Why is my Cat vomiting so much?

Question

My cat vomits about once a week. He seems to drink 1 bowl of water a day and eat about 1/2 to 1 bowl of food a day. A week ago he went under my bed and vomited and then ate it. The vet said that eating it was normal since he had vomited what he just ate and it came out in chuncks. In a 1 1/2 years I have taken my cat to the vet 2 times for this and all the test that they ran said there was nothing wrong with him. I am sick of spending $200.00 each time for them to tell me that there is nothing wrong. Does anyone have any suggestions or comments of what to do?

Answer 1

Cats are strictly carnivores. Chance are, your cat is not getting enough meat proteins in his diet. Cats do not digest grain proteins well.
Regular cat foods often have the bare minimum of required meat products. Some cats need more. These cats often do what's called "scarf-n-barf." They will eat and throw it up.
What is happening is these poor guys are starving! They eat what is served them. Their stomachs do not recognize it as food because of the lack of needed proteins so it throws the stuff up to make room for "real" food.
Go to a specialty pet store. Look at the list of ingredients on the dry food bags.
All ingredient lists, whether its for people or pets, lists the ingredients by weight, starting with the largest amount to the smallest.
If the ingredients start out with many grain products, you know that the meat products are few in that bag. Look for a bag that has several mentions of meat products toward the top of the list. These bags have a better meat content than anything you can find in a regular grocery store.
This stuff is expensive, I know. I have a sensitive cat myself. What I do is mix the specialty stuff with the supermarket stuff. It's been a successful mix for my cat and the carpet no longer has barf stains.
Good luck!

Answer 2

could be hairballs, could be upset stomach, could be he is not digesting his food, could be belimic (truthfully). My cat does the same thing but almost on a daily basis. Nothing wrong with him, mostly hairballs. Hairball meds don't work so I try to give him things that will soothe his belly. He loves milk, so he gets that once a week. I still give him hairball med to make it easier on him. There are other natual pet recommendations out there as well. Has he had an x-ray? Might try that as well to make sure nothing is in his tummy. I can tell when he is about to get sick now because he wants ALOT of attention. We just watch him and make sure to keep him on the tile instead of carpet since it is easier to clean. Good Luck. I know what you are going through.

Answer 3

It could just be overeating. It sounds similar to what our cat does sometimes - he'll wolf down a load of biscuits and then throw them up again a few minutes later. Sometimes he'll eat it, if it doesn't get cleared away first!

What you're describing sounds different to grass or furball induced vomiting, which tends to be more liquid (and usually contains grass or fur as well).

Our cat doesn't do this very often so it's not a problem we've really had to deal with - my best suggestion would be to feed him smaller quantities of food more often, that way he won't get overfull and trigger his vomiting reflex.

Answer 4

cats usually vomit when they have a furball. as for eating his vomit, it may be a throwback (excuse the pun), to when he was a kitten and being weaned onto solids if he had been in the wild, only the vomitted food would be warm, and cats sometimes prefer their food to be a little bit warm.

what may help is to buy a book about cats' ailments, so that if your cat is ill, you can decide whether the ailment is an emergency or not. just the same, it can be wise to get a vets advice for your peace of mind.

Answer 5

I read in my cat book (just now) that if a cat regurgitates undigested food, you have no cause for alarm; you cat may have simply eaten too much, or may have eaten it too quickly. If the vomit becomes frothy, like beaten egg whites or is bright yellow, get to the vet straight away. I am concerned because your cat does not eat very much. One way to check for illness is your cats third eye (the membrane that you can sometimes see overlapping the eyeball) . It should only show in times of illness or bliss. Another way is to check for illness is if your cats fur is erect, to release heat and reduce fever. Otherwise, I think your kitty is ok, he may just have one of those crazy feline tendencies! Hope this helps x

Answer 6

I had a cat named Charmin who was a couple of years old, she began vomiting too and the vet suggested it was her food, she said that some cats can't tolerate certain ingredients in certain brands. I found out that Charmin could not tolerate any cat food that had pieces in it that were red. So change your cats food and see if she is better.

Good luck, I hope it works out.

Answer 7

It sounds like your cat has hairballs. You can buy some paste that you feed them to get rid of all that hair they've been swallowing while they clean themselves. You can find it everywhere and it's pretty cheap. I have had the same problem with some of my cats and after giving them the hairball remedy the vomiting stopped. Good luck!

Answer 8

How often do you brush your cat to remove the dead hair - this causes fur balls and then vomitting.
Or you cat could need worming this also causes vomitting.
If you let your cat out it could have a bone from a bird stuck this causes vomitting.

Change your vet

Answer 9

Maybe it could be hairballs

Feed him tuna or makerel/sardine juice (in tomato sauce)

I had a scare the other day, when my kitten was eating dry food then started being sick, only a bit came out, but it was like he was cleaning his face with his paw then trying to bring something up, it was distressing, I was going to pull a sickie at work!

I gave him tuna, and that soothed it!

Is your cat a longhair one?

Definatley give them oily fish, not only does it get rid of hairballs, but it contributes to a shiny soft coat

Answer 10

Maybe try switching to a different food. My dog just got off of Science Diet and on Canidae Brand, He loves it and is already looking better! Go to Canidae.com they have foods for cats too!