Cat vomits often after eating

[Catkin73]

I have an almost 4 year old black cat. He has always thrown up a lot right after eating ( monthly). The vet thought greed leading to regurgitation. We tried all the raised bowls and tricks to slow him down, made no difference. It is now weekly, sometimes more ofren. We have had all the blood tests and an x-ray and nothing seems wrong. We have tried hydrolysed proteins, tried biscuits only, we tried steroids and anti nausea drugs - no change. Currently on a high protein low fat diet, no change so far. He otherwise seems happy and healthy and active. The vets only suggestion is surgery for a biopsy which may or may not show anything. Any ideas or advice please as I am in a constant state of worry about the fuzzy little devil.

With all those tests I'm not sure I can add much more, only that when my cat did this I opted for smaller portions - so he'd get dinner party 1 at 5 and dinner part 2 at 9.

A friend found switching to katkin seemed to stop it :/

I just lost my 16 year old in September. When she was younger she had no issues with wet food but in her later years nearly all wet food she would throw straight back up. Like your kitty cat it was thought as greed. She also would occasionally overwash on paw. We tried all the bowls, vitamins ect and it was a wheat allergy. It was just trial and error to find foods she could eat but things like felix was just a no go. I really hope you figure it out x

Thanks for the response, just knowing others have the same problem and have found solutions can help. he already gets 5 small meals a day, and funnily enough katkin is what we are trying now.

I'm guessing you've already tried smaller portions more frequently? I only have one idea. One of my cats is prone to regurgitation and a simple malt paste really helps her. It assists fur through the digestive tract. But it only works if fur is the reason.

I'm so sorry for your loss. The hydrolysed diet was supposedly allergen free and never worked so we rather ruled out allergies. Although he has always had Felix and we have recently moved to katkin and we are feeding him no other treats or biscuits. Maybe it will work given time but not sure how long these things take. But thank you for replying.

Small portions don't seem to help but we stick to them anyway. He is quite fluffy but has never brought up just a hairball. We had that paste once I think when he was a kitten but the vet said it was only for the short term. I will ask about it and give it a try if I can find the right product, great tip thank you x

Our cat did this. Lots of small meals. Hairball paste, or royal canin hairball biscuits as a snack.

Change of food at one point too (grain free) but then she decided it was poison and would only eat her felix.

No idea if your kitty is the same but it eventually turned out she had a problem with bile production which caused digestion issues which caused vomiting.

Thanks pixiedust. Can you tell me how they diagnosed it as our vet seems to have run out of things to do. She thinks allergies or ibd ( or ibd caused by allergies) but has no plan.
We always used hairball biscuits and it never seemed to help, we have stopped biscuits altogether for a time to see if it was the dry food/taste/texture causing the issue. He always threw yo biscuits more often, but not always.

@Pixiedust1234 how did they treat it?

We have always had this with our current overlord who is very food orientated! Usually it is what has just been eaten, sometimes bile and rarely hairballs. It seems to be worse if there has been a slightly longer gap between meals than required by the overlord! If feeding Felix-type pouches, then we now only feed half a pouch at a time and chop it up to slow eating down, but still of course feed the correct amount over the day. This has reduced it, but not eliminated it. No sickness after pate, funnily enough - which we squash completely down to flatten it and slow eating down - such as Purina Gourmet.

We also discovered that plastic bags will be hunted down and licked if food is not immediately made available, and this definitely causes sickness! Does your cat have any access to plastic bags, OP? It's quite common apparently.

What is he bringing up - is it just food?

Hi mini thanks for the reply. Yes it has always been just food and almost always during or just after eating. We never gave him more than a third of a pouch ( Felix size) at a time. When the vet said he was just greedy she advised lots of small portions. No plastic bags I'm aware of. He likes to play in them after shopping but always supervised and never seen him lick them but I will keep an eye out thanks.

We had this, along with diarrhoea, and switched to a raw diet. She was literally cured overnight. She just can’t digest regular wet food.

We are using katkin which is as close as we can get. Hard to source the right additives for cat food for a proper raw diet where we are.

When I was reading up about it originally, it seems that fur can cause a minor blockage similar to using a sieve. All food eventually gets through but not quickly enough so causes a backlog and therefore vomiting. I highly recommend you try all furball treatments first. Ours would eat the bespar? one but not others. I can find the image if you want me to.

not good news

Unfortunately its not easy to diagnose. Our girl had the ultrasound first which showed a slightly enlarged liver which lead to a biopsy via keyhole which wasn't conclusive. So they did another via open surgery which revealed a scarred liver and something to do with the bile organ (cant think of its name). They said she could have gone on for years with just the liver but they couldn't figure out her lack of bile production (which is required for digestion).

They had her on steroids and chemo tablets for months but her appetite slowly went and I made the decision to let her go in May.

I have already ordered some hairball paste based in what you said. it seemed a wise move and shouldn't do any harm. Just trial and error to find one he likes. The vet said it wasn't hairballs but I am ready to try anything. We are going to try making his food down a bit to slow him down too.

I am so sorry for the loss, always so hard but is sounds like you did everything you could x

Thank you, and good luck

Thanks to everyone who posted x I worry so much and just wish I knew what the problem was.
We are going to stick with just katkin meat for at least 4 weeks more and see if anything settles before making other changes to diet. But we are also going to mash his food to slow him down and start on some hairball paste as well.
If we have any success I will post in case anyone else has a similar issue and ends up here.
And I have a attached a picture of the beast himself Xx

My cat used to vomit a lot, but I've switched to senior wet cat food and he hasn't been sick at all, it is supposed to be much gentler on the stomach and contains probiotics to aid digestion.

Ooh that's a great idea, I had not thought of that. Is there a particular brand you use?
I know we need to stick to this regime for a bit, changing too many things confuses things especially when it still might be allergies, but that can be next on the list to try.
Was your cat otherwise healthy apart from the vomiting? That seems to be the baffling bit!
Did yours also vomit undigested food soon after eating?

Our 12 year old cat has been like this since a kitten too. We tried smaller portions which helped but didn't eliminate the problem. Then I realised that there was actually usually quite a large gap between his last feed of the day and the first feed the next day and it was after his first feed that he was usually sick. We then started giving him his last portion just before we went to bed (between 10 and 11pm normally) and this seems to have solved the problem after nearly 12 years! Obviously that could just be particular to our cat but if you do feed yours early evening then not again until the morning it might be worth trying to give the last portion as late as possible?

You say you've tried raised bowls but have you tried him on a slow feeder or lick mat?

I have 3 cats, vomiting has really decreased since I put them on food that doesn't contain sugar.
Most cat food does, its on the ingredients label, usually at the end of the list.
Currently they are on lidls own when I can get hold of it!
Now they only throw up when a hairball is on the way.
Jelly used be a problem for one too as the oldest would throw up if she wolfed down any food that had a lot of jelly in it like the tinned varieties.

Have you got a slow feeder? That’s what our vet recommended. And cat food for sensitive stomachs?

My cat is 15 and has done this for years. He will go for months without vomiting but, like this week, he's done it several days in a row - usually under the bed in the most inaccessible place. He has had x rays, scans, umpteen tests and nobody has found a cause. The vet suggested (very expensive) moist food but that didn't help either and he uses a titled bowl.
Finally one vet thought he has a flaccid oesophagus which seems a decent explanation but there isn't really any treatment for it. It hasn't made any difference having a diagnosis and he's still doing it, but at least we're not going to have to spend any more money!