My Cat Vomitting

Hello
My Cat Luna has been vomiting a little bit more than usual the past couple of days. She doesn't usually vomit more than once or twice every 2 or 3 weeks.
Last week, I went away and had my mom cat-sit for me. When I came back and brought the cat back to the house, she's been vomiting BEFORE i feed her. Which makes no sense.
Her food hasn't been changed. I feed her the Iams hairball care/weight control for indoor cats. She seems fairly active, and I don't see anything visibly wrong with her. Her poop is also solid so no diarrhea. And she has no symptoms for worms.

[Mrs_Savas]

Hmmm. Is she only vomitting before a feeding or other times too?  

Because you're right, that doesn't make sense, at least physically.  If that's the case, it could be connected to separation anxiety.  Feeding time is an emotionally important time for our cats.  They bond around feeding, they love the person who feeds them.  Obvioiusly that's an oversimplification of our relationships with our fuzzy babies, but still, it's true that it's a significant daily ritual.

If your cat is throwing up other times, though, there could be a physical cause.  Maybe mom gave your kitty some treats that didn't agree with her tummy?

Make sure she gets lots of water. Vomitting is dehydrating and dehydration is dangerous for cats.  If she's eating canned food and drinking water, that's probably fine.  If she is only fed dry food, then even at the best of times she isn't getting enough hydration from drinking water (it's a cat thing).  

If she doesn't eat canned food, I'd consider syringe hydration as long as she is vomitting regularly.  And I'd consider starting her on a canned/dry regiment, if she isn't getting that already.

Couple of questions, in addition to the timing question:  Is she bringing up bile or food?  Is she displaying any signs of anxiety around the time she throws up, like excess affection (out of character) crying, hesitation to be out of your sight... anything like that?

Keep us posted, ok?

[PrettyKitty1]

I am hoping your cat gets better. Has the vet checked her vomiting yet? And I am not talking about the latest thing. I am talking about her vomiting every 2-3 weeks. It may not be serious, but just the word 'vomiting' calls for some special attention. As Mr_Savas said, she may get dehydrated and such condition can be extremely dangerous. Hope she gets better. Be aware that issues with the small intestine causes vomiting.

Good Luck.

[Deedlet]

Thanks so much for the responses

Luna is on a dry food diet for the most part. I don't' feed her wet food that much because I find it to be a lot more fattening and she is a house-cat so I don't want her to get too fat. I do occasionally give her wet food such as fantsy feast and she loves it. Pretty much gulps it down in like 5 minuets. lol... I always make sure she has lots of water available to her, and she does drink regularly. She's a long hair tabby so the throwing up once or twice every 2-3 weeks is pretty normal for her in my opinion. Some times she goes even longer 4-7 weeks without vomiting. And when she does vomit, it is defenetly a big, fat hair ball. with some... food.. but not much.
Yesterday, and today when she threw up she had hairball in her vomit but a lot more food than usual.
I'm positive my mom didn't give her anything new, unless she found something and ate it, that my mom wasn't aware of.
To answer your question though, no I haven't taken her to the vet for a long time. She seems like a very happy cat, and the vomiting hasn't been strange behavior until this week, because she did it before she ate. She's a huge scardy cat, so taking her to the vet is a last resort, because she hates strangers.

I have some other questions as well.. regarding feeding.
As i said, Luna is a house-cat, age 10. And she does tend to put on some weight if i give her food ALL the time.her diet is dry-food mostly (hairball/weight control) I've tried to regulate her eating by giving her a bit in the morning and a bit at night for over night. But it seems to not be enough. Should i be giving her more wet food? A friend of mine told me i should give her egg yolk, is that a good thing? I'm just really concerned with her feeding, because I don't want her to be over weight, and I'm not really sure how much is over-weight for a cat her age. Any more advice would be much appreciated, and I'll keep you posted on her vomiting streak.

[PrettyKitty1]

I would not say you are doing it all the wrong way but there are some thing that need to change, and other need to go, like forever!!!!!  When you’re done reading, you tell me what you think.

I will try to help you with this as much as possible, because I am not a fan of dry foods or Friskies. So, within your available resources, I would like for you to tell me if you can afford a better food quality; something like Natural Balance.  Wet foods are better than dry foods simply because of the moisture in the food, helping your cat stay UTI free.  What brand of dry foods do you feed her? Egg yolk is great! I feed my cats egg yolks. Egg yolk provides B vitamin fresh from the source, and cats do need vitamins. Now, commercial foods are, as far as vitamins and minerals, balanced, so I wouldn’t really add the egg yolk because there isn’t a lack of it right now. I have to do it because I feed my cats a balanced raw diet.

It seems to me the dry food you are feeding her isn’t really helping with her hairball problems. True, some cats will vomit hair, especially long hair ones; but these foods which claim to be great for hairball prevention, don’t you think should be working better than this? How they SHOULD work is they are supposed to have some type of digestive enzymes and FIBER source as these aid digestion, and fiber gets rid of ANYTHING the body cannot digest, like hair.  So, your cat vomiting is a sing that what you’re feeding her isn’t helping with hairballs.  Yes, she tolerates vomiting quite often; but it isn’t really good for her.

So, I would change her diet to wet foods mostly or only. I would also add a little bit of Phyllium husk (in powder form) just a little, to help her digest her foods better and pass the excess hair.  

I would like to address your point on the label of the food.  Here is how many of these food companies work.  Some claim their foods help with, say, hairballs or obesity; but if you look closely, the food hasn’t really been approved by the AAFCO. If the label does mention the AAFCO, I’d like to tell you that SOME, not all commercial foods are tested on a small population of animals for six months and have been shown to provide adequate nutrition. Six months!!!! Six months, SIX MONTHS, six months. So, if the animal stays alive for six months and doesn’t lose more than 15% of its body weight, then the food is acceptable.  More importantly, AAFCO tests only one manufacturer’s line of food. For example, the company Hills has Science Diet, Z/D etc. If they test Science Diet, they will NOT test Z/D as they ASSUME the food complies with their standards because it comes from the same manufacturer.  All I’m saying is don’t trust labels. Instead, watch your cat’s symptoms and judge accordingly. You’re doing a great job caring for her. You’re a good momma; I can tell, otherwise you wouldn’t have bothered posting about her.

So, make sure she drinks plenty of water to start with. I would definitely stop the dry food. I would feed her wet foods and stop the Friskies. Look into high quality foods such as Wellness, Natural Balance, Evo, California Natural,  Nature’s variety, Wysong’s Au Jus Canned Meats, Avoderm Select Cuts.

If changing her diet isn’t possible, then I’d suggest adding digestive enzymes and physillium husk to her current diet. You can find the enzymes online. I get mine at petenzymes.com. Let me know how it all goes. I hope your kitty gets better. She must be adorable!!

[PrettyKitty1]

Oh, I forgot to answer your other question about why Luna keeps wanting to eat all the time. Here is what Mrs_Savas would tell you.  Cats know what they’re doing.  When cats are being fed a type of food that lacks certain nutrients, they will eat nonstop to try to find what they lack. Their bodies are looking for THAT specific nutrient they need to feel satisfied. It is a strong survival instinct. Of course, they usually gain weight because of the grains in the food.  

What would I say? I’d say I agree with Mrs_Savas. When a cat is lacking something, it will keep eating to try and find what its body needs. Dry foods and other foods like Friskies are made up of plant based protein (cats eat animal protein and do not take benefit from plants at all) these foods also have grains, which is what makes them so fat. Imagine you eating carbs in excess all the time. You’d gain weight as well, right? That is exactly what happens when a cat is fed a food which is not grain free.  By-products, ash content and other additives will also interfere with her digestion, making it impossible to properly pass the excess hair.

I am honestly glad that, after all, all of that hairball hasn’t caused blockage. This is a very lucky kitty after all.

The solution is a diet change.

[Deedlet]

I just wanted to say thank you so much for taking the time to write me back. I will look into her diet change, and see what i can do. I do feed her IAMS dry food which says is approved by the vets or whatever lol.. but I guess that isn't worth much, judging by what you said in your post. So i'll defenetly look into giving her more wet food. Just wondering though... how much wet food is enough? Like one can in the morning, and one at night? I'll definitely start feeding her the egg yolk everyday, she seems to love it :) And I'll look into digestive enzymes and physillium husk as well. Again, thank you ever so much for your response.

[PrettyKitty1]

For adult cats, eating twice a day should be the rule. So, I would feed her two cans of food, one in the morning, and another one at night. Afternoon snack are fine. My cats eat two whole chicken hearts (one for each cat) as afternoon snacks. They love it.

Don’t worry if she seems hungry all the time. In nature, cats eat once a day and NOT every day. Nature can be rough sometimes. They still survive. Iams is low quality food, so you might want to look into Wellness or Nature’s Variety, or maybe Natural Balance.  The foods I mentioned are grain free, and made with real animal protein instead of plant protein. As soon as you start feeding her high quality, real foods, you’ll see your cat not wanting to eat all the time. Just remember cats are carnivores and need to eat other animals. Iams and other low quality foods are made of grains, by-products and plant protein. Have you seen a cat in the wild eating plant protein? Me neither!!!!!!!!!!!!! Heh-heh…

You’re welcome. Take good care of her.

[Savas]

I'm going to make one other comment here; dry food is actually more fattening than wet food. If you use a good quality human grade food, the weight shouldn't be an issue.

Also, your cat could be dehydrated from lack of a wet food in the diet. I think I saw prettykitty go into this, but i'm stressing it again. Low level dehydration can lead to a gradual micro scarring of the intestinal tract that can lead to vomiting and eventual ulcers forming around the scar tissue.

Anxiety could easily cause a gastro-intestinal vomiting issue if this is happening.

Finally; you may want to consider experimenting with single protein source foods just in case your kitty is developing a food allergy issue. Some animals do (unfortunately) develop these allergies.

Okay, that was more than one thing. I leave you in prettykitty's capable hands. :->