow!!! A year or so ago we had bought my mom's girl Piper SD Dental and these pieces are hugh just to slow her down from eating so fast and then throwing up. Well she managed to swallow them whole - no chewing was involved and of course up they came.

I also second Hissy's suggestion.

Our alpha male always eats first at the food bowl. He used to eat so much (to keep the other cats away) that he would throw up. I added 4 more food bowls (from 2 bowls) which lessened the competition at the bowl where he liked to eat at. It is now a rare event for him to throw up.

But, if he is thin, eating a lot and still throwing up, I also suggest a vet visit. At 10 years old, it's a perfect time to start an annual geriatric profile, so that things like diabetes, renal problems, etc, are identified early. The first test can be used to identify if he has any physical problems now, and if not, used as a baseline as he ages.

I agree with the majority here - a vet visit just to check him over. Cats aged 8 are considered old over here so not a bad idea to check him in just to make sure. My 14 year old eats like a pig and will eat every one elses just to make sure they dont get any if I let her! Up it comes more or less in the same form it went down in! I like the idea of more food bowls with the same amount of food. That may just work, I am going to give it a go anyway.

My goodness!!! Well, Damian has always thrown up since he was a kitten and has always been thin.. I really think the problem is he eats like a pig. When I put the food out, he prevents his sister from eating by growling at her and sits there and pigs out. About an hour later I hear him hacking it up, always on carpet and never on tile!!! Then he will walk over to the food dish and eat some more. For years now I fed them only dry food and water with a treat once in a while. I just recently tried switching over to canned food, but I put out the whole can, and my little pig would eat almost the whole thing in one sitting. SO am I going to try small portions more often and see what happens. I would be more concerned if he didn't have the appetite he has always had.

My Frantic does the same thing. He prevents his brother from eating till he is finished, but he eats so fast, it comes back up in a short time. I tried elevating his bowl...he pushes his brother away from the other bowl. So now I give him a small amount of food and give Pipsqueek some playtime in the other room while Frantic eats. Then I take Frantic with me to give Pip some free time to eat.

Sandy

Well, so far so good!~ I tried a little bit of food last night, canned food, and no throwing up! This morning I did it again, and then left dry food for during the day, so we will see if there are any presents waiting for me when I get home.