? Frustrated, cat throwing up.

It's been about a month and we're just now having issues with Cosmo throwing up in the morning. I posted not too long ago and someone said it was most likely "scarf and barf" so we took the nessasary steps to try and relieve that and it seemed like it was working! A few days ago he started throwing up again in the morning. When he throws up, it's no more than 15/20 minutes after eating and it looks like he threw up exactly what was on his plate. It's not bile, it's straight up wet food. I'm so lost, I don't know what to do.

He eats from the same can as he does at night with no problem so it can't be food related, right?
I flatten his food to the bottom of the bowl to prevent the scarf and barf the same way I do a night and he has no problems at night. (He hasn't thrown up at night once).
I've been giving him a small amount of dry food for him to nibble on throughout the night so he's not so hungry in the morning, which he's eating.

Could it possibly be because he eats in the dark in the morning? I don't know what other difference there is between the morning and night feedings.

Just some background info, he gets fed at 5AM and 4PM, I've been waiting about 45 minutes after each meal to give the shot to make sure the food stays down. He's on 3 units of Novolin N twice a day. He's on a low protein food geared towards helping the kidney disease. Right now I'm mixing his prescription food with his regular food (vet approved) because he wouldn't eat the new food (gobbles it right up mixed). By mixing the two cans I'm able to get 2 days worth of food, I mix it in containers and store it in the fridge. If you have any other questions let me know.

 

How much dry food does he eat at night? Could he be filling up on the dry and then "over eating" by finishing his wet food in the morning?

 

I don't think so. It's very minimal, just a 1/4 cup. And sometimes it's not even completely gone, there's still a few pellets left.

 

That was my only idea... Hopefully someone else will have more ideas or possibilities.

 

Can you try feeding him a small amount at a time? I feed my cat by my coffee pot so I can brew and drink coffee while I feed him his breakfast one spoonful at a time to slow him down.

 

I would try feeding him 1/3 or so of how much you usually give and see if that comes up. If it doesnt give him the rest. Its odd it just happens at brekkie. Sorry i cant think of anything else.

 

I t

I thought I was the only one who did that

 

Hope your issue has resolved. I'm new to this 5/17 but have had some of the same vomiting issue. I also mix my food and I've noticed when I mix and leave overnight she seems to have issues even when spooning out little bites. Seems like she eats slow but 10-15 mins comes back up and looks like you described, exactly like it went down? I'm not premixing now and so far so good. Still watching and waiting.

 

My cat would regurgitate dry food first thing in the morning on a regular basis. I thought it was the brand but came to find out that this happened with anything dry. When I switched him to wet food only it subsided. Eating dry food very fast was a recipe for regurgitating it in whole pieces. He would scarf the dry pellets so fast there was no time for it to be digested and out it flew.
Maybe it's the dry food left out at night that's causing the morning regurg? I use an auto feeder at night with small amounts of wet food set for certain times throughout the night.

 

This is probably not the answer, but I noticed Dennis would barf after his evening meals. Like your situation, it was all of the food he ate just minutes before. What was super weird is that the second he would barf it up, he would try to eat it!! He was super hungry. I've never seen a cat do that before. Anyways, after some investigating, I noticed that his evening meal and poop schedule went hand in hand. He would eat and then about 10 minutes later he would use the box to try and pooh....the problem was, he was straining to poop which would then lead to his vomiting. I asked the vet if I was crazy and she agreed that sometimes cats strain so hard that whatever is in their full belly will come back up.
That's likely not the case for you, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

 

My cat had done that a few times too. If he had been straining to go and was constipated he sometimes would throw up afterwards. Now that he's on pureed pumpkin, pet probiotics, and wet food only he is no longer straining.
Have Cosmo's bm's been normal with no straining? Could the dry food he eats at night be causing some irritation or possible acidy stomach?

 

I was about to post about commenting too. My cat was dx around 5/1/17 and has periodic vomiting. Sometimes after food sometimes (once) just clear and foam. I am going to follow to see what response you get. My times are all different so not on schedule vomits.

 

I didn't know that you could use an autofeeder with wetfood? Do you have to do anything special? Night time doesn't seem to be my problem but through the day.

 

sounds like some folks freeze the foods that will be eaten later in the day so they thaw as the day goes on to stay fresh. I don't think my cats like cold food though so if I used one that I think I may not do that.

 

I use the five compartment PetSafe feeder. There is only one compartment that is open at a time when you set the timer. There is a small space for an ice bag but I just lay a small ice bag on top of the feeder (the feeder is flat on top) to keep it somewhat chilled but not enough to make the food so cold that Leo doesn't want to eat it. It seems to work out pretty well and the food doesn't seem to go bad over night. The frozen food idea is good if you're going to be gone all day in hot weather. If nothing else it has prevented me from having a 16lb cat sitting on my chest crying at 2:00AM in the morning for a bite to eat!

 

That is sign of an acid stomach. Freeze fried treats or Pepcid can be given to calm the tummy down.

You may want to try smaller meals throughout the day - eat less more often if that helps. I almost wonder though if he does have an acidy stomach and then eats and it comes back up? I have a CKD kitty that would do that and I just added the freeze dried treats to her feeder at night and that seemed to stop the morning vomit of food.

 

Yes smaller more frequent meals do help a lot if you have a kitty who either eats too fast or has a problem like excess acid or motility dysfunction. All of my elderly cats who had kidney dysfunction also had acid build up and so have my kitties who have had IBD.

 

Do you use a specific kind of freeze-dried treats? Is there a brand that's good. It sounds like you have a renal kitty so I probably could use whatever brand you are using. He's not necessarily CKD. But he has had crystals.

Thanks for the advice. I will try that. Also, I just found out he still has a UTI. Apparently, there some new organism present. So we're going to try a new anabiotic. Plus a medication that supposed to help with inflammation and nausea called CERENIA.

 

Cerenia does help nausea - my IBD/FD kitty is on it. I also use the freeze dried treats on him.

I use the Orijen ones - any flavour she likes - the lamb, the tundra, bison. They are single ingredient and include the meat, organs and cartilage. I give her maybe 3-4 in her feeder and replenish as needed. It is like she knows they help and some nights she just leaves them. I haven't had a vomit in the morning since I started this. I am not sure on the phosphorus content, however it is a high quality protein so I figure a few of these to keep the tummy on an even keel is ok. All her other food is low phosphorus.

And a hint - you can buy the dog ones as it is the exact same ingredients for less money. I just break the bigger nuggets up.