Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a new cat from my friend about 2 months ago, and he had her for about 2 1/2 years before that. We're guessing she's 8-9 years old. Since I've had her, she often vomits right after eating. It's always food, and generally it looks almost like it did going in (i.e. whole pieces). And she's always hungry again right after vomiting. After talking to my friend, I found out she was doing this the whole time her had her too. He tried almost every brand of food on the market, and I've had her on Iams, then switched her to Science Diet Sensitive Stomach, but she doesn't readily keep any type of food down. She won't eat canned food, but we tried force-feeding lamb and rice, and she threw that up too. We also tried putting rocks in her bowl to slow her eating, but that had no effect either. I've found it helps if she only gets about 1/2 Tbsp. per feeding, but at that rate, she's hardly getting a third cup per day. And she always acts hungry. She's constantly begging for food and trying to get up on the counter where we keep the food bag. I feel very sorry for her!

I took her into work with me, (I work at an all-cat veterinary hospital) and we ran blood tests; everything came back normal. She's an oriental/American shorthair cross, and weighs just over 8.5 lbs., which the vet says is perfect for her, so her weight does not seem to be affected by this. We ran a fecal as well, and it was negative. (She, along with my two other cats, are indoor-only kitties.)

I'm going to try her on a few other foods (i/d for senstive stomachs, z/d for food allergies, and/or science diet hairball control, even though she does not seem to have hairballs). The vet also suggested that I might try her on Pepcid, and see if that helps. She has no diarrhea or other stool irregularity, but the vet said if nothing else, we can try medicating her for inflammatory bowel diseaese.

Has anyone else had this happen, or know what may be causing this. I feel very badly for her; it must be horrible to be constantly hungry! Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Thanks!

Sounds like you've checked out the serious problems and they aren't the cause. Perhaps the pepcid will help.

You might want to try some of the foods that have no corn or no wheat in them as it could be a food allergy. Filadae is one with no corn.

When Kuma was a baby he had irritable bowel and a deformed pyloric sphincter. Whenver he would eat, the food would sit in his stomach and he would throw up from it sitting there. Now that his pyloris has normalized (before it was a slit, now its a normal hole...) he still throws up when he eats too fast. Some kitties just eat too much or too fast and up it comes. He has been on the i/d which helped his ibd but not his vomiting. Have you thought about doing a bips series of x-rays? Thats how they found out about Kuma's pyloris, it took forever for the bips (barium chips) to pass and he almost had to have surgery. Since you work for a vet this might be possible cost wise (normally it's several hundred for a bips series because they take several x-rays to see how the food travels) and I think it might be a good thing to try. Hope she gets better!
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-Martha
Kuma
Bubba, formerly known as "Ducky"
and
Macaroni
And Now
Kola, the new fizzy kitten that has a tendency to go flat!

Problems with the pyloric sphincter or esophagal sphincter are rather common in cats. One of my cats has it, as well as one of my dad's cat. The fact that the food is coming up whole is one of the major symptoms of this problem. The vet took and xray and pointed out the food sitting in the stomach. When the cat eats too fast, the sphincter can't keep up in passing the food to the stomach or intestine, and so the cat vomits the food back up. The residual problem is that the cat is hungry again, and stuff their face and does it all over again...

The vet suggested I keep her on wet food, or very small kibble so it would pass easier through the stomach. I keep a bowl of Purina One Sensitive Stomach or Weight Management, both which are very small kibble and also are mostly turkey so she feels more full and only eats a little at a time.

Also, this may sound dumb but it worked for my cat - try feeding the cat using a broad, shallow bowl. Spread the kibble on it very thinly - like in a single layer, and have the bowl be bigger than that layer. This will slow the cat's eating down a bit by making her 'chase' the bits of kibble around the bowl, and give her system a little more of a chance to process the food.

My cat just did that, twice, both times her food was whole. She's a little over 2 years old, and slightly overweight. She eats fast and is constantly cleaning herself. So I tend to think it's a combination of the two, that cause her to throw up. However, I must say, that this is the first time she has thrown up more than once, and the amount that came out, was more than she has done before. : So that's where my concern is.

Kathy