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Old February 7th, 2008, 01:04 PM
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Tips on getting my cat to NOT throw it all up again

So I've had Gibson for just over a year now. When I first got him, he wasn't eating much at this old "home" because he kept throwing it up. They fed him less often to avoid cleaning up after him. I obviously started feeding him every day, and he threw up every day. Sometimes twice a day.

I took him to the vet - he said Gibson is "gobbling" and it makes him throw it up, plus his obvious hairball problem isn't helping either.

A year later, after much trial and error, I have him on a diet that seems to be working- he throws up once every 2 weeks, roughly. It's a mixture of hairball control food (can't remember the name of it... pricey pet-store "specialty" brand w/ rice and chicken), supplemented w/ a fish-variety wet food (1 tbsp daily) and hairball control treats - 2, twice a day. I also brush him regularly to cut back on the amount of hair he ingests.

I tried getting him onto raw- he won't touch it. He won't eat any 'people' food period, cooked or raw. I tried every meal for three days; he just didn't eat.

So I'm thinking I'll put him onto wet food only because the general consensus is that it's much better than dry. But he eats the wet food SO fast that if I give him more than a half-tablespoon at a time he throws it up again. If I fed him wet food only, I'd have to sit by his dish all day and feed it to him in half-spoon increments, or go back to cleaning up after him 1-2 times daily.

Any advice?
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Old February 7th, 2008, 01:41 PM
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put a ball in the bowl to make him slow down?? keep him locked in a room with no carpeting until he is done ralfing, then keep him in there for an extra half hour so he gets use to be in the room for a set length of time. maybe he will slow down when he doesnt feel so pressured???

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Old February 7th, 2008, 02:34 PM
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automatic feeder that releases SMALL amounts of food more often throughout the day?

what brands of food are you feeding? perhaps it's an intolerance to an ingredient?

I don't think wet food is "better". I think it's needed in addition to dry. it provides more water. I have 2 cats, I feed them both a combo of dry AND wet food daily.
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Old February 7th, 2008, 02:40 PM
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I don't remember the brand of the food- I'm one of those who remembers things by colour :P

We've actually made HUGE progress on him keeping foods down. I'm sure it's a food intolerance but I've tried him on- I swear- almost every brand of food that exists. I know a lot of things he can't eat. He's totally healthy, energetic, happy.

If health-wise it's okay to feed dry/ wet combination then I'll keep doing what I'm doing. I was just under the assumption that most people feel that raw or wet food is best.
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Old February 7th, 2008, 02:40 PM
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You could try putting little bits of wet food all around a large plate.
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Old February 7th, 2008, 02:49 PM
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If you have the puking under control, I'd keep doing exactly what you've been doing. any dietary change could send Gibson into another round of "the daily pukes", and you'd be back to square one.
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Old February 7th, 2008, 04:46 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jessi76 View Post
I don't think wet food is "better". I think it's needed in addition to dry. it provides more water. I have 2 cats, I feed them both a combo of dry AND wet food daily.
Actually, wet food IS better. Much much better. There is truly no good reason to feed any dry whatsoever to a cat. It's full of inappropriate ingredients, it has an inappropriate moisture level at 10% or less (cat's need 60-80% moisture - with their food), and it's massively overprocessed. It would be the equivalent of the feeding your kids nothing but breakfast cereal every day of their lives.

If you want more specifics, read this: http://www.catinfo.org/
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Old February 7th, 2008, 05:07 PM
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Blargh, now I'm back to the same problem

I currently feed him a half-tablespoon twice daily of wet food spread out in little chunks all over his very wide, flat bowl. If I don't break it up, or if I feed more than that at the time, he throws it up. If I change the type of food, he throws it up.

Oddly, though, he keeps eating the foster dogs food and has yet to throw that up

Maybe I'm stuck confining him somewhere until he throws it all up. It's just really gross/ annoying/ probably not good for him. Plus, I'm wasting all kinds of food if he just throws it up again almost instantly. I can't see him getting any nutritional benefits or whatever from the wet food if he won't keep it down.

Is it worth trying to switch him to wet? If I have this much trouble with it, is it worth it?
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Old February 7th, 2008, 05:13 PM
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Can you keep him out of the dogs food ?
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Old May 2nd, 2008, 03:18 PM
oody and kitten oody and kitten is offline
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Wet is best!

Quote:
Originally Posted by sugarcatmom View Post
Actually, wet food IS better. Much much better. There is truly no good reason to feed any dry whatsoever to a cat. It's full of inappropriate ingredients, it has an inappropriate moisture level at 10% or less (cat's need 60-80% moisture - with their food), and it's massively overprocessed. It would be the equivalent of the feeding your kids nothing but breakfast cereal every day of their lives.

If you want more specifics, read this: http://www.catinfo.org/
Yes, I agree too! When I used to feed my cats mostly dry, they'd be buy the water bowl all day drinking! My one cat "Kitten" who is an adult male, formed crystals. Vet says the dry dehydrates him. I do give a tiny bit of "Blue Spa Select" as a treat. It's a bit pricey and Petsmart sells it, but all the ingredients are natural. I really like this brand and so do the cats!

And yes, both my 2 boys cats puke. We feed them smaller, more frequent portions. I notice they puke more when they're feeling rush or are very hungry. So we stick them in a quiet room and let them eat away. They still puke, but a lot less!
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