Author Topic: Spiraling vomit >_<  (Read 5893 times)

Offline Judecat (Paula)

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Re: Spiraling vomit >_<
« Reply #10 on: October 17, 2019, 18:47:38 PM »
Glad that the situation is much improved, long may it continue. ;D
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Offline Lyn (Slugsta)

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Re: Spiraling vomit >_<
« Reply #9 on: October 17, 2019, 08:26:41 AM »
Well done for finding a way to meet the varied needs of your tribe, it certainly makes life 'interesting' doesn't it?! I'm glad the vomiting is very much better.

Offline iadao

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Re: Spiraling vomit >_<
« Reply #8 on: October 17, 2019, 00:46:44 AM »
TL:DR - I followed much of the advice & tips and it worked for the most part

Hello again,

thanks again for all the tips and advice, its been a few weeks now so time for an update.

I was just about to say that there has been no sick for weeks and wouldn't you  know it as soon as I typed the line above one of the cats puked!

However that does not change the overall outcome.

Switched them all to exclusively wet food.
Within days this resulted in a few instances of vomit with hairballs in.
That was then followed by a week with no sick at all of any kind.

But, there was a problem.
The cat who never got sick before is the also the one with a distinct preference for dry food, and furthermore the one who was always relaxed about when he got food.
Although we tried our best to get him a healthy share of the food (even sneaking him a bit of dry food on the side) he wasn't eating enough and that lead to him not drinking enough, and 2 weeks ago he got rather sick even to the extent that he had diarrhea and simultaneously vomited while on the toilet!

Multiple trips to the vet later he is fine now.

However because of his preferences it means that dry food must remain in the mix of the diet and beyond that because he won't eat on demand there always has to be dry food around for him.

What we've ultimately ended up doing is giving the other 2 cats small servings of wet food on different plates multiple times per day, having a small amount of dry food released by the timer 3 times per day, and occasionally taking the 3rd cat aside with a little extra dry food to top him up (he does get a bit of wet food here and there too).

All this together resulted in:
 1 of the cats has not been vomited for about a month
the other cat had not vomited for about a month (until I started typing this up)
today's puke was probably caused by my being hasty and giving them too big a portion
the only cat that has been sick much is the one who was almost never sick in the past and that was caused by the change in diet and ultimately dehydration


Offline Lyn (Slugsta)

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Re: Spiraling vomit >_<
« Reply #7 on: October 10, 2019, 15:56:17 PM »
Hi Iadao and  :welcome: to Purrs. Please forgive the late welcome as I have only just got back from holiday.

What a worry for you  :( One vomiting cat is difficult enough but having two of them even more so.

Have you tried slowing down the speed at which your cats eat? I got my first 'anti gulp' bowl as my then cat had a 'gobble and puke' attitude to food but it is also useful for my current lad who will inhale his food within moments if allowed to do so. The bowls, of which there are various designs) do tend to be a bit big as they were devised for dogs but it could be worth a try.

Offline Desley (booktigger)

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Re: Spiraling vomit >_<
« Reply #6 on: September 27, 2019, 21:22:07 PM »
I've never heard that logic before - a friend has two cats who only wat dry, one moulds a lot and has dry fur, the other barely moults and has silky fur
Please spay your cat



Offline alisonandarchie

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Re: Spiraling vomit >_<
« Reply #5 on: September 27, 2019, 09:30:30 AM »
 :welcome:

Its difficult isnt it as they are all individuals

I have a 13 year cat with a sensitive stomach :) He has had medical issues with his stomach which have been treated but he is still sick easily.

He was at the vet two days ago as he had brought up fresh blood streaked saliva with spiky grass :shify:

The vet wants him to just be on Hills sensitive biscuits with no wet food. Archie moults like mad and the vet said taking him off wet should help his coat and stop so many fur balls

Can only speak for Archie and hope you get the problem resolved :hug:



« Last Edit: September 27, 2019, 09:31:31 AM by alisonandarchie »

Offline Sue P (Paddysmum)

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Re: Spiraling vomit >_<
« Reply #4 on: September 27, 2019, 06:36:27 AM »


And whoever says cats are "easy" has never been owned by a cat before..... :innocent:  Welcome to Purrs Iadao    :welcome:

Have everything crossed that your strategy works, and you can get this issue resolved. 


Offline iadao

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Re: Spiraling vomit >_<
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2019, 13:26:19 PM »
Indeed, as awkward as it is for us dealing with the vomit so often the biggest concern is the effect this may be having on their teeth, throats and stomachs, we want to resolve this...

We're going to try a wet food only diet for a few weeks and see how that goes.
Fingers crossed...

Offline Rosella moggy

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Re: Spiraling vomit >_<
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2019, 08:15:35 AM »

Hi and  :welcome: to Purrs.  What a pain for you  :( and can't be much fun for the cats.

We have 7 cats and learned a long time ago to feed them in separate locations throughout the house. We have various feeding issues with a few of them which prevents us leaving food down.  They are fed 3 times a day and it's time consuming as they don't all like the same food.

We do have one who is often sick through eating too quickly.   We try to feed him each meal in two instalments 5 minutes or so apart which does seem to help.

I would be concerned about leaving dry available all day if I had cats who like to eat too much.  Esp the 2 year old girl as neutered females have a tendency to gain weight in any event and you could easily end up with overweight cats who in time could develop weight related illnesses.
« Last Edit: September 26, 2019, 08:19:33 AM by Rosella moggy »

Offline iadao

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Spiraling vomit >_<
« Reply #1 on: September 25, 2019, 10:28:49 AM »
TL:DR: any thoughts on the idea of deliberately putting down far too much dry food so there will always be more than 3 cats can realistically eat?
(hate to be wasteful but it’s the next thing I’m considering trying to solve the problems I’m having with my cats).

The situation:
We have 3 cats, 2 of the 3 are vomiting so regularly that we are cleaning up piles of sick on average once per day. One of the cats is prone to vomiting during the act of eating wet food, the other is most likely to vomit fairly soon after the morning dry food.
This is not a hairball thing, the piles of sick only occasionally have hairballs in them.
All 3 cats have had recent check-ups at the vet and have been found to be in good health. Beyond that all 3 cats seem generally happy and in good spirits.

Background details:
2 of the cats are male and age 7, they have grown up together. The one that is being sick now has always been prone to vomiting, but is certainly not getting better and possibly getting worse.
The 3rd cat is a recent addition within the last 3 months, a 2 year old female cat. She is the one who tends to vomit right in the middle of consuming wet food (like back into the bowl). She also has a history of vomiting quite a bit (in her previous home), but it has certainly increased lately.

The 3 have adapted to each other quite well socially, they play together, will sit/sleep close to each other, but shared grooming is not yet universal.

‘Traditionally’ the dry food is handled by an auto-feeder that dispenses food 3 times per day. The wet food is given once per day around human dinner time.
On the matter of food/brands: when the new cat arrived what she was getting would have changed, but her tendency to get sick didn’t escalate until after she had been around for over a month. For the other two, well, erm, being aware that changing a cat’s food can either provoke sickness or have them reject the new food, from day 1 they have been fed ‘mixed food’. What I mean by this is I will take a few different brands, mix it together, then put it in the feeder, likewise I will have a variety of wet food, and they never get the same brand 2 days in a row. By extension I give them a range of food qualities anything from round Felix up to Royal Canin/Hills, avoiding only suspiciously cheap or ridiculously over-priced brands.

And finally, they all drink a decent amount of water.
Current assumption:
The 2 cats that keep puking are vigorously competing with each other for food and eating too quickly and this is making them sick.

Solutions that have not worked:
•   The boy with the history of puke has been specifically checked by his vet regarding his overly frequent vomiting and the vet said he seems to have no medical issue that would cause this. (This check was before the addition of the 3rd cat).
•   Spreading the food across multiple dishes and multiple locations. The 2 hungry-holes just go on a treasure hunt to see who can eliminate the most plates fastest.
•   Adding a significant amount of gastrointestinal dry food to the mix.

The current, not really working, solution:
Feeding them in very small amounts scattered throughout the day. I mean 1 teaspoon of wet food at a time, on an hourly basis, until the full amount has been served.
The auto feeder has been reduced from serving size 8 portions to size 3 portions and we are supplementing that by adding pinch of dry food anytime we see the bowl completely empty (which seems to be around 10 times per day). This has slightly reduced the problem, however its untenable because it means that anytime the home is devoid of humans for multiple hours the cats are all legitimately very hungry by the time we get back. This in some ways exacerbates the issue, and is furthermore cultivating a situation where we are worried the other cat (the one who never pukes) is not getting his fair share because unlike the other two he is very laid back about getting his food so it’s usually gone by the time he checks in.

Next ‘solution’ we are currently considering:
 
Since the cats are trying to out eat each other they perhaps perceive a lack of food.
We are considering basically putting on a constantly full buffet of dry food and doubling or tripling the amount of wet food that is served (and serving it all at once).
This would almost certainly result in a lot of piles of sick in the short term, but the logic is that maybe if we do this for a week or two the cats will get it into their heads that there is plenty of food and they don’t need to try and out eat each other.

Is this just completely wrong headed? Or is it worth a try?
Certainly eager to hear other suggestions!

 


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