When I adopted my cat, I was told she had a history of throwing up. I figured I could deal with a cat who occasionally vomited. I did not realize that I would be dealing with daily cat vomit. After three years of trial and error, I finally found a cat care routine that dramatically reduced the frequency of my cat throwing up.
Eliminate cat treats
After a complete physical to rule out any health concerns, the vet determined that my cat must have a food allergy. To help narrow down my cat’s food allergies, I decided to eliminate all cat treats from my cat’s diet. If you have ever looked at the list of ingredients in cat treats you will often find a list of unpronounceable chemicals and food dyes.
Sorry, no milk
The idea of a cute little kitty drinking milk is so adorable, but unfortunately many cats cannot handle milk because they lack the enzymes necessary to break down the lactose in cow’s milk. Even though my former cats could handle an occasional milk treat, this cat had way too sensitive of a stomach to drink even the smallest amount of milk.
Smaller portions multiple times a day
I suspected that my cat had a nervous tummy. My cat’s foster mom told me she came from a home with a dog, so I wondered if she had the habit of eating too fast in fear of the dog. I moved her food to a quiet area of the house and began feeding her smaller portions twice a day.
Daily brushing
My cat has long, beautiful fur which she keeps meticulously clean. With all of that fur going into her stomach it was not surprising that my cat was frequently vomiting hairballs. The whole family now participates in helping her remove fur by brushing her daily. Surprisingly, we found out she enjoys having the males in the family aggressively rub her down which helps her shed large amounts of fur. For us females she prefers that we use a lighter touch and a cat comb.
Bottled water
When I switched my cat from tap water to our delivered bottled water, it drove my husband crazy. Why was I using our expensive water for a cat? In the long run it ended up saving us hundreds of dollars. While drinking tap water (which includes fluoride and chlorine), my cat was having terrible dental problems with cracked teeth and plaque build-up. We were dishing out hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars each year in dental visits. After switching her to our bottled water, our vet could not believe how good her teeth looked. My cat has not needed a single dental procedure since she stopped drinking tap water. I figure if tap water was doing that much damage to her teeth, I can only imagine what it was doing to her stomach.
Keep the litter box clean
I noticed a direct connection between a dirty litter box and my cat throwing up. I am not sure if she has a physical reaction to cleaning herself after being in a dirty box, or if it’s her way of complaining that I am not keeping her litter box clean enough. Either way, I decided it was worth it to clean her litter box on a daily basis.
Cat food
To try to determine my cat’s food allergy, I tried every brand of cat food from the top of the line brands. From the hairball and sensitive stomach formulas to even the cheap supermarket brands, each time I switched her cat food I made sure to do so gradually and I gave my cat plenty of time to adjust to the new food. I spent a fortune in this frustrating trial and error method.
Finally a friend told me they had discovered a food that reduced the frequency of their cat throwing up. After a month of trying Blue Buffalo’s Adult Indoor Health Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe, I finally discovered a food that did not cause my cat to vomit. My cat loves the taste of this food and seems much happier now that she does not vomit after eating.
While I was not able to completely eliminate all occurrences of my cat throwing up, we went from daily vomiting to about once a month. Now when my cat vomits, it’s usually because I did not follow the routine listed above or she simply needs to get a huge hairball out of her system. It has been such a relief to not have to clean up cat barf on a daily basis.
When you first begin the process of trying to figure out why your cat is throwing up be sure the cat gets a complete physical to rule out any health concerns. If your cat has a sudden onset of vomiting, you should immediately bring your cat to a vet to check for possible poisoning or serious health conditions.
