Good food for cats who throw up a lot?

[Wish_I_Was_At_WDW]

We have two older indoor cats who currently eat dry food for indoor cats. I'm not even sure which one is doing the throwing up but I think it's probably both. They sleep on my bed and end up throwing up there so I'm washing my bedding over and over again. They have always tended to throw up somewhat but it seems to be more frequent. They seem otherwise totally healthy and not to be gross but what they throw up looks like food as opposed to hairballs. Has anyone had a similar problem and would changing food help? I'd even buy a more expensive food like Iams or something if it would help. I'll ask our vet but in the meantime I thought I'd check with the DIS experts.

Thanks!

 

[goofy's friends]

Ours is on Science Diet sensitive stomach and it really has helped.

 

[Wall-E1]

I was having this problem with one of my cats and switched to Halo cat food. It is a dry food and is only sold at Petco. This is the cat food company that Ellen Degeneres co-owns. The food is all natural and has very healthy ingredients. Google it for more info. My cat still throws up occasionally, but the frequency is much less since I switched to this brand. Some cats have really sensitive stomachs. It can be tough trying to find a cat food brand that agrees with them.

 

[Silent1CB]

When was the last time they went to the vet for a checkup? What did the vet say about it? Please take your kitties to the vet if its been a while. There could be a more serious underlying condition causing the throwing up.

 

[luvmykids]

My cat was doing this about a year and a half ago. After blood tests it was determined she had a sarcoma in her stomach. She was put on a thyroid medication and a liver supplement. I took her off dry food and feed her 1/2 can fancy feast gourmet food 3 times a day. She stopped throwing up and her blood tests from a month ago show normal counts. I agree that maybe they should visit a vet if possible. Hope this helps.

 

[Scurvy]

There are some cats who have sensitive stomachs and just tend to throw up often. However, there are also some other problems that can cause frequent vomiting. One of my cats had problems with hairballs, and that caused him to vomit often. He wasn't throwing up hair simply because he couldn't, but he was so packed with hair that he almost needed surgery. Fortunately we figured it out in time to get him on something that helped clear it up.

Frequent vomiting can also be a symptom of kidney failure, and it's very common in older cats. That is fatal if you don't start treating it early enough. When my cat went into kidney failure we didn't catch it in time, and though we tried everything we could, we weren't able to save him. If the frequency of the vomiting is a new development, please take the cats to the vet to rule out anything serious.

 

[tonilea]

Ours is on Science Diet sensitive stomach and it really has helped.

I second the recommendation.

 

[Kae]

We switched to Halo. It has helped alot. If you sign up at their website you get a 5 off coupon.

Kae

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

No suggestions on food--but perhaps a consideration...

I had a friend once who had a cat. He was a former stray and always worried where his next meal came from regardless of how long he had lived with them. If his food bowl wasn't practically overflowing with food, he would eat very fast and all of the food in it b/c for some strange reason, I guess he did not believe there would be any more food coming. Then he would throw up. He did not do this when the food bowl was flowing over with food. It would only occur again when it was forgotten to fill his bowl in that manner. Very weird.

I believe they had him fully checked out with their vet and there was on underlying medical reason for his frequent vomiting.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

My cat used to get sick from anything with artifical coloring. I know there was a Purina One kind that she really liked and that agreed well with her digestive system.

 

[Wish_I_Was_At_WDW]

Thanks for all the advice! I will try the food suggestions and a visit to the vet. Our one cat is the mom of our other one. The mom was a pregnant stray living under a car. We found a home for all her babies then much to our dismay she got preganant again before we could have her fixed. We found homes for all of the second litter except for one baby which we kept. The "baby" is now 14 and her mom must be 15 or 16? Thanks again for the help.

 

[MIGrandma]

We have two older indoor cats who currently eat dry food for indoor cats. I'm not even sure which one is doing the throwing up but I think it's probably both. They sleep on my bed and end up throwing up there so I'm washing my bedding over and over again. They have always tended to throw up somewhat but it seems to be more frequent. They seem otherwise totally healthy and not to be gross but what they throw up looks like food as opposed to hairballs. Has anyone had a similar problem and would changing food help? I'd even buy a more expensive food like Iams or something if it would help. I'll ask our vet but in the meantime I thought I'd check with the DIS experts.

Thanks!

I've been thinking of asking this very same question, as my indoor cat throws up a lot too, and it's usually just undigested food. Like she'll eat, and half an hour later it comes right back up. Not all the time, maybe just a few times a month. But I've been thinking of changing her food. She has been on Iams Indoor hairball/weight control food for years, so I hate to change it. But something made more for a sensitive stomach might be good.

 

[puffkin]

My Lilly threw up daily for 3 years. I got so sick of it. The vet was useless. She checked out ok physically so we figured it was something food related. But most vets have zero education in pet nutrition, they just recommend whatever their suppliers tell them too. So I turned to the internet and did lots and lots of research.

We moved Lilly to the Halo brand and noticed immediate results plus she loved the food. Her vomiting went from daily to maybe once a week. Much improved. After about a year of that though she stopped eating and lost a lot of weight. We had another cat at this point, so I am ashamed to admit I didn't notice the problem as fast as I should have since Riley was eating most of the food. Back to the vet who determined Lilly's mouth was full of bad teeth. She was only 5.

She had basically all her teeth removed this past May so we switched her to an all wet diet since the dry was hard for her to eat. Upon research I learned this was the best anyway, so I actually switched both cats. I try to avoid all by products and grains in their food and steer away from the Chicken meal or turkey meal etc. Certain brands still make her throw up but we just avoid those now....still haven't isolated exactly what her problem is. For wet I feed Wellness, Solstice, Eagle Pack Holistic, Avoderm and Blue Buffalo. They still get Halo dry once a week (we want to keep them used to it for when we vacation or go away for the weekend). Both are doing FANTASTIC on the wet food and I will never feed them the junk by Iams/Science Diet/Purina again!

 

[Angelhalo]

Mine gets Purina One Sensitive stomach and it has made a HUGE HUGE difference. It isn't expensive and they sell it at grocery stores, Wal-Mart and Target.

 

[puffkin]

I've been thinking of asking this very same question, as my indoor cat throws up a lot too, and it's usually just undigested food. Like she'll eat, and half an hour later it comes right back up. Not all the time, maybe just a few times a month. But I've been thinking of changing her food. She has been on Iams Indoor hairball/weight control food for years, so I hate to change it. But something made more for a sensitive stomach might be good.

Try Halo in the blue bag...I think that is the sensitive stomach formula. My cat did the EXACT same thing. We also only put dry down for her twice a day in a shallow bowl. That way she couldn't gobble it down at once. She did really well on the Halo until she stopped eating due to her teeth issues. I wouldn't eat either with a mouth full of rotten teeth! She still gets Halo dry once a week now (although it takes her forever to eat it with no teeth) but no issues and both cats LOVE LOVE LOVE it. Pure pandemonium erupts when I open the storage container I keep it in

It seems a bit pricey at first, but they don't need much so it does last awhile. When only feeding dry, they each get 1/4 cup twice a day.

 

[DISFANSTHREE]

Starting couple times a week for us also. 10 year old cat. Why is it always at night for us 2-3 am. Not a good way to start my day...:

 

[MichelleVW]

I was having this problem with one of my cats and switched to Halo cat food. It is a dry food and is only sold at Petco. This is the cat food company that Ellen Degeneres co-owns. The food is all natural and has very healthy ingredients. Google it for more info. My cat still throws up occasionally, but the frequency is much less since I switched to this brand. Some cats have really sensitive stomachs. It can be tough trying to find a cat food brand that agrees with them.

I think I have the only cats that won't eat Halo according to this thread. I bought the sensitive stomach Halo because our newest cat (stray that we took in at the brink of death weighing only 5 pounds and is now 10 pounds ) has a diarrhea issue (yes, she has been to the vet but they don't know why she has such bad diarrhea). None of my 4 cats would touch the Halo. They just looked at it like I was trying to poison them and ran away. Even the cat that was skin and bones when we found her wouldn't touch it.

My cats eat Diamond Naturals for Indoor cats and they seem to be doing great on it...all except the newest one with her stomach issues. I have mixed the Halo with their regular food and they pick out all the food they like and leave all the Halo food in the bowl.

I was going to try the Iams sensitive stomach food, but after looking at the ingredients there are too many things that I won't feed my cats.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

My 16 year old cat has been throwing up since age 1. She seems to do better with IAMS hairball control.

 

[OK!]

Thanks for all of the tips, everybody! My cat's not a barfer but my brother's is, and he was asking the other day about how to fix it. I'll pass along the food suggestions to him!

 

[Best Aunt]

There was an interesting article in the newspaper years ago about how pet food companies would give free pet food to people in veterinary school. They assumed that (a) if you're training to be a vet, you probably have pets of your own, and (b) when you graduate and become a vet, you are likely to recommend the food that you give your own pets.

I keep a sheet on top of the quilt on the bed, which I think of as "the cat sheet." Sometimes you will just need to wash that sheet, which is a lot easier than washing a quilt or a comforter.