Sicky kittens

[Fire Fox]

  Thanks for your suggestions everyone. They are siblings but I've kept them on the same food they've had from weaning so I don't think its an allergy. I removed the dry food yesterday and gave them smaller meals more often. No vomiting over night or most of the day until I started writing this! Typical.

They are greedy and do wolf down as much as possible in one sitting. The male steals the female's food too which is I think what has happened this afternoon.

The treat ball is a good idea, I shall take look. I don't want to cut out dry food, because its the female's favourite, good for teeth etc, or soak it because that kinda defeats the object of dry food doesn't it?

I really appreciate all your comments and suggestions and will have another look through them now. X X

Allergies frequently develop over time to substances we have been exposed to repeatedly. Dry food is not beneficial for dental health, that is a myth probably started or at least encouraged by pet food manufacturers. As others have said if you want to keep the kibble, treat balls can be great fun or you can hide dry food in a bought or homemade activity/ intelligence toy (YouTube "katzenfummelbrett").

Another option is to try adding some raw bone-in meat to their diet. Chicken wings are the ones most often recommended - including by many vets! - for teeth cleaning and to allow a cat to express their natural behaviours. Playing is really a kitten's form of hunting, many cats given raw meat do 'hunt' and 'kill' it which is really cute! The reason I mention this is that my boy (described by CP as inhaling his food  ) eats raw FAR slower than any commercial food and he enjoys it enough to purr. Not every cat will take to raw, some are duck to water but don't worry if one or both of yours don't as you will be in good company on Purrs.

If you can't imagine how your babies will tackle a chicken wing check out YouTube 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA2-HhToJ_8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v9aCoT_Hxw
Please don't ever give a cat cooked bones as they can splinter: if you are concerned about raw wing bones you could try meaty ribs and backs or necks, all of which are really small and soft.

[kittymum74]

My little boy has vomited 3 times today and I've been giving them only 1/4 of a sachet each at a time. My little girl has not vomited since I made the change so its working so far for her. I'm taking them back to the vets tomorrow. He's drinking,passing urine and faeces fine, good appetite, active, playing well. He's not a poorly kitten but I am getting concerned when he can't keep such small meals down. I'll let you know what the vet says.

[Den]

Burns is 46% rice.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

I tyried soaking Purina One and it took forever to swell and like a day or more!

I hear Misa going crunch crunch crunch 

[Mark]

Some foods can be soaked - burns I think?

No point soaking some though as they are just cereal sprayed with fat.

[Den]

Dry food does nothing for their teeth  It's a myth that it's good for their teeth. If you watch them you'll notice they pretty much swallow it all with maybe the odd single crunch.

[kittymum74]

   Thanks for your suggestions everyone. They are siblings but I've kept them on the same food they've had from weaning so I don't think its an allergy. I removed the dry food yesterday and gave them smaller meals more often. No vomiting over night or most of the day until I started writing this! Typical.

They are greedy and do wolf down as much as possible in one sitting. The male steals the female's food too which is I think what has happened this afternoon.

The treat ball is a good idea, I shall take look. I don't want to cut out dry food, because its the female's favourite, good for teeth etc, or soak it because that kinda defeats the object of dry food doesn't it?

I really appreciate all your comments and suggestions and will have another look through them now. X X

[Mark]

I agree. You only have to put some in a saucer of water to see how much it swells. This is the reason they tell you to soak dried fruit before feeding it to birds. I would imagine if a kitten eats its fill of dry and then it swells, it must be really uncomfortable or even dangerous. A high meat content kibble and very little of it with some wet would be so much better.

[Angiew]

what sort of biscuit are you feeding them? cheaper biscuits like whiskas/gocat do swell up badly - perhaps try a different biscuit. I feed mine on Origen.

the other thing to try is a treatball of some sort to slow down how quickly they eat.
this is a good one as you can easily control how easy it is to get the biscuit.

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_toys/miscellaneous/cat_toys/170068

it is very big and will hold enough for a few days but if you put in the nightly allowance, it will also give them something to do for a while at night.

or of course, simply throw the biscuits around the living room for them to have to ferret out.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Misa is to be blunt a piggy!

He will have a go at every cat dish and over eat and be sick. He also goes out and gobbles grasss comes back in and eats!

Two days running have had grass furballs and a trail of undigested  food.......sigh

[Feline Costumier]

I don't have sickly cats but Dave will, given the chance, lick all the gravy/juices/jelly off any food and leave the meat for ages then go back to it. So to make sure he is actually eating the meat part of his meal I mush up whatever it is, be it chunks or pate with jelly round it etc.

I would possibly eliminate the dry for the time being to see how they get on without it for a while. If it helps it could be re-introduced as a "treat", very small amounts at one time as you would feed any other treat.

You could then perhaps try a grain free wet to see if that could be part of the problem but reduce their meal sizes. After all their tummies will be tiny and if they are the least bit sensitive a little bit of overfeeding could cause them to bring up whatever they've eaten.

[tab]

Ive tried changing foods but Amber wont actually eat anything apart from Felix senior in jelly. Odd because when Mogs was alive Amber ate whatever food was there but since Mogs died she will just starve herself rather than eat something she doesnt like.
She gets half a pouch at breakfast, half at tea and half at supper and theres usually biscuits around just in case. She doesnt eat them all and I fill the bowl every few days. Maybe I'll try restricting those but its more wet food throw ups than biscuits and with Amber it does seem to be stress related. Like saturday I went out 7ish and got home 12ish. Fed Amber made a brew climbed in bed and Amber threw up. Ive seen the greedy dog dishes and wondered if it would help but as she doesnt eat all the food in one anyway most days Im not convinced. All I can think it to take some jelly off and put it down later but I dont want to get into feeding 6 times a day as I hope one day to be able to work again
love
Tab

[Steff - Petsearch Bedford HQ]

My youngest cat does this sometimes but nowhere near as frequently as your little guys.

I understand that the biscuits can swell in their tummies once they come into contact with the stomach fluids and this can cause bloating which may make them sick. A way to avoid this would be to soak the biscuits a couple of hours before you feed them so they are already swollen when they eat them.

Like trigger mentioned they could have an intolerance to certain ingredients so may be worth checking what the current foods contain.

[Den]

My boy is like this too. What I've done with him is he has the amount of wet he can eat in one go without bringing it up (in his case 1/2 a pouch - he is an adult). For dinner he gets the 2nd half. Then a few hours later he gets the EXACT amount of dry food to eat in one go. It doesn't look like a lot, because it isn't.

I don't feed dry alongside the wet, as if I did that he will over-eat and be sick. Most dry food does swell in the stomach.

It hasn't 100% fixed the problem as he is still once in a while sick, but thankfully *touch wood* it's only every once in a while when he wolfs down large chunks too fast. He just doesn't realise his eyes are bigger than his tummy.

[Kay and Penny]

are they siblings?

if they are, they could be allergic to something in certain foods, or their environment

many foods, wet and dry, contain some kind of cereal, which can cause some cats problems - you could try checking the labels and trying to eliminate it

I have a cat who loves egg, but even a trace stops him absorbing his food properly - I was surprised how many foods, wet and dry, contained it when I started investigating thoroughly

[Mark]

You can get these 'slow feed' bpwls for dogs but not sure they would make any difference with cats/kittens http://www.vetuk.co.uk/cat-accessories-cat-bowls-c-626_634/animal-instincts-anti-skid-slow-feed-pet-bowl-p-4401

I have seen another type of thing that is like a plastic square with blunt spikes on - I'm sure it was for cats but I can't find it now - I wonder if anyone else has seen it.

Maybe there is a gap in the market - if they were made from silicon and pliable, they would be great 

[kittymum74]

Thanks Tab. That's exactly what they do! 

[tab]

My Amber is a sicky cat as well. She throws up at least once a week.
She stuffs biscuits then drinks loads of water, the biscuits swell and shes sick.
She sucks all the jelly off food and then drinks water and throws up.
If I go out I have to carry her around and cuddle her for about 10 minutes before feeding or she gulps her food and throws up.
Ive tried small portions, Ive tried no biscuits, obviously I wont try no water as she gets cystitis so Im afraid Ive settled for good carpet cleaning foam and loads of paper towels.
I think most cats learn what makes them sick and stop doing it but Amber doesnt and I have no idea how to teach her.
The vets say shes fine and healthy

Sorry not helpful I know but hopefully knowing of another cat like that may help
love
Tab

[kittymum74]

Thanks for your quick reply. They saw the vet last week. They keep most meals down and are showing no signs of dehydration (no skin tenting, sunken eyes or dry mucous membranes). They drink plenty and always keep their water down. Obviously the regurgitation is pretty soon after eating but the vomiting often happens in the early hours of the morning. I've been leaving dry food down over night so no idea what time they've eaten then.

[Feline Costumier]

This is actually very serious, kittens dehydrate incredibly quickly and this can be fatal.

How long is it since you saw the vet? Are they keeping any meals down? How long is it before they throw up?

I would have them back down the vet, not getting water and nutrients into their little bodies is incredibly dangerous and needs to be dealt with.

In the meantime, feed them little and often, maybe 6+ small meals a day as it sounds like they may be greedy and taking in air along with the food.

But get to the vet ASAP.

[kittymum74]

Hi all. I'm new to the forum and in need of advice.

I have two 20 week old kittens who are truly wonderful but causing me to tear my hair out! They are both sick almost every day, sometimes several times. Last night we all ended up on the sofa after one threw up in my bed!

Sometimes they regurgitate when they've decided to play after eating so that's understandable. I try to discourage them but what can you do... Other times its not so easy to pinpoint the cause. I increased their meals to 4 daily so they were eating smaller meals but it only helped for a few days. I feed both wet and dry food and noticed them wolfing down large amounts of the dry and later bringing it up whole and swollen. I increased the wet food so they didn't eat so much and it worked for a week or so.

When they started again I increased the wet food again but it didn't work this time. Now Ive removed the dry food altogether, which I don't really want to do, and taken out the 4th meal before bed. I'm really at a loss as to what to try next. They rarely have other foods but when they do its chicken, fish or ham. They have treats for training but I cut them up really small so they don't get much.

When they are sick they are not unwell with it. They simply vomit then go back to whatever they were doing before. They are otherwise very healthy and happy and are growing and developing well. The vet found nothing wrong with them.

I would appreciate any advice you can give me. X X