Threw up...

shiraz21 · Dec 16, 2005

Hi, i got home last night and my baby had threw up in 2 places... the first one was just liquidy... a couple spots of it in one place, then the other one was ALOT of vomit

and it was way more just like chewed up food... i saw pieices of her food in it... i couldnt beleive all that came out of her, i felt so bad... do you know why she would do this? I'm going to see if she does it today... I hear cats throw up a lot but not sure if this is normal or if she just ate too much too fast?

Today i put a little more dry in there, and i gave her some wet food to maybe make her tummy feel better?? Thanks for your input...

hissy · Dec 16, 2005

Christina, how old is this cat? How much are you feeding? When they are throwing up, give their gut a rest and don't give them food for about 8 hours. Instead offer them some pedialyte, and some plain yogurt with active cultures.

Make sure the water isn't close to the food when you do feed again. If the vomiting continues in the 8 hour period of no food, then call your vet because it is likely the cat is dehydrated. To check for dehydration this is what you do:

while the cat is at rest, take the neck and scruff lightly and pinch. Then release. if the skin folds down to normal in seconds, she still has plenty of fluids in her system, but if not she needs a vet now. Tented skin means the cat is losing her electrolytes and fluids and needs subcu fluids from the vet.

Also try elevating the food dish a bit, feeding small amounts and brushing her daily (could be hairballs)

shiraz21 · Dec 16, 2005

Originally Posted by hissy

Christina, how old is this cat? How much are you feeding? When they are throwing up, give their gut a rest and don't give them food for about 8 hours. Instead offer them some pedialyte, and some plain yogurt with active cultures.

Make sure the water isn't close to the food when you do feed again. If the vomiting continues in the 8 hour period of no food, then call your vet because it is likely the cat is dehydrated. To check for dehydration this is what you do:

while the cat is at rest, take the neck and scruff lightly and pinch. Then release. if the skin folds down to normal in seconds, she still has plenty of fluids in her system, but if not she needs a vet now. Tented skin means the cat is losing her electrolytes and fluids and needs subcu fluids from the vet.

Also try elevating the food dish a bit, feeding small amounts and brushing her daily (could be hairballs)

Thank you Hissy. She is about a year and a half according to what the Humane Society told me... I usually keep the dry food full and give wet as a treat... I do have the water right near it so I will move it... Thank you for that advice, I am going to keep watch on her and see. I just came home from work and she didnt do it again, so hopefully it was a one time thing.

enigmaluna · Jan 11, 2006

Hissy, you sound knowledgable about cats vomiting so I wonder if you could help me. I have 5 cats and they have always eaten Iams dry food. Molly, 7, has been vomiting for a few months. I took her to the vet and they couldn't find anything wrong with her except that she is obese. Sometimes the vomit is yellow and liquidy and sometimes it is undigested food. I keep a bowl of dry food always available for all of the cats. The vet wants me to put her on a diet but I also have 1 underwieght cat and two young cats. I am at a loss. Molly seems healthy otherwise. I am just tired of cleaning up vomit and I want to be sure nothing else is wrong with her. I you have any suggestions I'd be greatful!

gardenandcats · Jan 11, 2006

I can't rememeber if I read this years ago or, if my vet had said this. Anyways dry cat food swells up when it hits a cat stomach and gets moist. Cats that eat alot of dry food and especially if they eat alot all at once. The stomach digestive juices gets the dry food moist causing the dry food to swell up. Hence over filling a cats stomach which in turn causes vomiting.
I wonder if there is any truth in this? I notice mine do vomit dry food often. The one that over eats does alot more then all the others.

semiferal · Jan 11, 2006

If the vomit looks more or less like food, then it usually means the cat just ate too much too fast. Technically this is "regurgitation" rather than vomit, and it is rarely a sign of a medical problem. The cat typically goes right back to normal activity (including eating) as if nothing had happened.

Vomit is not really recognizable as food and the cat usually appears nauseated and doesn't seem to feel well. If it happens once, it's not really a cause for concern, but if it happens more than a couple of times in a day, looks strange, or if the cat is very old, very young, or has health problems, then you should give the vet a call.

enigmaluna · Jan 11, 2006

Originally Posted by semiferal

If the vomit looks more or less like food, then it usually means the cat just ate too much too fast. Technically this is "regurgitation" rather than vomit, and it is rarely a sign of a medical problem. The cat typically goes right back to normal activity (including eating) as if nothing had happened.

Vomit is not really recognizable as food and the cat usually appears nauseated and doesn't seem to feel well. If it happens once, it's not really a cause for concern, but if it happens more than a couple of times in a day, looks strange, or if the cat is very old, very young, or has health problems, then you should give the vet a call.

Molly, the cat that is vomiting, seems fine. I would say she vomits between 1-3 times a day. But then she may go days without vomiting at all. My concern is that sometimes the vomit is yellow and liquidy and sometimes it is undigested food. Why would there be such a difference in the vomit? And if it is just overeating, what is the reason she is doing this? There is never a shortage of food and she doesn't need to fight the other cats for food. She never gets table scraps and all of my cats have been on Iams since I've had them. I once heard that lamb I think is supposed to be easier on the stomach. Is there any truth to this?

sharky · Jan 11, 2006

Originally Posted by enigmaluna

Molly, the cat that is vomiting, seems fine. I would say she vomits between 1-3 times a day. But then she may go days without vomiting at all. My concern is that sometimes the vomit is yellow and liquidy and sometimes it is undigested food. Why would there be such a difference in the vomit? And if it is just overeating, what is the reason she is doing this? There is never a shortage of food and she doesn't need to fight the other cats for food. She never gets table scraps and all of my cats have been on Iams since I've had them. I once heard that lamb I think is supposed to be easier on the stomach. Is there any truth to this?

Please have Molly see a vet ... No lamb is the hardest of the top three meats to digest ... chn is about 91% digestable beef is about 89% and lamb is 85%

enigmaluna · Jan 11, 2006

I have taken her to the vet. She had several blood tests looking for diabetes ect. Because she is not acting sick, ie fever, lethargy, the vet just said watch her and he walked out of the room quickly. He is mad because she is not on a weight loss diet. Having 5 cats, 1 who is underwieght and 2 who are young and need thier nutrition, it would be impossible to keep food out for the others and keep Molly away. I am at a loss! As I said before, she seems to vomit 2 different ways. The vomit is either yellow liquid or undigested food. She seems happy, she is a pig, but is never fed table food. It's the yellow vomit that bothers me because it doesn't seem as normal as vomited food. Does anyone know what kind of food would be the best for my household? I always thought Iams was the best so that is what I have used but I'm willing to change if something else will be better!

sharky · Jan 11, 2006

Which Iams formula?? are all cats between 1 and 7??

Read your label ... it has conr and by products both can be hard to digest ... by products are heads feet and internal organs.. it also has a chemical presrvative...

meowsersmom · Jan 11, 2006

Instead of free-feeding dry, why not start feeding a high quality wet food at scheduled times during the day? The higher protein/less carbs should help your obese cat slim down. You may have to feed your young cats more so they get all the nutrients they need to grow. Maybe feed your obese cat 3 times/day with the young cats and then give the young cats an extra feeding in a different room where the obese cat can't see. My sister also free-feeds dry to her obese cat and he throws up almost everyday. Her vet suggested the wet food idea, but she hasn't done it.

enigmaluna · Jan 11, 2006

My cats are 17, 16, 7, 1 1/2 , and 1 1/3. A suggestion to feed wet food bothers me. I believe that by feeding wet food the cats teeth get no way to get rid of tartar. Am I wrong?

kaleetha · Jan 11, 2006

One of my cats was doing this for a long time also. The vet prescribed Laxatone, a hairball remedy. You can find a version of it in Petsmart, but you might want to talk to your vet. (I find it a bit amazing that your vet is "mad"... he should understand your concerns about feeding ALL your cats and offer suggestions, not walk out of the room.)

It cost (me) about $6.50 for a tube and the tube lasts about a month. It helped Captain tremendously.

You also might consider getting some cat grass or growing some. Cats with upset tummies like to eat it.

I do think it's a good idea to slim down Molly. I have three cats that all eat different diets (due to special needs and kittenhood) and I feed Toulouse in the bathroom (which is right off the kitchen) when I feed my kitties. I feed twice a day for about 20 minutes. When Toulouse was little, I fed him a couple extra times.

Hope some of this helps!

enigmaluna · Jan 11, 2006

Well, I know Molly's problem is not hairballs. The grass suggestion is a good one. I used to keep a patch of grass in a shallow, long pot but when I got the babies, i got rid of it because they were digging at the dirt. As far as feeding them separately, I have a hard time doing that. When the babies moved in I tried to feed them kitten food away from the others and the others would cry and I would have to fight them off. When Kagome turned 1 year, I stopped trying to give them kitten food. Another problem is that I am not home during the day. Won't 9 hours between feedings be to long? Responding to the suggestion of the high protien diet, I tried that and everyone got sick even though it was a slow transition. As soon as I stopped, 4 of the cats started eating again with no more problems.

sharky · Jan 11, 2006

wet food does not contribute to tarter it does though give vital h2o to cats...

I would recommend a senior food ... are they on active maturity iams???

kaleetha · Jan 12, 2006

Well, Captain's problem isn't "hairballs" either as I know it. He just had the same symptoms as your Molly (sometimes worse, throwing up five or six times)and the hairball remedy somehow settled his stomach. He had an actual hairball every month or so I think.

My kitties get fed at 6:30 a.m. and then between 5-6 p.m. They seem to do just fine, although they sometimes leave a little extra in their bowls that they go back and snack on in a couple of hours.

yosemite · Jan 12, 2006

Originally Posted by enigmaluna

My cats are 17, 16, 7, 1 1/2 , and 1 1/3. A suggestion to feed wet food bothers me. I believe that by feeding wet food the cats teeth get no way to get rid of tartar. Am I wrong?

Contrary to popular MYTH, dry food is worse for your kitty's teeth than wet food. Dry food is also full of calories. We have started feeding wet food with only about 1/3 cup of dry for both to share during the day, 1 can of wet split between them in the morning and 1 can split at night (small can).

I also feed a good quality wet and dry food.

enigmaluna · Jan 12, 2006

I would rather feed them wet food because they like it better. I have been feeding them the original dry Iams formula. I can't use just senior food because I have 2 young cats. When everyone is saying quality food, what exactly is considered quality food? I was always told Iams is the best, am I wrong? How long can wet food be out in a bowl without getting spoiled? Now if anyone could look at the ages of my 5 cats earlier in the post and suggest an appropriate food schedule with amounts, I'd be grateful.

meowsersmom · Jan 12, 2006

If you search through the site, there are many posts concerning wet being a better food (it more closely mimics a cat's natural diet), along with posts debunking the myth about dry food cleaning teeth. You are lucky if your cats prefer wet to dry. Many members (including myself) are trying to increase wet food intake, unfortunately, our cats are kibble addicts. Cat food you can buy in a grocery store is generally not a quality food. Grocery store foods have a lot of by-products, corn, preservatives, etc. Good foods you can find at petco would be something like nutro or natural balance. You will have to find a feed store (or order online) to find other quality foods like innova, felidae, or merrick. Nutro is a good food, easy to find, and has a varied wet food selection. You can feed your 16 and 17 year old the canned senior formula and regular adult to the other 3 cats. The feeding instructions on my natural balance wet can say to feed 1 can daily per 8 lbs of body weight. If my cats (who weigh about 8 lbs) were on an all wet diet, I would break the can up between 3 feedings daily.

yosemite · Jan 13, 2006

Originally Posted by MeowsersMom

If you search through the site, there are many posts concerning wet being a better food (it more closely mimics a cat's natural diet), along with posts debunking the myth about dry food cleaning teeth. You are lucky if your cats prefer wet to dry. Many members (including myself) are trying to increase wet food intake, unfortunately, our cats are kibble addicts. Cat food you can buy in a grocery store is generally not a quality food. Grocery store foods have a lot of by-products, corn, preservatives, etc. Good foods you can find at petco would be something like nutro or natural balance. You will have to find a feed store (or order online) to find other quality foods like innova, felidae, or merrick. Nutro is a good food, easy to find, and has a varied wet food selection. You can feed your 16 and 17 year old the canned senior formula and regular adult to the other 3 cats. The feeding instructions on my natural balance wet can say to feed 1 can daily per 8 lbs of body weight. If my cats (who weigh about 8 lbs) were on an all wet diet, I would break the can up between 3 feedings daily.

Our local pet store carries Nutro, Natural Balance, Wellness, Merricks, Felidae and Innova. I read labels and bought 6 or 7 different brands that contained no by-product and tried each of them with our cats. They preferred Merricks so now I order 3 cases at a time for them from my local pet store.

Threw up...

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