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Harlos Healthy Pets 11 years, 3 months ago.
So I was hoping for some thoughts or suggestions from other cat owners. I have two kitties right now, a purebred Siamese and a domestic long-haired Tortoiseshell, and they both have the tendency to, on occasion, upchuck all over their cat tree, the sofa, etc. I’ve done a bit of research into it before, and I am aware that throwing up can be a sign of health issues, but we’ve taken them to the vet and everything checks out fine. They don’t do it often enough to really be concerned, either. Maybe 2-3 times a month now, which is greatly diminished from 5 or 6 months back when it was nearly a daily occurrence. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s stress related. If there have been people in and out of the house, if they’re locked out of the bedroom for a night because they were being naughty, etc. Though sometimes I do believe that they just scarf their food entirely too quickly and this might be part of it too. Thankfully they’re both skinny cats. They don’t eat much, they just eat it QUICK! So what I need are some ideas to keep them calm and from chowing down like hungry hungry little hippos so that they don’t barf all over the apartment. Can anyone help?
My friends cat also is throwing up sometimes. Often it´s because they eat too fast or too much. Try to give them smaller portions over the day and maybe something with chewy pieces 🙂
Thanks for the advice! We’re using a mechanical feeder set on a clock right now so it rotates the bowls every 6 hours or so. Anyways, it’s convenient if we’re gone for work or errands, but it means that it’s just sitting out – which isn’t really the issue. Even when we fed them <span style=”line-height: 1.5em;”> </span><span style=”line-height: 1.5em;”>a small bowl </span><span style=”line-height: 1.5em;”>at set times they would just inhale it like mad! Lol. :)</span>
I’ve had cats for many years and throwing up is pretty common. It can be from many different things. Changing the brand of food you are giving them sometimes helps. Hair balls are a definite cause, especially for long haired cats. And feeding smaller portions more often, as stated above, is good. I have found they tend to throw up more when they get older, probably because most commercial cat food may be too harsh for older tummies.
When you have more than one cat, competition eating can occur. And stress is definitely a factor, as you’ve said. Good luck with this common problem.
Thanks for the insight! I think this will actually help me quite a bit. 🙂
Throwing up is pretty normal for cats now and then. But my cat has also been throwing up more often lately. Even thought the doctor said its prefectly healthy 😀 So after some research I think I found out what it is, at least for my cat. It have a been a bit overweight for a while so we have been giving it less food 3-4 times a day. But since my cat LOVES food it gets crazy when it gets it and just eat it all in one bit. We do not give to much, but I guess it doesnt know when it will get fed again so it just eats it all so fast. So like someone said, I guess trying to calm the cat down and not stress it while giving small portions a few times a day is the best choice. We used to have one more cat and I think still he might feel like the other one is gonna eat his food, even though he is not around anymore, the mindset it still there with the <span style=”font-family: ‘Helvetica Neue’, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;”>competition eating</span><span style=”font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;”>. His mindset was that since he was born since we got him from a shelter and it was alot of other cats 🙂 Hope everything works out for you and your cats!</span>
Our cats always threw up if we changed their food brand too quickly instead of mixing old and new.
Well we don’t change the brand ever–we’ve used the same natural food for them since they were babies and just switched from the kitten to adult formulas–however, we do switch the flavors between bags. So salmon one time, then chicken the next, etc. If they did it primarily when we switched out their food, I’d think that maybe this was it. But it kind of just happens at random. Thinking hairballs might play a part since we have a long-haired cat.
What are you feeding your cats? Are they indoor or indoor / outdoor cats?
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