Eating too fast and vomiting

My cat Simon is a piggy. In an effort to get him and Max to lose a little weight, I've been doling out their food to them. 1/2 cup in the morning, 1/4 cup when I get home, and 1/4 to 1/2 cup before we go to bed.

Nearly every day I give them their food after I get home, Simon gulps the food and vomits it back up almost immediately. Does anyone have any ideas how I can get him to slow down and not stuff his little face?

Thanks!

My cats used to be like that & someone from the board told me to put a thick telephone book underneathe the food dish. Some how the elevation helps prevent them from gorging.

Hope that helps!

My cat Candy used to be a piggy, too. I've never seen anyone or anything suck down food like she did.

I had to put her on a diet, and her body adjusted to it. I was told and read that if you want them to be, say, 10 lbs, give them the amount of food for a 10 lb. cat (according to the amounts on the back of the cat food bag). Candy now eats only 1/2 cup per day, 1/4 during the day and 1/4 in the evening (as well as wet food in the morning), and it's working beautifully for her.

Are the amounts of food you are giving for the both of them together? Do they share a bowl? If so, I think the amount is okay, but if it's for each I think it's too much, in my humble opinion. And if you feed them together, you don't know how much each is eating.

If my cat vomited everyday, no matter what the reason, I'd take her to the vet. It can't be good, maybe some harm to the esophagus???

Jill and Candy

I would agree that if it is excessive vomiting than a vet visit is a good idea. You never know, he could have swallowed something that is obstructing him, or he could have worms or???

You can elevate his bowl it will help- also adding water or broth will slow him down, but if the vomiting continues, I would certainly take him in

Sash eats alot of small meals. If he eats too much at once he will also vomit very soon after. It's always dry food though, which I heard expands when it enters there stomach. He seems to be fine with canned food though. He eats about a 1/4 can a day of canned food and even if he eats that fast he doesn't seem to vomit it though, only dry food. Lisa & Sash

http://pages.ivillage.com/lisalee992 (Sash's website)

My little fat Purdy does that sometimes, too. I call him my bulimic cat - gorges himself, then throws it up. Doesn't happen every day, though. Maybe once or twice a week. If it happened all the time, I'd be concerned and take him to a vet. Elevating the dish does sound like a reasonable solution. I'm going to try that and see if it helps.

Is that the amount of food you are giving both cats? How much were they eating before you put them on a diet? The amount of food they should receive would vary depending upon the size, weight, and activity of cat and type of food, so it is hard to say how much they should be getting. But be sure you don't cut them down too sharply. It is dangerous for an overweight cat to reduce food consumption too much. Don't assume they can live off body fat a bit. It doesn't work that way with cats. Weight loss should be very, very gradual. Is it possible you have cut them down a bit too much, making Simon too hungry?

First has he been checked for anything that might be obstructing his system? Or worms? Could he be allergic to something in the food? (like dyes or a food allergy to beef, fish or chicken)? Check these out first.

If thats all ok, you might want to raise his bowls (both water and food) off the ground to the height of a thick phonebook or there about. You might also want (if you can) give him smaller meals than just 2-3 times a day. Maybe he has some trouble with dried and you might want to switch him to mostly canned.

I've had to that with Sphinx (he gets 6 small meals a day that is equivalent for a cat his weight).

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I will try elevating the bowl and see if that helps.

To answer everyones question, the amounts I wrote are total for both cats. They eat out of the same bowl.

I might try one of the bowls that releases food on a schedule, that way I could have it release in smaller amounts.

In addition to echoing the other advice given, you might want to try a food (I assume you're feeding dry, if you're measuring in cups) where the kibble is bigger. Nutro kibble is quite large in comparison to other brands, and cats generally can't "inhale" it. I've noticed that JC really has to chew that brand, whereas he doesn't always bother to if the pieces are small, for example, the Solid Gold or Eukanuba kibble.
We had the same problem with a dog from the "pound". It turned out that he didn't have any physical problem causing vomiting, but had simply been half starved. We mixed large chunks of dry food in with his canned food, gave him two or three meals a day, and separated him from the other dog and cat when we fed him, and the vomiting stopped.