vomiting in kitten? (eating, throwing up, food, dog)

[doglover29]

We've had so many problems with vomiting in our cats over the years....I can't believe this is happening again. (Our cat died in May from unknown causes--it started with acute vomiting, multiple vets could not find anything wrong, he had all the tests, nothing was found; vomiting continued for a month and then he died from complications of a tooth abscess).

Anyhow, our 5.5 month old kitten has started vomiting. The vomiting started on Thursday. Prior to then this kitten had never vomited. My hubby mentioned that he started a new food on Thursday (a second option for them to our current dry food), so we thought that may be the problem and I removed the food on Sunday when we realized which cat was doing the vomiting. Kitten still vomited on Sunday but nothing yesterday. Today he vomited twice.

It's more like regurgitation--it's a tube of food that's coming out, but still, this isn't normal. We saw vomit on the floor on Thursday and Friday but didn't know which cat was doing it (our older cat has had random episodes of vomiting, so we thought it was her). No vomit Saturday, then 4 vomits Sunday, none Monday and now 2 today.

The kitten is 100% fine otherwise; is using the litter box normally, pooping and peeing normally, is eating and drinking normally and is playing and running around like normal. I am hesitant to take him to the vet because everything else is normal. He is not acting sick nor is he listless, and he is drinking plenty of water so he is not getting dehydrated. He does not seem bothered by the vomiting. He is eating just fine and has a huge appetite as usual. They are both indoor cats. We have had the kitten for 2.5 months.

Part of me wonders if it is just that he is eating too much too fast. The kitten eats way more than the other cat. Today the 2 vomits occurred right after drinking a very large amount of water.

I am hesitant to take him to the vet because we have had so many vet visits regarding vomiting, and we have had every test done (with the other cats), and nothing was ever found to be wrong (and that cat was 8). I can't imagine that there could be anything physically wrong with this 5.5 month old kitten. Plus, he is eating, drinking and pooping normally. If one of those was amiss, I would definitely take him in. But we wonder if it could be just eating too much too fast. The amount of food he is vomiting up is enormous.

What would you do? Has anyone ever had a young kitten vomit?

[tagylyn]

My kitten did the same thing, age 5 months to 9 months. She will be 1 yr at the end of this month. She would vomit and like you said it would look like a tube. The first time I saw it I wasn't sure if it was vomit or a slightly runny poop.

Other than throwing up, she was perfectly normal. I watched her for awhile and I too chalked it up too overeating. She is a little piggy. I call her "big girl" alot. We have another cat so I assumed she was afraid the other kitty would eat all the food.

She hasn't done it in about a month but she still does from time to time.
As you probably already know, if you change out the kitty's food, do it gradually with the old until no old food is left.

I think he's fine but if your unsure call your vet and see if they can give you some advice over the phone. My vet is really good at that, they don't make you bring them in to offer advice.

[doglover29]

We decided we're going to take him into the vet this week for his pre-neuter physical; at that time we'll discuss the vomiting so we'll get two appointments done in one. He vomited two more times today. But then he goes right back to eating an enormous amount of food. He has no problem keeping wet food down, and has a huge appetite for that. I am very puzzled by this.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Maybe eating too much, too fast? I can get sick if I do that!

[jimboburnsy]

My sister has about morbidly obese cat who will occasionally vomit after overeating. My wife and I babysat him while she was out of the country recently. I tried to work on portion control with this cat, but he wound up making up the difference in dog food. Apparently the dog food didn't agree with him. I was sitting on the couch relaxing when I heard that un-mistakeable "dry-heaving cat" noise. I became interested in the location he had chosen immediately. He was on the kitchen counter, right in the middle of my food-prep area. I ran over there to try to move him to a more acceptable area. When I reached him I gave him a push off the counter, he jumped and vomited simultaneously. It was astounding. He managed to saturate what seemed like ten square feet of slate tile. Cleaning up cat vomit on a rough, porous surface is no picnic. He didn't even chew the dog food.

[doglover29]

So we took the kitten to the vet. Of course, as we predicted, the vet could find nothing wrong. They did complete bloodwork, which was fine, and he had a complete exam. He's still vomiting, but acting fine otherwise. We're completely perplexed. He's vomiting once per day, nearly every day for over a week now. Eating, drinking, and using the litter box fine otherwise. We're not sure what to do now.

[doglover29]

We're starting to think this is a behavioral issue. When we leave a small amount of food, there is no vomiting. When we let him graze, as normal, there is vomiting. This is odd, and we've never encountered this before. Anyone else have this problem?

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by doglover29

We're starting to think this is a behavioral issue. When we leave a small amount of food, there is no vomiting. When we let him graze, as normal, there is vomiting. This is odd, and we've never encountered this before. Anyone else have this problem?

YES. I have seen this before. Most cats will self-regulate their diets but some are prone to pigging out. Make sure you manage portions with this cat or he will become obese. Obese cats do develop diabetes and sometimes can require insulin regulation. A cat who will graze to the point of making himself sick will graze to the point of making himself fat later on.

[doglover29]

Originally Posted by jimboburnsy

YES. I have seen this before. Most cats will self-regulate their diets but some are prone to pigging out. Make sure you manage portions with this cat or he will become obese. Obese cats do develop diabetes and sometimes can require insulin regulation. A cat who will graze to the point of making himself sick will graze to the point of making himself fat later on.

I agree with you, but why did this start all of a sudden? It started a week ago Thursday; previously he never vomited. I had watched him eat many times--he always ate a lot. But never threw up before.

The challenge will be dealing with this with regard to our other cat. She is 4.5 years old and has always grazed. I don't want to upset her routine; however, she doesn't eat as much as the kitten.

[Kkc227]

how is your kitten doing now? i recently discovered my kitten has been vomiting as well and i was very concerned at first because he is only 8 months old. i also have 7 year old cat that has been vomiting as well (so i thought) so i switched her to science diet. I previously allowed her to graze but since the science diet is $15 for 3.5 lbs, i have had to portion her food and only feed her when i am home (can't keep the kitten out of her senior cat food). i'm sure she doesn't like having to eat at certain times but she's ok. She has actually shown a lot of improvement since i switched her to the science diet. she seems a lot happier all around.