Everytime I come home, I find throw-up!!!!

I have a 3 year old cat and a 8 month old kitten. Everytime I come home, I find throw-up somewhere in my house. Last night I found 3 places where someone had thrown up. It's not hairballs- it's all food. I started both cats on Science Diet Sensitive Stomach, and that has helped a little. There's not as many spots in the house.

Is there anyone out there having the same problem??? Does anyone know what to do????

I used to have a similar problem with my older cat. For him it was a food related issue. It literally took me years to find a food that agreed with him. I found for my cat he had problems with some ingredient (I still don't have a clue which one) in his hard cat food. I knew when he didn't eat any he almost never threw up, but when I put him back on it he would begin throwing up withing about two days. I put my older cat on Acana hard food (along with his usual wet cat food diet) and he has had no food related vommitting since.


I also have a younger cat with a different issue. From time to time she eats things like string or pieces of paper and then throws up.

I don't know if that helps any but my main guess is that your cat might have a food related sensitivity.

Just an fyi, SD isn't very good for them, specially Science Diet sensitive stomach.
How long have they been on that other food, and what was the other food?

I say next try a food with Lamb in it, and rice.. no corn.
Or at least try somethign like Chicken n' rice.

Is this dry food, or canned food? Cats tend to have less stomach upset with the dry food, as a main diet.

I had the same problem with Mitzi. She'd eat really really fast so she could try and steal food from the other cat's bowls then she'd wind up throwing it all up.

I wound up having to move her food dish away from everyone else's and gave her a bigger bowl so she'd have to take her time. It worked and so far she hasn't vomitted since!

BadHabit: I've had to do that myself. Another thing I found that works, for a more perminate solution, and it helps with the overal behavoir of the cat, is to hand feed

hand feeding also works with 'nippy' cats, as in they will bite your finger when trying to take food from your hands.

I wish I had more time for that! Although after 14 years Mitzi would just give me a look that says "Do you mind? I'm old and hungry now let me eat in peace."

I love kitty additudes.

You can try several things, feed smaller amounts in a bigger bowl, elevate the bowl several inches from the floor and smash up the kibble with a hammer to make them smaller. Add a small amount of liquid to them (i use chicken broth) Good luck.

AngelzOO, you said that Science Diet isn't that good for them, especially SD Sensitive Stomach. Can you elaborate? SD is recommended by so many Vets. My cat has been on Sensitive Stomach for a year or so. I sure don't want to keep him on it if it's not good for him.

Well... the biggest red flag for the SD sensitive stomach is its obvious lack of meat ingredients.

About half of the ingredients listed on that lable are nothing more than artificle colours/flavors. (To make your cats want to eat it, its like sugar compaired to salt)

As I have said before in some other post here, the way a lot of these vets work.
Vet school, you get a short class on nutrition, its sponsored by Science Diet. So of course most vets will sell SD in their stores because that is the only thing they know. Vets honestly do not know very much about companion animal nutrition at all. Once they graduate their schooling, 10+ years ago, many never follow up with current nutrition needs, updates, they are behind the times. That is what nutritionist are, food guidance. Just as if your dog had a sever behavorial problem, the best solution would be to go see a behavorist.

The sensitive stomach is often 'prescribed' by vets, for rescue groups, they 'claim' that whatever food they 'were' on before they came to the rescue group, the SD ss food will make the easy transition on their system, (aka no diahreah, throwing up).

But their site has a disclaimer, and I have also called and asked how I should feed this food. They say to treat it just like any other food, gradually wean them onto this food from whatever they were last on or they WILL have digestion problems.
Sounds like an oxy-moron to me.

Interesting bit of knowledge......

After reading your post Angelz00 I went to SD's web site and looked at the ingredient list for the sensitive stomach diet and only one of the top five ingredients is meat and that is even questionable since it's listed as chicken by product meal........

It says it's made up of 36 percent protein but it looks like it's all from grains.......

I guess in certain circumstances this would be ok but I had always been lead to believe that cat's needed most of their protein from meat.

yes, cats should get most of their protien from meat, your right.
I just think its funny how they use so much corn in there, and anyone knows that corn is one of the TOP ingredients to cause upset stomach, digestion problems, and allergies in dogs/cats hee hee.

Their fat content is enough to make me sick.. 22% I wonder if thats the min or max.
The average cat food will have around 14-16%

Oh, they also use BHT, and BHA in their other foods (not ss formula) I don't feed my animals that which is known to cause cancer, ... among many other things.

Amazing! I'm so glad you posted that, AngelzOO. My cat doesn't have a sensitive stomach. I originally bought it with a coupon and he just liked the taste, so that's what I've been giving him. His dry food is a supplement - I do give canned twice a day, but he likes to nibble. I'll sure read the labels more carefully on the dry food from now on. Not to sound like a food advertisement, but do you have any suggestions for a more nutritrious dry?

Here is a good article on food and what to look for in a good food. http://www.cat-search.com/health/nutrition.html

And another...

http://www.bestfriends.org/members/health/catnutr.htm

Yeah, I was really upset when I found out how many of those pricey brands are no better than grocery brands.

I had the same vomiting problem with my cat. She's been eating Nutro Max Naturals for a year almost with no vomiting!

It's kind of frustrating trying to find a good food and then you shell out mega dollars only to have the food be no better than the next.

I really like Nutro a lot. I started feeding it to my dogs after they were on Purina ONE for the longest time. My one dog Natala has hip dysplaisa and I was giving her supplements of glucosamine to keep keep her comfortable. Nutro and AVO were the only two foods that I know of that contain glucosamine and Purina had been working for them so I really didn't want to switch so I wrote Purina a letter explaining my problem and that I really didn't want to switch brands and wanted to know if they were going to be producing a food that contained glucosamine.

They wrote back to me and simply stated that they only make food for healthy dogs and healthy dogs do not need glucosamine. That made up my mind and I switched their food. They've been doing fine on the new food and I see a big improvement with Natala. She gets around much easier now.

Since that I recieved that letter from Purina I've been contemplating switching my cat's food to Nutro just because I felt their answer was a bit ignorant and rude to a loyal customer.

I'm so anti-Purina, I'm sorry, but that just goes to show how they don't give a about your pets. It's all about the money for them. I've been so happy with the Nutro Naturals and the company helping me understand. For example, I try not to feed my cats corn, and Nutro Naturals has corn gluten and they were very helpful explaining the difference.

The thing about grocery store pet food, and pricier ones made by the same brand only with a new bag, are how they are made.
A lot of pet food companies take the starch and make a pellet. Then they grind up undesirable and indigestible (even to your pets)animal parts including brains, feet, eyes, that don't have the nutrition your pet needs. Then they dip the corn nuggets into this nasty bloody goop, and VOILA, they bake it and sell it to you.

Alicat I like your take on how the food is made. Yummy.....

I have been disapointed with Purina since they came out with Beneful. What a crappy product. They advertise it to be natural and it has real meat and vegtables! All it is, is vegtable shaped kibble that's dyed to look like the real thing. Yuck!

I'd just really hate to change their food since I had such a time with Fallon's leaking problem. Maybe if I take it really slow she'll be fine.

Hmm well there are many foods I could list that I consider above Science Diet, have I personally tried them all? No, but I have tried a lot, and read many reviews from other people.

Anyhow!! Sinse you like to feed mainly canned food, I'll tell you some of those; Azmira, Eagle Pack, Evolve, Felidae, Halo (not sure I would feed this as a complete diet, but its a healthy treat), innova/wellness, lick your chops, Nutro/Nutro Max, Precise, Pro Pac, Wysong, Authority.

I personally believe a diet of mostly dry food is best in most cases, but whatever.

Nutro has been a commonly mentioned food to help with cats who are finky eaters, or who have digestion problems.

Just a tip if you are looking for a CHEAP cat food (dry)... try Maximum Nutrition (Walmart brand) Kitten formula is best, I haven't tried the adult yet. Its about $3.50 for a 4lb bag. And its better than Purina, or Wiskas, any of that stuff.

Ugh..
The real horror stories start once you find out that some pet foods use dead pets in your kibble.

Course the AAFCO hasn't decided to release what brands do this yet =p

If any of you are actually interesed in all this health stuff, here's a good site. But don't get thrown off by the name holistic, its more than just that, and it concerns kibbles.

http://catatonic.freeservers.com/holistic.html

Wow. I didn't know that Science Diet was that bad for cats. I know that when I put them on the SD, their fur looked and felt better. I just assumed that it was the food that made it look that way. I guess I'll just have to begin experimenting with different foods. Grace will NOT eat anything that has rice in it. I've tried because it was supposed to be easier on her stomach. She sniffs it and then walks away. She doesn't eat a lot anyway, so whatever I can get down her is good. She would rather lose the weight than eat food she doesn't like. (Yes, she's spoiled) I keep changing her food trying to find something that will stop her throwing up. I will try that Nutro Max Naturals next, I think. Thanks guys!