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Why does my cat throw up dry food?

My cat is about 7 months old. I got him when he was about a month old from my husband's cousin. I believe he was an outdoor cat, maybe feral; I am not sure.

Anyway I know that I should have gotten his shots, but I have not taken him to a vet yet due to a bit of a financial situation.

He has had a healthy appetite, eating both canned and dry food. He always has fresh water. He has been strictly indoors since I got him.

About a week and a half ago he started throwing up after he ate. He would throw up his food and then just liquid.
I thought it was just a one time thing, but then it happened each time he ate. I took his food away for a bit, just giving him water and he would throw that up.

He also was constipated for a few days so I thought maybe he had a hairball or an obstruction ( I also thought that was why he was throwing up - possible obstruction) , or from him not being able to keep food down -(obviously in order to have a bowel movement you need to eat).

I got him some hairball medicine and started mixing it with his wet food. He finally seems like he's almost back to normal, no longer constipated and is able to eat canned food without throwing up.

But the remaining issue is that every time I feed him dry food, he throws it up within about 5 minutes, so I've only been giving him wet food.   I do notice that he eats the dry food fast so maybe that is why. I just wonder if it's possible that he could still have an obstruction and the wet food is able to pass somehow and the dry food isn't. But I don't think he'd be able to poop if he had one, though I could be wrong.

I will be taking him to a vet clinic to get his shots this weekend and possibly to see if they can find out what is wrong.
He seems okay, still wants to run around and play. He seems normal other than the dry food issue.

Just wanted to see if I could get an opinion.

Thank you so much.
3 Responses
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681148 tn?1437661591
My previous cat, Akira, had the same problem.  I tried a high quality food, too.  That wasn't the issue.  Her vet said that dry food was irritating to her stomach. It's not all cats who have this issue, but she did.  She did fine on a grain free high quality canned food.  You might even try Primal Nuggets raw cat food, which is closer to a cat's native diet.  Hunter won't eat it, but if I still had Akira or the cat I had before her, they would have eaten the raw food.  I don't recommend making raw food yourself, though, because it's so easy to miss nutrients cats need.  I recommend Primal Nuggets if you're interested in trying raw food, because it's specifically designed for cat nutrition in ready made portions.
Helpful - 0
506791 tn?1439842983
Both our Mr Cooper (to be 5 on 27 May) and Mr Buff (to be 5 on 9 June) regurgitate their dry kibble once every week or so.

They are both feral born, rescued from a horrible, ongoing hoarding situation on 29 June 2014.

I think i is a combination of gobbling too much, too quickly, and possible sensitive stomachs from the circumstances where they spent the first few weeks of life.

They check out as healthy every vet visit.

As Opus88 suggests, might want to limit portion size of the kibble, maybe a couple tablespoons at a time?
Helpful - 0
874521 tn?1424116797
Hi....a Vet visit is always a good idea to rule out issues like possible obstruction, but I will say I’ve occasionally seen the same with my own cats...they do tend to gobble dry food up much too fast and vomit it back up..try feeding just a few kibble at a time or eliminating all together..hope your baby is fine
Helpful - 0
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