by Clara
(London)
Cat vomiting a hair ball! Not the case in this instance in my opinion (see below) - art work by Livia Iacolare
My cat is nearly 18 and she eats mainly dry food (Hills) and some Felix senior moist food. She is fine in every other way, but for the last year or so, about once a week she is sick after eating, but then is fine within a minute and is back eating again and purring!
Often it appears that she has not chewed her food properly as there are whole biscuits in it, but the vet said her teeth seem to be fine.. I don't think it is fur balls, but it might be that she eats too quickly, or her digestion is not perfect any more, or someone said something about swallowing air..??
I just don't know why it is happening or how to prevent it, and I would be extremely grateful if anyone knows what I can do. It doesn't seem to make a difference if it is after biscuits or moist food as I have tried cutting out one or the other..
Does this happen to other cats? Please can anyone suggest anything? Thank you very much!
Clara
Hi Clara... Thanks for asking. The vomiting is sporadic, chronic (“something that continues or persists over an extended period of time”) and related to eating. You cat is old and mainly eats dry food.
First things first. A good vet is the answer but an informed customer helps! This is an attempt to inform. But it is only that - possibly one answer.
Vomiting is a symptom associated with many conditions and diseases so a definitive answer is made all the more difficult but...The symptoms indicate Feline IBD – inflammatory bowel disease (or IBS – inflammatory bowel syndrome).
This is an an immune reaction disease than can be caused by commercial cat food. And it is likely to affect the older cat.
The standard answer is to provide hypoallergenic cat food. This anyway would be a good starting point as it would check whether the problem is food based.
If your cat stops vomiting while eating hypoallergenic cat food, that would confirm that the dry food (possibly - but you say it happens after wet and dry) is causing the problem.
You cat could stay on the hypoallergenic food. The information for this answer comes from, Michael, and in reference to this page: Cat Vomiting.
I moved your submission to the above linked page.
I have heard that by them eating fast, they don’t digest their food right and it causes swelling and makes them sick, so they bring it right back up awhile later afterwards. Just w9ndered.
Yes, Shelia, that is certainly a possibility. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I sometimes go to my sister’s for up to 4 days and I normally leave cat food for 5 days with all the water I think she may need during the time I am gone. I been giving her the Dry Indoor Cat food.