Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Anyone ever have this problem? My cat Tigger goes through spurts with this. He hasn't done it in a while, but recently did. He gorges his food down and within the hour he's barfed it all up. He eats dry food. When we find the barf pile it's usually whole pieces of his food. Last night we found 3 barf piles. We've asked the vet before why he does this and they just shrug their shoulders. We feed him twice a day about 1/3 to half a cup each time. We've been told to feed him a whole cup each time, but he never ate that much. So we just cut it back a little each time to figure how much he really needed. We're going to try feeding him 3 times a day to see if that slows down his eating hoping he'll feel less starved each time. My husband and I have hectic schedules hence the twice a day feeding. Hopefully no one thinks we're being horrible to our cat or somethin'. Oh he's also on calorie control dry food. The vet feels he's a tad too fat for a tabby. He's about 19 lbs. He's been on the calorie control for about 3 months now and doesn't look any different to us.

One of my cats did this a couple of times about 2-3 months ago and I got the advice to change her food and see if that helps (which might not possible for you if he's on a diet, but you could ask your vet for other low cal food to try out). We also got the advice to feed her smaller amounts, so now she gets fed in the morning a smaller portion and in the evening she actually gets fed about 3-4 times, as often as she asks for it, but we put only a real small amount each time. So far it seems to work. Whether it was the change of food or the change in portion size I can't say though.

Another possibility: have you checked for hairballs in the food she throws up?

This is quite a common problem for cats. One way to "slow" down a fast eater is to put the kibble on a flat plate rather than in a bowl. Also try raising the dish so that the cat doesn't have to bend over to eat.

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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

I'm not sure how to stop your kitty from eating too fast, but beware of light cat food formulas. Often times, the calories seem to be reduced by adding fillers and low quality ingredients. I'd rather feed my kitty high quality food but just a little less.

Some people argue that the carbohydrates in dry cat food aggravate obesity problems in cats. Maybe adding some canned food (generally higher in protein) to his diet would help.

My cat that tends to vomit after eating does so less frequently when he is fed hairball control food. That might be worth a try.

Kate

I also have a cat that if she eats too fast, will vomit right away, completely undigested food. What has worked for her, is finding the largest kibble possible, in her case we are using Science Diet Oral Care. The kibbles are nearly dog food sized, and she has no alternative but to chew it before swallowing. This has helped her significantly.
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Mia Liger Fluffy Banzai Smudge Hazy Marvin
& Midas ~ Golden Retriever and honorary cat

Thank you everyone for all your great suggestions. We're currently feeding Tigger
more times a day with smaller portions to see how that goes for now. So far no barf.

Thanks for this thought. I have heard where changing the size of the kibble can help with vomiting. I'm glad you found a solution.
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!