Reasons that cat would vomit?

[Kirsten]

New kitty in our house! Sweetest thing - we adopted her from a no-kill shelter. Background info: she is a year old (approximately). She is a recent mama. She is thin from being a new mama cat that was abandoned and left outside to fend for herself when her people moved away. Seemed to do fine food and litterbox wise for the week she was in the shelter.

Ok, so we have had her for almost two weeks. She is strictly indoor with us. We have a four year old cat already - who isn't a big fan of the new addition yet but I'm hopeful they will grow to be buddies. We did keep them apart for a full week at the advice of the shelter and friends. We have two litter boxes and two sets of food/water. Both cats are getting lots of love and attention.

So new kitty has had a couple of potty accidents (right in front of the box so she does understand where she is supposed to be - and only when she has had loose stools). I thought it might be the canned food - which is a bummer 'cause she loves it. When I stopped giving it to her and only fed dry food, issue seemed to clear up. Also, she has thrown up quite a number of times. I thought it might be the stress of new situation or food not agreeing with her or both.

So that too seemed to have gotten better. Until tonight when the poor thing threw up what seemed to be more than she could have had in her stomach... Today she knocked over a glass of milk the kids left on the table - while I was in the bathroom. She did lick some of it up before I could get there. Also she had a second worm pill at the vet yesterday. Could either of those things have caused this?

She was given flea and worm treatment at the shelter 'cause she had been an outdoor cat prior to that - but they claimed never to have seen a problem; just a standard care for cats left outside.

Our vet just checked her out yesterday and said she was fine. He seemed to do a pretty thorough exam. She has gone from 7 lbs 3 oz to 8 lbs even in a little less than two weeks with us - which I was happy about as she was too thin when we got her, but is that too quick a gain? Vet proclaimed her healthy, and that the spay done at the shelter had healed well.

I'm hoping it was just the worm pill and/or the milk...

Any advice/ideas?

[mum21andtwins]

could also be that she is overeating and then trowing it up. One of our strays does this from time to time still after 3 years of being here. like he missed his breakfast at the normal time and he has to wait till I'm home from shopping to get his meat. he'll stuff himself of that & then add a whole load of biscuits only to run outside and throw it all up again.
or hairballs? I've had a cat who could not get them out and whould throw up multiple times to get them out. WE gave her catalax I believe it was called.

[Kirsten]

Thank you for the reply. I think you MIGHT be onto something with the hairball idea... because tonight she threw up ALL over the chair, then hopped down and threw up under the table a bit more - with a hairball in it. So maybe? Our older cat eats a food that is anti-hairball and easily digestible so maybe we will try to get her onto that... slowly. She is on kitten food now as she was such a skinny little thing that the shelter vet thought she could have that for a while to put weight on her.

Hmmm.... Maybe I'll brush her tomorrow to see if that helps.

She is just the absolute SWEETEST cat in the world. I just don't want her to be sick. Am glad that the vet just gave her a thorough once over yesterday.

Is that catalax a food or pill or ? The vet had a TIME getting the worm pill into her yesterday. I am SURE I am not up for that!

[Marylizah]

Our little kitty is a puker. Always has been. I suspect she was weaned way too early and that plays a role. We've tried endless different kinds of foods-- we've found that food for sensitive tummies definitely helps.

Also, making sure she has access to cat grass daily and brushing her fur (even though she's a shorthair) makes a HUGE difference.

Hopefully in your case it's just a passing thing, getting used to different food and all that. But in case it's not, look for the special food and brush her regularly.

[mum21andtwins]

catalax is a cree you just put it on their paws and they lick it of. catalax is the nae used in the UK. if you call your vet and explain what happend and ask for it they should prescribe it for you. she cant gain weight properly if shes sick a lot.

good luck!

[Pepper44]

I have a cat who overeats and then throws up. It happens if the food dishes of dry food get empty and stay empty for a few hours, like while we're not home. As soon as we refill it he rushes in and gulps it all down. Then 5 minutes later, hoark hoark hoaaaaaaark all over the place! It's so disgusting.

He's a little more than a year old now, and he's huge. He easily weighs 30 pounds, partly fat and partly just a very large long haired cat. He came from the shelter at about 10 weeks old weighing less than 10 pounds, but he grew so fast.

We've had him since he was a tiny kitten and he has always had this puking problem. We've experimented with every dry cat food Petsmart sells and then some, even cold pressed organic cat food! None of it makes any difference. After a lot of testing, we discovered the Iams brand settles best between all four of our cats.

[bluets]

olive oil, fish oil or cod liver oil are all great for controlling hairballs! just a touch - like a 1/4 tsp per day. if your cat gets wet food, just mix it in. if your cat gets dry food, just pour on top.

[rayo de sol]

My cat used to have a puking problem until I learned that cats have extremely small stomachs--about the size of a walnut. She can only manage 1 or 2 tablespoons of wet food at one sitting.

Unfortunately this means she needs about 4 to 8 meals a day, which is not super convenient for her humans.

Dry food is really bad for cats, by the way. First, it's mostly grain or some other form of carbohydrate, and cats need a diet of primarily meat. Second, it's dehydrating and leads to urinary problems.

[mum21andtwins]

no offense but thats rubbish. My rosie yesterday killed a collared dove and finished it in about 15 minutes with the claws and head left. I'd say thats a little more than a walnut sized meal.
Rosie is pretty much all raw (she enjoys dry food as a treat?!) Rodders her brother eats a fair amount of raw but loves his tinned and kiwigirl is to lazy to hunt & kill anything she is all tinned food, nor will she touch raw annoyingly. Rodders and kiwigirl both throw up food whereas I have yet to see rosie throw up.

Tinned food is not good for cats nor is the dry bisuit stuff. It is far healthier for a cat to be on a raw natural diet. I don't know where you where told about the walnut stomach but a normal healthy cat is fine eating once a day.

[phatchristy]

One of my late cats used to overeat and then vomit some of it. There was nothing wrong with her, it seemed that when she first got her food she was very enthusiastic about eating it. I basically switched to giving her smaller portions more frequently and she was fine with that!

[tine1973]

our cat threw up all the time and when we took her to the vet she basically said that the cat has a sensitive stomach. Started feeding sensitive stomach food and she throws up a lot less.