Cat Who Eats Too Much

[lonewolf07]

Our young cat, Laverne, who is soon to be spayed eats far to much.  She eats so much that she barfs it up.  We took her in as a stray and she has adapted to our other cats and dogs.  The vet told us that when Laverne was spayed, she wouldn't eat as much.  This vet adopted Laverne's mother and that's what happened with her.  In the meantime, I don't know what to do.  I can feed her separately from the other cats but would have to find a place where the dogs couldn't get her food.  Any advice?

[lonewolf07]

I think Laverne has the "stray cat" thing - not knowing where she's going to find her next meal.  The food just seems to come up easily, like there was no room left in her stomach.

Tried your suggestion of feeding her small portions over an hour's time and now she thinks she is Queen Laverne and is going to be fed like that all the time.  THANK YOU  lol

Where am I going to find a servant for her?

Will try the digestive enzyme powder if necessary.

Time to go and bow to Queen Laverne.  She's lying in her bed - which used to be mine  = )

[Savas]

I just watched one of our cats climb up on top of a seven foot high cabinet, stand at the edge, and projectile vomit nearly five feet out into the room.

Having left me said mess, she contentedly went to sleep.

Thank's Girl. :-/

Is this stomach vomiting or throat vomiting (heaving middle or extended throat)?

Try going with one of the no wheat/grain/ soy cat foods, or a single protein source food just in case it's allergy-digestive related.
Dry food doesn't really help with teeth, btw. It does scratch the surface clean to a small degree, but not to a significant degree that it makes a huge difference. They've done some studies recently that are showing this to be true (ain't science grand? Let's do a study on dry food and feline dental health!!! :-) )

It is possible kitty is overeating at one sitting. I'd suggest (and yes, this will be a pain in the *ss) suggesting feeding tiny portions over an hour period and seeing how it goes.

It could just be Laverne suffers from good ol' fashion alley cat syndrome. It's that stray attitude that this COULD be the last food they see for a while so they snark it all down in one big inhale.
Feeding her out of sight of the other animals could help. It might help her relax at meal times.

Ah, one last thing. Try a digestive enzyme powder. They help aid in breaking down food and digesting it more efficiently.

[lonewolf07]

April - I have no objection to wet food but it tends to give our cats diarrhea unless we integrate it slowly along with dry food.  Dry food is also better for their teeth, according to the vet.

PK - if the vet finds that Laverne is lacking in "something", she'll probably recommend some different type of food.  Her opinion is that Laverne was homeless and just ate what she could find and now is eating too much.  Like humans, she still fears where she'll get her next meal.  She has a good coat, good teeth and gums.  Figures I'd adopt a cat who needs therapy  = )

[PrettyKitty1]

You might want to think of the reason she is overeating. As Mrs_Savas would say, they are usually looking for 'something' in the food, I guess some nutrients (s) that tells the body it is time to stop. It is not a normal behavior, really, this.....overeating. And cats are smart, and she definitely knows what she is doing and why. In nature, they do not eat every day, and they stay lean and active. Remember Abby used to be considered category 8? (10 being morbidly obese) With the diet change and feeding him twice a day he dropped 3 pounds! He is now ideal weight! And, he doesn't feel the need to overeat. So, I'd say your problem is the food which isn't doing it for her. Too bad they get addicted to what they can't eat. But aren't we all the same? I love milk, but I'm lactose intolerant *sigh*

Forget about the nutrients I mentioned, just focus on what you want to do - semi-moist food- and talk to me about it as you go.

[April2]

Is there some reason you don't want to try the wet food? You could start her out small on it and just give her bits at a time. My cats love it and I give it to both cats. You could try cutting back on the dry food and letting all the cats have a tablespoon or so of wet food and see how they do. I bet they'd love it! Mine sure do. :)

[Jade59]

Hey wolfie,

We have been trying to change Jades diet to all wet, but she won't cooperate, haha.  We were, however, able to change her dry food to Wellness, which is a much better food than what we were previously giving her.  

Now she has only vomited once or twice in the last month and a half which is a huge improvement.  I'm sure it's the better food, but also, the kernels are much smaller than the other food we've tried and I'm wondering if this doesn't have something to do with the improvement also.  

Maybe your kitty would tolerate the smaller kernels better?  That is, if the wet food change is not a success.  

Changing a cats diet can be super frustrating, but just hang in there.  I know it's a lot of work, but it sounds like your willing :)

[lonewolf07]

PK - Laverne is the one who eats far too much.  I'll try the semi-moist and see how it goes.  It will mean feeding her separately but if it works - good.  All our pets have been eating grass and barfing it up - the vet said that if there are no chemicals in it that it should be fine but I'll try the semi-moist food too.

We have three cats and it can be difficult if one of them needs a different diet.  Where would I find these "extras"?  The vet?  Pet store?  Health food store?

Laverne is the only cat I've ever had who is a "problem" eater.

[PrettyKitty1]

Try the semi-moist food see if IP will finally behave. Let's keep our fingers crossed. My advice to you would be pretty much the same as April's. I'd switch her to wet foods since it's what her stomach can tolerate. But hopefully, this will all be behind us. Hopefully, this is hairball season and once it passes, it'll all be forgotten - until the next hairball season, of course :)

LW, I bet adding some extra help would benefit your cat...but then again, the other really don't need extra nutrients like salmon oil, digestive enzymes, probiotics and a bit of Physillium Husk. Sometimes having more than one cat can be challenging. Is it not right? heh.....don't I know about that lol

[lonewolf07]

Our oldest cat, Icepick, used to chase and eat mice and birds and he did fine like that.  Commercial cat food was just something extra for him.  Since Laverne was a stray, maybe commercial or dry cat food isn't easy for her to digest.  But I can't just send her out to catch a mouse.  Icepick used to stash them around the house  = (  I think I'll try her with semi-moist cat food and see how that goes.  She's also going to the vet to make sure she's alright.

Has anyone had bad experiences with semi-moist cat food?

[April2]

When Sakura got all stopped up last year I had a couple of vets recommend adding wet food to her diet. They said the dry food can cause constipation, among other things. Since then, I've been giving both cats a little wet food once a day along with their dry food. They love it! And their poop is normal.
I know many vets are now saying that cats shouldn't even have dry food, that they need a high protein diet without all those fillers and fiber. They said that when you look at cats in the wild they only eat meat, so I guess that makes sense! They're carnivores. :)

[zodiacqueen]

Yupp-I had a feeling that L wasn't chewing the hard food.  Skunkie does the same thing-she'll barf and I'll find whole pieces of kibble.  She used to barf a few times a week, but that's gotten better now.  I started giving her patroleum jelly every other day, and she's only barfed once in 2 wks.  Maybe, you can try L on some of that, too.  I would try the jelly every day/every other day, give it a week.  If you still see barfing, then I'd chop the diva's food.  LOL

No, I don't think that soft food would give her diarrhea.  My cat gets both, and I think it's better for them to have both.

Keep me updated, and let me know if any of these ideas worked!  

[lonewolf07]

She's going to think she's Queen Laverne having her food chopped up.  It is whole, she just inhales it.  I thought the other cat was her sister too but the vet was able to get a better idea of their ages and Laverne was her kitten.  Queen Laverne Kitten  lol

Wouldn't soft food give her diarrhea?  Our cats seldom have dry or wet food.

[zodiacqueen]

Oh, good point-cats do tend to wolf(LOL) their food down when they're strays.  I didn't even think of that!  Hey, have you noticed if the hard food has been chewed up or when she barfs, is it whole?  If it's whole, then that's the reason she's throwing up.  Then, you could try to chop the hard food into smaller pieces and that might help her to digest it better.  You could try soft food, too, for an experiment-she might not puke that up.

Keep me posted!  =D

PS-I didn't know that the other cat with Laverne was her mom!!  I thought it was her sister!

[lonewolf07]

All the cats have dry food.  Laverne doesn't have worms, the vet already checked.  She either doesn't chew her food well enough or she eats too much because she was a stray and didn't know where her next meal was coming from.

Is Laverne going to end up looking like Lenny and Squiggy?  lol

[zodiacqueen]

Maybe, she's one of those fast-eater types.  You know, the cats that inhale their food way too quick?  When they do that, they wind up barfing it.  I've seen a couple of cats that do that.  Or, some cats don't chew their food up good enough, and their stomachs don't like it....and then they wind up puking.  Or, she could have worms.  Or, like the vet says, maybe she will chill out once you get her spayed.

Which one of these problems do you think L has?  I've got different ideas for all of these.  Oh, and one other thing, is she doing this with hard food, soft food, or both?

Hugs!