Cat Vomiting Food in the AM for Years

Hi there,

My issues are with my lovely cat Murphy, and as you will see below, there are a few factors. Just looking for some advice:

1) She is 10 years old and has always been on a grain free diet. I feed her Taste of the Wild dry food, and sometimes a little Wellness wetfood, but she really only take a nibble of the wet food. I have never been able to get her on an all wet food diet. she will just not eat, and i cant let her do that. According to my vet, after several days of boycotting the wet food, it can be bad for her health to have no eaten at all, so if she boycotts the wet food for too many days, i needed to put her back on the dry

2) when she was about 1 or 2 years old, she had a habit of eating things (she still does sometimes) and twice she got into my clothes and ate bra straps of mine. The first time she passed it, but the second time, she had to have a big surgery to remove the strap since it was wrapped up in her intestines.

3) She has always been a puker. I've never known if it was related to her surgery years ago. My vet has always known about and and she's always had a clean bill of health. Her last full check up, including blood work, was done last August of 2016. she was fine. She acts fine and normal all of the time, and after she pukes.

4) She pukes mostly in the mornings.  Sometimes it is white foam (which i understand can be from if they havent eaten all night) but more often than not, it is regurgitated food. It's full pellets of her dry food, as if she didnt even chew (do cats chew?) or digest. She vomits multiple times a week after eating breakfast only.

5) I recently got her raised bowls, which have not changed anything

6) sometimes she chomps on plants (non-toxic ones), she chomps on my fake xmas tree, which i am about to take down. this AM, she was eating garlic skin that was in a bowl on my counter, which is really bad and made her super sick today so she vomited many times. 

Some theories:

A) maybe she has a sensitive tummy

B) is it the stuff she eats around the house, and why does she do this? she has been like this her whole life and loves to get into things

C) is it the food?

D) its probably a combo of all of the above?

What do i do? She is driving us crazy because she pukes ONLY on our rugs. and, i feel bad for her because puking is no fun. Are there any good foods out there that i should try instead?

Michala Darling said:

 
Some theories:

A) maybe she has a sensitive tummy

B) is it the stuff she eats around the house, and why does she do this? she has been like this her whole life and loves to get into things

C) is it the food?

D) its probably a combo of all of the above?

What do i do? She is driving us crazy because she pukes ONLY on our rugs. and, i feel bad for her because puking is no fun. Are there any good foods out there that i should try instead?

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My guess is that your theories are correct!  It's probably D. 

First off, since she's not cooperating on switching to an all wet diet, here's an article on dry food.  Food sensitivity can be caused simply from a not so good food, so maybe if you switch to something else, that will solve that issue, or maybe it's that she's eating a LOT very early in the early morning and that's what's causing it....hard to say.  Throwing up food is usually from eating too fast to too much.  Raising the dish is a good start.  Also, putting something in the bowl that she has to eat around (like a golf ball) help slow her down if she a fast eater. 

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/how-to-choose-the-best-dry-cat-food

next, WHY does she eat other stuff?  It's called Pica, and here's a thread about that:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/247803/please-help-pica-kitty

You re right that vomiting is no fun, and eventually it can cause problem with her esophogus from the stomach acid passing over it so if you can figure it out and stop it, that would be good.  If it's just the frothy stuff, that IS an indicator of too much stomach acid, and can usually be resolved by the use of Pepcid A/C, but with your Vet's permission, and, of course, this isn't always what happens, so it's kind of tricky

Does she seem to really like her dry food?  I'm thinking maybe you could switch her to a different protein, ie move from salmon to chicken or whatever (you didn't state WHICH flavor you are feeding) even if you don't switch brands. 

It's probably the kibble. My cat was kibble fed until he was 12 and was vomiting his kibble constantly. I took him off kibble and straight onto raw. Vomiting got significantly better. He rarely vomits food now and only battles hairballs, mostly. He has some digestive issues from being kibble fed for so many years. Was her thyroid tested? 

Please ask your vet to try Murphy on a limited-ingredient diet or a hypoallergenic diet - expect up to 4-6 weeks for improvement - she may improve sooner.  These specific diets and her response could indicate food sensitivities to certain ingredients.  It could also rule in or out, the potential for IBD.  If she responds favorably to this type of diet, you and your vet can hopefully determine food sensitivities.

If she does not respond favorably to the diet, consider a low-dose and short schedule of prednisolone (but only if she is otherwise healthy) - if she responds favorably after the course of prednisolone, then IBD or intestinal inflammation could possibly be the problem.  Part of treatment for IBD includes a hypoallergenic or limited-ingredient diet anyway, to help prevent inflammation.

Pica is poorly understood, but sometimes it is due to a nutrient deficiency, talk to your vet about that - a new diet could play an important role in the Pica problem.  Also, to a lesser extent, pica can be the result of boredom, so make sure you spend quality playtime with her, have fun and interactive toys available to her.  Provide toys safe to chew on, since she has a chewing tendency.  Please, consider not having plants in the home, and do your best to keep things put away that you know she has in the past, or presently chews on.

If you only schedule-feed her (as opposed to free-feeding), she may require smaller, more frequent meals during the day to keep her satiated and her digestive transit time in tune. 

Please talk to your vet at length about dietary measures, the more you can do with a limited-ingredient or hypoallergenic diet, can help prevent more severe problems later on.