3 Year Old Cat on/off vomits

[jfr007]

Hi everyone - My cat, she is 3 years old and has all her vaccines up to date. Last month, she started throwing up after eating her food, but then few minutes after she went back to eat again and didnt threw up.

This happened many times, so i took her to the Vet. They checked her and she see seems totally fine. Vet gave her some medicine for nauseas and she has been fine since. Yesterday, she started to throw up again. I called the vet and they said she might need to get x rays done and i heard its going to be expensive as she does not have insurance.

I havent change the food, she eats this dry food this. She eats her treats and tuna and she doesnt throw up. Its very strange, not sure why she randomly throws up her dry food.

Any ideas on what could be happening?

Also, any advise on cat insurance? Im not clear that if i get her insurance now, i can use it right away to get her x-rays done. Any recomendations will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[LTS3]

Dry food isn't really great for cats and may cause vomiting and other health issues in some cats (topic for another thread). Do you feed any canned food?

Try elevating the bowl so your cat doesn't have to crouch down to eat. That may help food go down easier and limit gulping. A slow feeder bowl or just clean ping pong balls in the bowl will force the cat to slow down to eat. Sometimes eating too fast causes vomiting.

The brand of dry food may have changed the ingredients slightly or changed suppliers and now something in the food is causing vomiting. You can try a different brand of food.

A food intolerance is possible. Cats can develop an intolerance to something in food. Chicken is known to be the cause of food intolerances. Gums, starches, fillers, certain oils, and other things can also be culprits. Some cats may just start vomiting, others develop skin issues, and others may have a reaction that you wouldn't even think would be food related like my cat's bald spots caused by a goat milk intolerance.

It might take a few weeks for pet insurance to kick in (waiting period) so if your cat need x rays now, insurance wouldn't cover it. I'm not even sure what an x ray would show other than a possible internal blockage which doesn't seem to be your cat's case. Many pet insurances won't cover what they consider pre-existing conditions and there are other restrictions on what can and can't be covered. Check the fine print before you sign up.

 

[jfr007]

Dry food isn't really great for cats and may cause vomiting and other health issues in some cats (topic for another thread). Do you feed any canned food?

Try elevating the bowl so your cat doesn't have to crouch down to eat. That may help food go down easier and limit gulping. A slow feeder bowl or just clean ping pong balls in the bowl will force the cat to slow down to eat. Sometimes eating too fast causes vomiting.

The brand of dry food may have changed the ingredients slightly or changed suppliers and now something in the food is causing vomiting. You can try a different brand of food.

A food intolerance is possible. Cats can develop an intolerance to something in food. Chicken is known to be the cause of food intolerances. Gums, starches, fillers, certain oils, and other things can also be culprits. Some cats may just start vomiting, others develop skin issues, and others may have a reaction that you wouldn't even think would be food related like my cat's bald spots caused by a goat milk intolerance.

It might take a few weeks for pet insurance to kick in (waiting period) so if your cat need x rays now, insurance wouldn't cover it. I'm not even sure what an x ray would show other than a possible internal blockage which doesn't seem to be your cat's case. Many pet insurances won't cover what they consider pre-existing conditions and there are other restrictions on what can and can't be covered. Check the fine print before you sign up.

I feed her canned salmon once a week, i thought dry food was better as recommended by the place where i got her from.

Now that you mentioned it, her problem started happening after i bought her a new bag of food. Its the same brand but its possible something changed with the ingredients. Any recommendations on which dry food i can buy?

I did purchase a different bowl that its more raised, also changed her water founding to make sure its all fresh.

As far as the insurance, i will continue to look for one but as you mentioned many of them do not allow to start using the plan right away.

 

[LTS3]

Canned salmon from the supermarket? That's fine as a weekly treat. No, dry food is not healthy for cats. People feed it because it's convenient and cheaper than canned cat food and easier to store IMO. That said, there are people who only feed dry food because their cat(s) are dry food addicts or canned cat food is not readily available or of good quality in their country or for many other reasons. There's a nutrition forum here on TCS where you can ask away on all things food and suggested brands to feed based on budget or whatever. Dr. Elsey's brand of dry food is often suggested but I think there may be a shortage of that or jacked up price these days. Rawz is a high end brand of high quality food with a price to match so it's not very budget-friendly.

It's ok to feed something else from the previous place. Just make the food transition slow to avoid any tummy issues.

There are threads on pet insurance here on TCS: Search Results for Query: pet insurance

 

[jfr007]

Canned salmon from the supermarket? That's fine as a weekly treat. No, dry food is not healthy for cats. People feed it because it's convenient and cheaper than canned cat food and easier to store IMO. That said, there are people who only feed dry food because their cat(s) are dry food addicts or canned cat food is not readily available or of good quality in their country or for many other reasons. There's a nutrition forum here on TCS where you can ask away on all things food and suggested brands to feed based on budget or whatever. Dr. Elsey's brand of dry food is often suggested but I think there may be a shortage of that or jacked up price these days. Rawz is a high end brand of high quality food with a price to match so it's not very budget-friendly.

It's ok to feed something else from the previous place. Just make the food transition slow to avoid any tummy issues.

There are threads on pet insurance here on TCS: Search Results for Query: pet insurance

Just spoke with the Vet, he told me he doesn't think an xray will show anything usual for this type of problem.

He recommends me to try different brand with increase fiber and lower fat numbers. If the problem continues to happen, might have to do intestinal check diagnostic. For the insurance, he told me to be careful because some insurance will not cover existing problems, apparently insurance check the cats medical records prior, i didn't know that part.