Cat question

[veronica_rich]

(This is for the cat people, any vets, experts out there. If you can answer my questions, you may be helping others besides just me. At any rate, I'd like to know if anyone's having similar problems.)

I have a cat who's been throwing up every day for the past two weeks - he doesn't just throw up, he strings the food and hairball along half the length of the room (cleaning it up is a major pain, but I'm worried about him). It didn't occur to me until this morning that it could be a change in his food - I've fed him Purina One Advanced Nutrition Hairball Control for three years with no problems, and the latest bag or two I've purchased was different packaging. So, I called the company today and it turns out they did take the yogurt out of the formula, and I was told it shouldn't make a difference in how he processes the food. WELL, YEAH, OBVIOUSLY IT HAS.

Anyway, I need to try to find something else for him to eat. It's dry food; I may need to go to some wet food too (he's 11 years old). He doesn't seem in pain or dehydrated or otherwise unhealthy, but this can't be good for his trachea or stomach, can it? I tried to give him a little plain yogurt, but he didn't like it. Have you had this problem? Is there a food that would help? (My budget is limited, but within reason, I can try something new.)

Comments

[golden-helikaon.livejournal.com]

One of our cats had a major vomiting problem last year (it went on for a couple of months, a few times a week and he was perfectly healthy otherwise), but it was due to extreme nervousness and stress, and after we babied the cat for weeks and gave him his food seperately, etc. then he was fine. He was also bullied too by the others.

We don't feed ours anything like Purina, and any other vomiting is generally due to over-eating.

For our oldest cat (about 12/13) he gets tuna a couple of times a week, plus cat milk (or normal milk if we haven't got any cat milk).

It could be the change in formula of the biscuits, I mean, he could have a delicate stomach and this lack of an ingredient he's used to could have reacted badly.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

I have considered it might be the second cat; I don't doubt that it is at least somewhat. I am trying to address that problem, though I have no idea what I'm doing, precisely. (Grandma never had this problem when she took on an additional cat; why am I?)

[golden-helikaon.livejournal.com]

We never had the problem from the cats before - the bully has always been like that though - but the one who started vomiting last year had never done so before, and we'd had him for about three years by then. Is your other cat young?

[smtfhw.livejournal.com]

It's not a problem we've had, but if it was one of ours I'd have been at the vets by now... I certainly wouldn't try giving a cat yogurt, or any other dairy product for that matter, as they tend to find cows' milk indigestible and then they do throw up.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

We've been to the vet's recently, not long before all this started; in fact, I paid extra this time for a blood test and workup just as a preventive to see if anything had changed in the last few years. He shows as somewhat anemic - but he has been for several years and it hasn't caused this kind of problem before.

[venusinchains.livejournal.com]

The person who told you that a change in formula won't affect the cat is an idiot. A pet food employee should (and probably does) know better.

A vet will tell you (I'm sure, as I was told) that any change in a cat's diet will make that cat vomit for a variable amount of time. As will an added stress. Or an illness.

I would guess that the combination of New Cat and New Food is doing a number on your baby. But, if it keeps up, look for professional help. (Well, more professional than me.) Excessive vomiting does lead to dehydration, which can lead to various organ failure (especially if it is an illness, as apposed to the other, more obvious choices).

When Dru began getting sick constantly, I was told to avoid the cat foods with lots of dye listed in the ingredients (that takes out almost everything affordable at your average grocery store - but not everything, check the listings on each). The vet and the pet stores will, of course, have a wider variety of specialty foods (low on allergens or sodium or recommended for older cats, etc.). But, every time you try a new cat food, you have to expect some of the vomiting afterward to be due to the change (and not necessarily the food itself). :/

I tried everything under the sun. The Science Diet and Prescription Diet stuff usually worked the best (when I could get them to eat it at all) - but it's the most expensive (one found only in the pet stores, the other, only at the vet). And those brands are all tailor made for specific problems. (One cat of mine needed the low sodium formula for her high blood pressure and the other needed the chock full o' nutrients formula for her general lack of digestive ability - I relied on the vet to give me those details. But having two cats with different problems kinda nullifies the buying of two specific foods, unless you have a way of keeping them from each others' bowls.)

Make sure he has lots of water available and hug him a lot? (And find him a low-dye-content wet food that you don't let him overeat.) And maybe after a few weeks he'll settle down some. (I'm afraid there's really no way past the stress of an unwelcome room-mate. He'll either get used to the new guy in his own time or he won't. With any luck, when it gets cold he'll come to appreciate another warm body.)

[lizzie-omalley.livejournal.com]

If your cat has been getting the same food everyday for a long time a change in formula could be a problem. I change my food up regularly when I can. The jury is split on this. Some people tell me this is a good thing, some people tell me I should keep it the same all the time to avoid upsets. By people I mean vets and other cat specialists. I choose to fall into the change camp to avoid creating a finicky cat (I have one anyway in spite of that) to avoid food sensitivities, and because I feel that it is more natural for the cat to get a little change up since they would somewhat if they were hunting.

I don't feed purina of any price, or friskies et al because they are low end cat foods and the quality of the protiens are, to me, suspect. There are a lot of books out there that will describe where most of the protiens for most pet foods comes from and it isn't pretty.

I use high quality foods with human grade protiens (pet foods are often made of protiens that are from dead, diseased, dying or deformed animals, those that are considered unfit for humans) so that I get healthier protiens to the cat who is an obligate carnivore. Brands like Wellness, Newman's Own, and Natural Balance are all brands I (and the picky cat) like. Wellness is now available at petco.

It is possible that they switched something else up in the food that isn't going to show on the ingredients change that the help desk sees. My cat seems to react to foods with liver in them so I have had to avoid all the "and liver" formulas in the wet catfood. The dry doesn't seem to affect her all that much.

It could be stress, but it seems to be a little slow in coming on since the vomiting is recent and you added the second cat a few months ago. Adding foods like plain yogurt to the diet of a cat that has had the same thing forever is not that easy, most animals won't take to the addition. There are probiotic supplements that you can get from the vet that are designed specifically for cats with digetive problems. You could look into one of those if you wanted.

I would still have the vet check him out because he is an outside cat and there is no telling what he's gotten into that could be the problem.

Many years ago I had a seemingly healthy, alert cat that started throwing up every morning after breakfast. I tried all sorts of things, including change of diet, that didn't work. One vet even told me that the cat had feline leukemia and that he would be dead in a month or two. It took more than a year for me to find a vet that was able to go for the simple solution of impacted hairball. We treated for that, the cat threw up one helacious hairball within a few days and was never sick again.

Goodluck with it.

[immortal-jedi.livejournal.com]

one thing that seems to help our cat keep from throwing up is that we cut out wet food entirely. We also recently switched to Iam's Digestive Care. She gets a few Wiskas Hairball Control treats a day as well.

It's cut down her throwing up from once a day to about once a week or less.

[pktaxwench.livejournal.com]

My cat with intestinal cancer eats Hills Perscription Diet W/D. (So does the diabetic cat... and everyone else in the house... and they are so much healthier for it. Lost weight to a normal weight, softer fur, and they don't eat as much as they used to when they ate junk because the protein content is much higher.)

Because of the cancer, he would puke a lot, but between the food and his laxatives, that stops to maybe once every other day or so.

Laxatives also help the hairballs pass through. Might be an idea. He's taking something called lactulose that is a human Rx med.

[finding-neo.livejournal.com]

Shall I get on my soapbox here or over the phone?

First of all, ANY hairball control formula is a horrible food to feed any cat. They all have too many grains, don't care who makes them.

Secondly, a cat which is vomitting excessively needs veterinary attention. Period. Especially at 11 years old.

Thirdly, the best diet for any cat is one high in real meat, no grains whatsoever. Yes, they are more expensive, but your cats will be healthier. The company Wellness makes a grain free dry food called Core, if you must feed dry food, I recommend that.

And please no Hill's. Not even the prescription ones. I don't care what the vets say - they've been fed a line of BS from Hill's sales reps.

Everyone needs to be aware that vets get very very little nutritional training in school - what they do get is sponsored by Hill's.

I am very proactive about cat nutrition now and I implore everyone to get rid of grains in their cat's food. CATS DO NOT EAT CORN, WHEAT OR SOYBEANS. PERIOD.

Prefacing

[finding-neo.livejournal.com]

CATS *IN THE WILD* DO NOT EAT GRAINS. So neither should domesticated ones. Grains in cat food is why there is an epidemic of obese cats. Fortunately Sylvester goes outside and gets more activity than a lot of housecats, that is why he can eat that food and not gain much weight. If he were not as active, he would.

One more thing....

[finding-neo.livejournal.com]

Cats can be dehydrated with no symptoms. Gandalf was very dehydrated, yet I couldn't tell it, even by pulling up on his skin. He's been treated for 2 weeks now with subcutaneous fluids and is doing much better.

Cats are naturally desert dwellers and drink very little water. You are feeding an animal which doesn't drink alot DRY food. No wonder one of the top diseases in elderly cats is kidney failure.

You can try a change in food, but if it goes on much longer, he is going to get sicker.

[ballincollig.livejournal.com]

The only advice I can give is on hairballs, and I'm no expert...just a doting owner of two well-adjusted, healthy former ferals.

The one, Maggie, has always had issues with hairballs. She goes through long periods of being fine, and then for two days or so she'll puke after almost every meal and look generally miserable. That's when I bring out the Petromalt--essentially a laxative for cats. It comes in a tube. She gets a dose of that and by the next day she's done something massive in the litterbox and is back eating again without throwing up.

My father thinks the whole ritual is amusing and has taken to calling it "Maggie's oil change."