<p>I have a call in to my vet, but I’m not sure if the office is open today or not and I need help from knowledgeable cat owners.</p>
<p>My adult cat has consistently eaten dry cat food (Meow Mix, Friskies type food), but the past 2 weeks or so has been acting like he doesn’t like it anymore, although he eventually eats it. Twice in the past 3 days he has thrown up a large amount. I called my vet to see if there’s a type of food she would recommend, but I’m hoping to get some advice from CC until I hear from her.</p>
<p>Any suggestions? Should I try a different type of food? He otherwise seems very healthy and content.</p>
<p>Perhaps your cat is having trouble getting hairball expelled. There are products available at the pet store that can help get it down and out, so to speak.</p>
<p>Our vet told us several years ago that the standard recommendation is now to feed wet food (any brand) because the high carb content in dry food contributes to diabetes in many cats. So you may want to give wet food a try in any case. It’s a little rough to face first thing in the morning, but you get used to it!</p>
<p>My cat has always thrown up a few times a month, I have no idea why, she is healthy per the vet, but she is bulemic! Any one found a fix for that?</p>
<p>If you do change your cat’s food, make sure to mix it in with the old brand and make a gradual change. Sudden change from one brand to another often causes diarrhea, which is just as bad to clean up as the vomit. It could be a hairball. Is there fur in the vomit? I have one cat that gorges and throws up every day. She’s a three legged feral and is perhaps trying to store up, but her tummy is too small. The other cat throws up fur in his vomit, so I know it’s a hairball. The furball medicine is a tasty paste in a toothpaste style tube and is flavored. They love to lick it off your finger.</p>
<p>When this has happened in the past, we’ve been told the following…</p>
<p>1) cat may have worms, so needs meds.</p>
<p>2) cat may be eating too fast, so put big golf balls in bowl to force cat to eat dry food more slowly.</p>
<p>3) give cat a hairball formula or the hairball paste.</p>
<p>Good luck with your kitty!!!</p>
<p>We had to get one of our kitties out of a tree the other night at 1:00 AM…he was stuck too high up and couldn’t get himself down! He’s a house cat, but pushed a window screen out and got out. Not used to trees and such. We had to pull the tree down to get the cat out!</p>
<p>Love it, mom! I will have to try the golf balls with Smoky. </p>
<p>There is a sensitive stomach brand of many cat foods. Not just Science Diet, which is expensive, but also Purina One, which is less expensive, though not as cheap as Meow Mix. I have also tried the Indoor Formula of Friskies, Purina, on my outside cats, and find that they do not eat as much, and don’t throw up as much. The birds love it, too!</p>
<p>I feed my cat Ziggy both wet food (two small 3 oz. cans per day) and dry food (a bowl left out all the time for him to snack on). He never throws up the dry food, and never gorges on it (which is why I can leave it out), but he vomits up wet food an average of three or four times a week. So much fun to clean up! The vet has never found anything wrong with him; it doesn’t seem to be fur; so I think it’s just that he can’t resist gobbling. His eyes are definitely bigger than his stomach. I’ve tried dividing each can into two separate portions, but even eating only half a small can quickly can be enough to set him off. My little vomit machine. </p>
<p>At least he never does it on a rug. He has three specific spots on the floor where it always seems to happen – in front of the front door, the door to the kitchen, and the door to the bathroom, respectively. Stepping on it by accident in the dark in bare feet is always fun, too.</p>
<p>Seems like our cats have the same bad habit as the rest of us, our eyes are bigger than our stomachs. While we take home “doggy bags”, they leave us messes to clean up. Oh, well, that’s one way to get me to vacuum!</p>
<p>Donna, I used to try to “treat” my cats to the Fancy Feast cans sometimes, but poor things consistently threw it up after wolfing it down before their buddies could get a bite!</p>
<p>But seriously, if your cat usually does not vomit, it is good to check with your vet. Unusual behavior like vomiting, not using the litter box, are usually signs of an ailment, and it’s good to have it checked out.</p>
<p>Could he be having teeth problems which are causing him to swallow the dry food whole? I have one older cat in that situation. He prefers canned food, but every now and then will try the dry. I can hear that he doesn’t (or can’t) chew it. And many times it comes back up in the same state it went down.</p>
<p>momlove, do take your cat in to be checked out by your vet. An infected or irritated gum or tooth could be preventing your cat from eating normally, and when the poor hungry kitty finally decides to eat, he might be swallowing his food too fast…</p>
<p>I have a cat who inhales her food - she gobbles up a can of Fancy Feast in several seconds! The cat was a rescue from a hoarder’s house, and as a kitten she was so tiny and had so many health problems, I though she might not live to reach cathood. Nope, she survived because she always had great appetite! She now weighs 14 pounds…</p>
<p>Thanks for your help, everyone. My vet’s office must be closed today, as she is usually great at returning messages promptly. I have given Kitty small amounts of food twice today, to be a little easier on his stomach. He has been fine so far. I don’t see any hair coming up, however he is considered long hair (I do brush him out once a week, but he still must get a lot of hair in his stomach), so that might be contributing. Also, his food does appear to be well-chewed.</p>
<p>I am going to take your suggestions and take Kitty in to see the vet. There have been no food issues since we’ve had him the last few months, but the past few weeks his eating habits have been a little off. Worth getting check out.</p>