? He vomitted up his portioned dinner, do I refeed him?

I'm cat sitting for some friends while they are on vacation, and I'm not sure this counts as an emergency to call the vet after hours...

Anyhow. the day before I began cat sitting, this cat was deemed to be in diabetic remission and taken off insulin. He is still being fed a portion of friskies wet food and a portion of Hills W/D food 12 hours apart every day and I am testing his glucose levels right before dinner. His glucose is often around 3.2mm/ol before his night time feeding. Today it was lower... 2.9 mm/ol. He seemed to eat faster than usual and as soon as he walked away from his dish he vomitted.

I'm wondering if I should feed him again? I can't tell if he puked up everything, but I feel like he may have? He hasn't vomitted any of the other nights I have been caring for him. What would you do?

 

Sometimes they just eat too fast and that happens. I'd offer a smaller amount of food and see how that goes. Kitty could be stressed because mom and dad are gone.

 

You are a good cat sitter to post here and get opinions! Hopefully, kittie kept down the next amount you gave. Keep us posted.

 

Hi, there! Just now saw your post; coincidentally, my diabetic cat just did the ol' "scarf & barf" (for the first time in a long time) this morning. Is definitely ok to re-feed after a scarf & barf episode. Here's how I do it: I wait about a half-hour after the vomited meal, then feed in small portions about 15 min. apart (to make sure it's going to stay down). This way, I can get the meal replaced in about the next 45 minutes or so.

A few tips to help avoid another scarf & barf:
- Elevate his food dish: Place it on top of a shoebox; in this way, kitty is not eating with head down at ground level - so the body is not fighting gravity;
- Add a little extra water to the food (when it's a little "soupier," it takes longer to eat it;
- Pick up the dish when he's halfway through, and give him about a 5-minute "food rest" before you set it back down for him to finish up the meal.

These methods have markedly reduced scarf & barf for Bat-Bat, who is a real chow-hound! (The only reason it happened this morning is because I spaced out & didn't pick it up for a food-rest halfway through her meal. Dopey me!)

 

Thanks for the responses! I think he just ate so fast because he was extra hungry or something, he hasn't done it again. His blood sugar levels were the lowest I had tested him at yet, anyways. I did end up giving him a top up of food later that night and watched him closely the rest of the night. He's been fine since then. Mom and Dad come home on Monday after a three week long trip, so he'll be a very happy boy soon!

 

My kitty scarfs & barfs sometimes, and it's usually when I give her something she really likes. So when I remember, I smoosh the food down nice and flat into the bottom of the bowl with the back of the spoon. This makes her have to work harder to get the food by licking it rather than just biting up huge chunks of food and swallowing them. This works for us.