Acid reflux or something else?? Cat still puking.

[GrimGrim]

So I have posted this a few times but this is the current update:

My cat is 12 years of age, grey tabby, female. She began to pule her food constantly and sometimes just foam. We switched her food many times to different brands. It didn't work so I set her on wet food and it temporarily stopped her vomiting food, but then she began to vomit foam, which I assume is her acid reflux?

I took her to the vet and the did some bloodwork, they came out normal. She is healthy and weighs the correct amount. So they had us get digestive food. It worked at first but then once again, she began to puke out food, less than before, and foam again. She isnt acting abnormal, she's being the same loud, lazy cat she is. When checking her puke, there isnt hair in them - she does hairballs time to time but none in her abnormal puking. I dont know what to do still. Vets are expensive just to continue testing 🧍‍

 

[FeebysOwner]

Usually, when a cat is vomiting up foam it can be a sign of acid build up and often is caused by too many hours passing between meals. Could this be her problem? At her age 3-4 meals a day, rather than less, can help with keeping something in her stomach to help absorb stomach acids.

When she does throw up food, is it shortly after eating, or hours afterward? Is the food mostly digested or not? If it is shortly after eating, this still could be related to acid build up as it has upset her stomach enough to cause her to vomit her food.

If feeding her more often doesn't help, you might want to ask the vet about medicines to help reduce gastric acidity (e.g. famotidine or omeprazole).

 

[GrimGrim]

Usually, when a cat is vomiting up foam it can be a sign of acid build up and often is caused by too many hours passing between meals. Could this be her problem? At her age 3-4 meals a day, rather than less, can help with keeping something in her stomach to help absorb stomach acids.

When she does throw up food, is it shortly after eating, or hours afterward? Is the food mostly digested or not? If it is shortly after eating, this still could be related to acid build up as it has upset her stomach enough to cause her to vomit her food.

If feeding her more often doesn't help, you might want to ask the vet about medicines to help reduce gastric acidity (e.g. famotidine or omeprazole).

I will try that out! She normally does it in the morning and sometimes mid day. Although she has some left over food in her bowl most of the time. I try leaving half a cup of food at night but sometimes she refuses to eat if theres too little when she pules food, it doesnt seem digested

 

[lisahe]

I will try that out! She normally does it in the morning and sometimes mid day. Although she has some left over food in her bowl most of the time. I try leaving half a cup of food at night but sometimes she refuses to eat if theres too little when she pules food, it doesnt seem digested

If she barfs food that looks completely undigested -- and often looks like a sausage -- that's regurgitation, which often happens when a cat eats more than it should on an empty stomach. If that and plain frothy stomach acid are all she generally barfs, then acid production is the likely culprit.

We have a cat who has a tendency to vomit up stomach acid if she's too hungry. She regurgitates if she eats too much at once when her stomach has been empty. She's fed six small meals a day. (We use a timed feeder to feed her during the night.) What FeebysOwner says about feeding more meals per day is great advice.

Edwina has always had very bad food anxiety (she came from a household where she was very underfed) so I wondered if that anxiety was increasing her stomach acid production. A month or two ago I started giving her Composure, a calming supplement (in chew form), at night to see if that would help. Although I can't say for absolute certain that it's Composure and not something else that's helped, she's barely vomited acid at all and she's definitely calmer when she knows a meal time is on the way. Between that and the feeder, she doesn't wake me up in the night much at all now to ask for food.