Cat vomiting after, and only after, eating wet food

[Bart_Man]

Hello pet lovers,

I have a question regarding my cat Tux (you'll see him in my user pic).

Every time I feed him wet food (science diet or fancy feast) he vomits part of it back up approximately an hour after he eats it. He only does this with wet food, never with dry food. I have tried to feed him Nutrience and Wellness but he just WILL NOT eat it, I've been trying to get him to eat it for 2 years now.

His vomit does NOT contain blood, does NOT contain hair balls and Tux does NOT appear to be uncomfortable or sick at all. He's obviously gagging when he's vomiting but as soon as it's out he's back to his playful old self.

My question is: is there a certain preservative that is added to wet food that he may be allergic to? His dry food is nutrience mixed with science diet. He has a water fountain and drinks sufficiently, but not excessively as far as I can tell.

He is otherwise healthy. I inspected him myself by squeezing his belly a little, squeezing his stomach and so on but he shows no discomfort except for the normal play-biting he always does.

He is two years old, neutered and very energetic otherwise. I really want to feed him wet food every day to keep him from having urinary tract infections, but if I feed him wet food every day he vomits every day.

Thanks!
BartMan

[krdahmer]

Have you discussed this with your vet? That should be the first move. He may also be eating too fast and regurgitating the food, I have a couple that do that with dry or wet food. Wet food is definitely good for him, I would try watering it down and mixing it to more of a puree consistency and giving him smaller amounts over a few feedings, after the vet rules out any possible medical issues.

Oh and Tux is adorable!

[Bart_Man]

Yeah I suppose he does regurgitate after eating wet food. I sometimes see him gagging and swallowing but nothing comes out. Maybe that's just what he's doing. Often something does come out though, and he doesn't do it after eating dry food.

Anyway, I knew I was going to get the standard fool-proof "go to the vet" answer, but I don't see a reason for going to the vet yet. If he had a stomach or digestive tract problem then it would also manifest after eating dry food and subsequently drinking water. That'll get just as mushy as straight wet food in the stomach.

I'll try to water it down a little, see what happens. I just wish I could somehow get him to eat nutrience or wellness wet food...

[Love4himies]

Puddles will vomit after eating too much food when she has been hungry. Please don't go back to kibble, it is really not good for him. Perhaps feeding him more often with smaller portions may help.

Here is a great link on cat food:

http://www.catinfo.org/

You can get him to eat it, it just takes some patience. There are some good hints in switching your kitty in the above link. One thing you can do is a slow change by mixing the Fancy Feast with a bit of Wellness and slowly increasing the Wellness. Another good food that you can try is Nature's Variety Instinct.

[Marty11]

My "princess" rescue cat is the most finicky cat I've known. I had a 5 dollar can she would not eat, so after some trials we found she likes Felidae grain free chicken can food and it's only over 2 bucks. Have not tried the salmon as she never liked fish based anyway. She stuck her nose up to wellness too. Water it down and give smaller meals. Had a siamese do this and never found hair balls, however the vet said it doesn't mean there were no hairballs stuck in it's digestive system.

[Love4himies]

Originally Posted by Marty11

however the vet said it doesn't mean there were no hairballs stuck in it's digestive system.

Good point , Puddles will start vomiting days before the furball actually comes out.

[14+kitties]

I have a couple of barfers too. They eat too fast for their stomachs to handle the amount of food that is there. In the "wild" they would only eat one mouse at a time and then start looking for another one. By the time they successfully catch and consume the second one the first would be digested properly. What you can try is to feed him a smaller amount, maybe a quarter of what you are now, and then repeat every two hours. When feeding the Science Diet please add some water to it. It is so dry I don't know how any cat could enjoy it.

Originally Posted by Bart_Man

Anyway, I knew I was going to get the standard fool-proof "go to the vet" answer, but I don't see a reason for going to the vet yet. If he had a stomach or digestive tract problem then it would also manifest after eating dry food and subsequently drinking water. That'll get just as mushy as straight wet food in the stomach.

You got the standard answer of going to the vet because any time a cat or dog vomits on a continual basis it is always good to get the opinion of an expert. Palpitating a belly manually does not always give you the answers you need. We are only following the rules of the board.

[kathryn]

I have cats that do that too, usually because they are SO excited to be getting wet food. What I had to do was retrain them by giving them only a small amount of food at a time on their own plate and put in a different room so there was no competition. I also would smash the food down all over the plate so it would take longer to eat it. You might have to "retrain" your cat by only putting a TINY bit on the plate at a time, smashing it to the plate so it take a while to lick up, then once he is done and settled he can have a bit more in the same way. Gradually get him used to eating more and more at a time, and also expand the feeding time out over 2-3 hours in the evening and slowly condense it back down over time.

My cat Maxwell and my other cat Jack were especially bad about getting too excited at dinner time and would CONSTANTLY regurgitate their food. After working with them in that way they are now back to eating off the same plates as everyone else.

Another thing I did find with Jack especially was that he seemed to be "allergic" to one brand of food. After I stopped using that food he rarely ever gets sick after dinner (sick as in stomach upset, not so excited that he barfs).


Some other things I would recommend-

Another brand other than Science Diet. Some of their ingredients include not so good by-products and chemical preservatives. Depending on what recipe you are feeding, you may be feeding the equivalent of grocery store brand food without realizing it.

Use a pate style food while retraining your cat so it is easier to smoosh to the plate. Avoid shreds, chunks, filets etc. until your cat can start easily digesting his food again.

Put the plate up on a higher service level with his face. This can also help reduce regurgitation.

Look into the bowls they use for dogs to slow down their eating. Where I live I think they are called Life Bowls and they do come in smaller sizes safe to use for a cat.


Hope this helps!

[krdahmer]

Originally Posted by 14+kitties

We are only following the rules of the board.

Thanks 14

Also, I forgot to mention that when I was switching my guys to Wellness canned food...it wasn't an instant success....I bought a whole bunch of flavours and tried each until one caught on with the gang, then I started to take away their dry in the am (I still have a couple hold outs on the wet food, and one won't even touch temptations only her kibble) I'm finally at a point where every bowl of the wet mixture is eaten up within 5-10 minutes of putting them down! Although I know Buddy is helping a few of them lick their bowls clean...

[Bart_Man]

Yeah, thanks for the advice guys. I've been to that website and read all of it before, I've tried all the tips. I've tried mixing wet food with Wellness or Nutrience. I've tried watering it down and so on, he's just very picky. He actually hates wet food and even the wet food he will eat he eats against his will. I have to take the dry food away for awhile before he will even touch the wet food, and even then it can only be Fancy Feast Medleys OR Science Diet chunks. He won't touch paté style food at all, even if I starve him for 24 hours before giving it to him.

Like Love4 said, Puddles starts vomiting days before a hair ball will actually come out. Maybe that's what it is. I'll try to put a tea spoon of olive oil into his wet food whenever I give it to him, apparently that helps pass hairballs and improves pass-through in the digestive system, as long as you don't give them too much.

[14+kitties]

Please do not starve a cat for that long. Cats need to eat on a regular basis or can develop a life threatening disease called "Fatty Liver". http://www.hdw-inc.com/healthliver.htm

And, taken from http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=25521

Be very careful when giving mineral oil by mouth; if it ever gets into your feline's lungs, then significant medical problems are the consequence, even death is a possibility.

Why not add something like pumpkin mash (found in your grocery store, in a can and used to make pies) to everyone's food. It won't make your cats incontinent, it isn't messy, and many cats enjoy the taste. A tablespoon per cat per meal is usually sufficient.


If you don't want to use pumpkin it is just as easy to dab some butter or margarine on your kitty's front paws or even up the leg so it can be licked off. It is much easier digested than mineral oil and not dangerous to your cat.
But truly, I do not feel it's hairballs. His vomit does NOT contain blood, does NOT contain hair balls and Tux does NOT appear to be uncomfortable or sick at all. He's obviously gagging when he's vomiting but as soon as it's out he's back to his playful old self. I feel it is simply a matter of eating the food too quickly and/or in too large proportions. It would be so simple to try feeding smaller amounts at two hour or so intervals before going with something that may be dangerous to your kitty's health.

[Love4himies]

As 14+ stated, please don't allow your cat to go 24 hours without food, it can be dangerous on their health, especially their liver.

For me to change Puddles to Wellness, I had to throw out her kibble (she could smell it in the cupboard) , but if your cat will eat Fancy Feast, then mix a tiny bit of Wellness to his Fancy Feast. I sprinkled pulverized freeze dried salmon on top of Puddles' Wellness to entice her to eat, then slowly decrease the amount I put on it.

I was under the impression that he did like wet food. If he is starving when he finally eats his wet food, then he is probably eating too much at a time for his tummy.

You know, kibble has a coating of oil that is sprayed on to entice cats to eat it. It is really, really not good for your cat. Changing a cat to a healthy food is like changing a child's diet from chocolate bars to fresh fruit and veggies. It can be done with patience.

[rainbow]

You have been given some very good advice so far from 14+kitties, Love4himies, krdahmer and kathryn.

All I can add is that if you are absolutely adamant about feeding kibble please switch to a grain-free one like Orijen.

[lindapalm]

We also have a problem with a cat throwing up canned food, but its Wellness, I think chicken and salmon. Even the tiniest amount makes it happen, like licking the fork that was used. Possibly could your problem and ours be allergies to the food?

[Bart_Man]

14+ Kitties: Tux actually never eats quickly. I can give him heaps of food and he just munches on it the entire day, he has never had large portions to eat at once. He's used to there always being food present for him since he was very little, so he doesn't gorge big portions down, ever. The notion that "he must be eating too much too fast" is not correct, that's just not the way he eats.

Love4himies: mixing wet food with better wet food does not help for Tux. Mushing it up or diluting it with water also results in wet food not getting eaten. Tux also will not eat any kind of paté wet food, regardless of the brand or flavor. I have also tried concealing his dry food in smell-proof containers and putting them in the cupboard so he wouldn't be able to smell it, but that doesn't help either.

rainbow: I am not adamant about giving Tux dry food, I don't even want him to eat dry food but apart from Science Diet chunks and Medleys he will not eat any other food. There is also no people food that Tux will eat. Not chicken, not beef, not fish, not shellfish, not boiled chicken, not boiled chicken with some butter on it (just to try all the extremes), nothing.

I've had 12 cats before I took Tux in. He is not like any other cat I've had, he's also unlike any cats my friends have had. He's far more stubborn and impossible and has a much more obvious personality than "normal" cats. I also know they spray fat directly onto kibble to make it more palpable for cats, and that it's not good for them. But it's all he'll eat. I'll buy dry food that is not grain based next time, maybe I can get him to eat that.

He had half a can of Medleys today with three drops of olive oil in it. He hasn't regurgitated yet today. Next time I'll mix it with a bit of butter instead of oil in case he breaths it in. We'll see if that helps.

Oh and I recently discovered that he WILL eat lettuce. Quite a bit too. I suppose it's an okay replacement for grass. People say cats eat grass to help them throw up, but I believe cats are going more for the nitrilocide in grass and leafy greens, as I'm sure modern cat food has none of it.

[14+kitties]

Originally Posted by Bart_Man

14+ Kitties: Tux actually never eats quickly. I can give him heaps of food and he just munches on it the entire day, he has never had large portions to eat at once. He's used to there always being food present for him since he was very little, so he doesn't gorge big portions down, ever. The notion that "he must be eating too much too fast" is not correct, that's just not the way he eats.

Sorry. I was going by what it sounded like in your original posting.

Oh and I recently discovered that he WILL eat lettuce. Quite a bit too. I suppose it's an okay replacement for grass. People say cats eat grass to help them throw up, but I believe cats are going more for the nitrilocide in grass and leafy greens, as I'm sure modern cat food has none of it.

Wow!! Researchers and vets for years and years have not been able to give a definitive answer or ascertain with absolute certainty why cats eat grass. Good on you!

Originally Posted by Bart_Man

My question is: is there a certain preservative that is added to wet food that he may be allergic to?

If you believe there is something in the cat food that is affecting your cat to the point where he is throwing up every day then I can only suggest you cut out all foods you are currently feeding and start with the basics again. Why not try a novel protein like rabbit, venison, etc.? But then you probably already have.
Other than that the only other thing I can do is give you the standard fool-proof "go to the vet" answer. If one of my 42+ cats are ever throwing up on a regular basis they go in yesterday.
I am sorry we could not help you more than this.

[Marty11]

Please try FELIDAE grain free chicken. My cat will only eat that and I've tried every canned food possible (even dog food). She also never liked anything with salmon in it.

[Bart_Man]

Hey Marty, where can I get Felidae? I haven't seen it at the pet store yet (not that I've looked for it...).

14+kitties, I actually haven't tried to feed him venison or rabbit. I'm a hunter so perhaps next time I get a grouse I'll try boiling it for a minute and giving it to Tux. Surely his killer instinct must appreciate wild game. Then again it's Tux we're talking about here...

[Marty11]

You can get it at Global Pet Foods.

[rainbow]

I really hop you can find a good quality grain free dry food for him if you cannot get him to eat a better quality canned only.

Have you tried pulverizing some dry kibble and sprinkling it on top of a little canned food? Also, some cats love the taste of parmesan cheese so you could try that as well.

[Bart_Man]

Parmesan cheese. Really. I will try that too.

Sprinkling and dressing with stuff he likes results in him just licking off the stuff he likes and not touching what's under it. Mixing it results in the whole portion going to waste, but I'll go to Global and get that wet food and I'll buy the grain free dry food too.

[rainbow]

The parmesan cheese or pulverized kibble should stick to the canned food pretty good so he should at least get a little of it eaten ......good luck.