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Wish I could find the source but long time ago I read that cats don't naturally eat fish. Some catfood manufacturer was looking for a cheap filler for cat food while a fish farm or processing plant was looking for a way to make some money with by products and they met and the rest is history. Makes sense. My cats had access to our koi and never once acted like they wanted to get them. They were simply interested in the motion- just like cats watch and sometimes paw at fish in tanks.
I'm so scared of mercury that I avoid fish for all my pets and very limited for my family.
Funny, our remaining cat loves fresh salmon. She doesn't get it often, but when we go to give it to her, she's so eager she climbs our legs and meows very loudly. It's really cute.
I've had a cat for over 8 years. She was a stray when I got her, and her present estimated age is 10 years. I have tried EVERYTHING I CAN THINK OF, over the past eight years, to get her to stop puking. Here's what she's been known to do:
-In the beginning, if I'd feed her tuna, she'd eat and eat and eat and eat, immediately puke some of it up, then go back to eating. I have stopped feeding her tuna.
-Every time it has looked like she's puking more frequently, I have changed her food. I've used various types of dry food, various types of wet food, you name it... there's nothing this cat won't puke up. At times she's gone for a few days without puking, but I have no idea why. After a while, it's back to business as usual for no apparent reason.
-I don't feed her a large amount of food and allow her to eat at her own leisure. I haven't done that in years. Instead, I feed her portioned amounts several times a day so that she can't overeat. However, if she doesn't like how much food I've given her, she'll just eat the dog's food if we don't catch her in the act. And I can't feed the dog at certain times of the day because the dog doesn't eat the way the cat does. It's the morning now. The dog hasn't eaten since last night. If I put food in the dog's bowl right now, she won't eat it. And if she does, she'll eat only a bit of it. If the dog would eat when I put food out, this wouldn't be an issue... but the dog doesn't eat enough. I have no reason to believe that the cat's consumption of the dog's food makes the cat puke more often.
-I have taken some of the wet food and smashed it down in the bowl, so that she is forced to eat it slowly because it won't come out in chunks. Doesn't matter. She'll still puke it up.
-Occasionally she will meow plaintively before puking. Obviously, at these times, she is in pain. Usually when she pukes after meowing like that, it's a hairball.
Honestly, I don't know what to do. This cat has destroyed so much of my personal property by puking incessantly. I'm sick of it. I'm at the point where I want to find some sort of anti-emetic medicine and mix it in with her food every time I feed her. Have any of you had this same problem where nothing you could do seemed to work for any length of time, there seemed to be no pattern to when your cat would puke nor what the puke would look like, etc? (The one and only pattern I've ever found is that she has a somewhat increased likelihood of puking immediately after eating. However, she also puked last night at about 4:30 AM, several hours after she last ate. My wife thinks that one was a hairball.)
Edit: After reading some of the other posts, I can say this much - she'll puke up cat food with and without fish. (This morning I cleaned up a huge puddle produced after she ate "chicken pate' " cat food.) It never looks like anything other than partially digested food. It's VERY rare that she pukes up nothing but liquid... and when she does, it's the same color and smell as the more dense food vomit she usually produces. I've tried some fancy types of cat food, and again, they only work to an extent.
My first question would be have you taken the cat to a vet? If no, then you should and right away. The fact that she throws up regardless of what you feed her tells me there's something going on other than diet. I don't know a lot about GI disorders in cats, but that's what vets are for.
I do know about a cat that throws up after eating and has to have the food elevated and eat in a more or less standing position to keep it down (don't recall the name of the disorder).
Best to get your cat checked out by a vet.
My first question would be have you taken the cat to a vet? If no, then you should and right away. The fact that she throws up regardless of what you feed her tells me there's something going on other than diet. I don't know a lot about GI disorders in cats, but that's what vets are for.
I do know about a cat that throws up after eating and has to have the food elevated and eat in a more or less standing position to keep it down (don't recall the name of the disorder).
Best to get your cat checked out by a vet.
We have asked the vet about this every time we take the cat in to get her shots. Never once has the vet ever told us that there was anything worth worrying about.
I hate to think this is "merely normal" for cats, but some people claim it is. I'm just trying to protect my stuff. If the cat wants to puke, obviously it doesn't hurt her to do so. I've read that cats don't feel pain (usually) the way humans do when they puke.
I've had a cat for over 8 years. She was a stray when I got her, and her present estimated age is 10 years. I have tried EVERYTHING I CAN THINK OF, over the past eight years, to get her to stop puking. ...
How often? It wasn't really clear, but it sounds like very often.
I'd go to another vet if it's as often as it sounds. Despite some widely distributed thoughts to the contrary, it should not be treated as normal. A vet that's been brushing this off for years? Sounds nuts to me, sorry, just not right thing to do.
The way I look at it is, if the cat throws up, I pay attention for a while. If nothing continues to be an issue, no further vomiting incident for a few days, then I assume all is well and don't really sound the alarms. But this is based on seeing it only once in a while. If you're seeing it daily or even every few days, over and over for years, that is not normal and it seems like you could use some better direction on why that might be. A few people here might be able to give you a few pointers, but I really think you'd be well served by a vet helping you in the right direction as well.
I know you say it's been happening all these years, but there must be something. I don't have experience with this, but I wonder if it might be an actual protein type intolerance rather than just reaction to some food brands. Have you tried going for a while with zero chicken ingredients or something along those lines?
We have asked the vet about this every time we take the cat in to get her shots. Never once has the vet ever told us that there was anything worth worrying about.
I hate to think this is "merely normal" for cats, but some people claim it is. I'm just trying to protect my stuff. If the cat wants to puke, obviously it doesn't hurt her to do so. I've read that cats don't feel pain (usually) the way humans do when they puke.
This is not normal for cats. Cats do feel pain. They don't SHOW pain, but they feel it. Frequent regurgitation is affecting her insides. It affects her teeth, her esophagus, her throat her stomach, and her nutritional absorption. And she does not "want" to do it. The problem is, the more she does it, the more she WILL do it.
Find another vet
Cut down on vaccinations. Nothing but rabies, and that only if required by law. Keep her inside to prevent her from being exposed to diseases and to prevent her from eating toxic things.
Evaluate her diet. Feed a canned diet that does not contain grains, fruits or vegetables, fish or carrageenan. Also avoid sodium nitrates and sodium nitrites. Artificial anything. No dyes or "color" No "flavor" (such as "chicken flavor")
Find a food that seems to work for her and feed only that one food for a while.
You may never stop it completely. There is bound to be much damage to her linings. Much inflammation inside, that may never completely go away. Too much acid production.
Slippery Elm Bark can help with inflammation, and to soothe her insides and reduce acid production. 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon mixed with warm water and a little canned food. Let is sit for a minute before serving. It can be given safely daily.
I have a cat who is a chronic regurgitator. It was caused by 6 years on a very bad diet. She was switched to canned two years ago, and raw a year and a half ago. She is much better, but she still has episodes.
She takes pepcid ac ( 1/4 of a 10 mg tablet) on a pulse cycle. 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off.
She gets Slippery Elm Bark every 2 or 3 days, sometimes she needs it every day.
She gets a probiotic daily. Probiotic is very important. I use ProViable DC for her. My other cats take something different but she was unable to tolerate that, because of certain "other ingredients".
Krill oil is also anti inflammatory. She gets krill oil every other day.
Part of her problem is a motility issue. This means the muscles in her esophagus are not working properly to keep the food moving downward. It is also likely her intestines have low motility, too. This low motility is likely caused by the years of regurgitation.
Choline helps with motility. Egg yolk is rick in choline. My cat gets raw egg yolk 3 times a week.
Of her canned food, she can only tolerate one food. One brand, one food. Of her raw food, she can tolerate two foods. One brand, two different proteins. For more than a year she did well with home made raw (prey model) too, but then suddenly she can no longer tolerate the home made raw. I don't know if it was the variety, or the calcium supplement or what, but I finally had to stop giving her any prey model raw.
Too much variety just doesn't work for her. So she gets her one canned food, and her Rad Cat raw chicken and her Rad Cat raw turkey, and her egg yolk. Nothing else. Ever.
My girl can go up to three weeks without regurgitating now, but once she has an episode, she generally will have one every day for several days, then once every few days, then finally back on track. It seems that once that reflex is triggered, everything gets so inflamed, it takes time for everything to settle back down.
Like you are doing, she gets very small portions at a time. My life pretty much revolves around her feeding schedule.
Damage that is already done, can't be undone.
However there are more serious problems that may be happening for your cat.
She could have a stricture in her esophagus. This is a very serious health issue. She may have a blockage of some kind. She is most likely suffering from much inflammation, and possibly low motility. she may have a megasophagus. I strongly urge you to find another vet and get some diagnostic testing done.
Blood work, including thyroid. X rays. Endoscopy and ultrasound would be the next step after those.
I feel your frustration, but it is not your cat's fault. Stress, her feeling your anger and frustration toward her, will only make things worse. Try to stay calm and not react when she regurgitates. Feeding her in a contained place, and keeping her in that place for 10 or 15 minutes after she eats might be a way to protect your home, if you think she could adjust to something like that..
Last edited by catsmom21; 11-02-2013 at 09:41 PM..
catsmom21, your post is panic-inducing. If I was new to the forum, looking for advice, and read your post, I would be on the floor trembling in abject horror at all the possible tortures my cat might be suffering right now. Instead of telling the OP "you need this, and that, and all these procedures, and if this doesn't work, then that other drastic measure, and omg don't feed them this at all, you MUST eliminate these 20 ingredients and should add these 47 supplements" - how about something like:
Find a different veterinarian and see if they might do a little more in-depth examination, because daily regurgitation isn't normal.
Also - a lot of your advice isn't useful because as the OP said: He has a dog, and the cat will eat the dog's food if the cat doesn't have/doesn't want his own. So if the OP sets out the food you think the OP should set out, and the cat doesn't like it, the cat will still eat the dog's food. And the OP still won't find out why the cat is puking.
It might just be the dog's food, in which case - keep the dogfood away from the cat, which means a minor inconvenience to the dog, but the dog won't suffer if it has to eat all his food twice a day instead of grazing whenever he wants a nibble.
How you see my post as "panic inducing" is beyond me. I have lived with, researched, and trial and errored with, this problem for 8 years. I know what I am talking about and the information I shared, from ways to help kitty, to possible worst case scenarios, should be very useful to anyone with a cat suffering from chronic regurgitation.
There is no quick fix. Dealing with something like this takes work. There is no sugar coating that.
The fact that this has been going on for years means there is some damage. There is no sugar coating that either.
Diagnostic testing is certainly necessary at a certain point.
RomaniGypsy: one more thing I forgot to add. Exercise is also very important. Schedule at least one interactive play session between you and your cat every day. Make it part of the daily routine, and don't skimp. Running and jumping. getting the blood moving, building muscle mass, getting those endorphins working, all very important.
But yes, keep your dog's food away from your cat. Your dog can learn to eat on a schedule.
Last edited by catsmom21; 11-03-2013 at 07:54 AM..
Romani Gypsy, please keep in mind that catsmom1 is NOT a veterinarian, and is NOT qualified to diagnose your cat or recommend supplements to treat whatever your cat has, because catsmom1 doesn't know what your cat has. We - all of us - only know which symptoms you have mentioned that your cat has.
I wouldn't give my cat ANY supplements until she was diagnosed, if her problem was puking on a daily basis. For all I know, one supplement might be just enough to tip whatever is wrong, to extremes, and my cat would keel over dead.
Please do NOT give supplements, or to any kind of drastic changes, until your cat is diagnosed or until you have learned what is causing your cat's digestive upset (like, if she suddenly hacks up a doorknob - you can pretty much assume the doorknob was the problem all along). Gradual changes, switching brands, giving your dog his own food in his own room where the cat can't access it - all reasonable things you can do UNTIL you get either a diagnoses, or a change in your cat's symptoms.
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