[Maleke]

I am very confused as to what is going on with my two kittens. I know some people read my thread about Maleke and the whole vet situation.

Well he was totally normal yesterday and fine all day today (playing with Magic, eating, drinking etc) and then after I gave them their wet food tonight (Innova) one of them threw up. It is not like Maleke to throw up, this whole bout of it was the first time I had ever seen him do it.

They have never had Innova wet food before, maybe it was too rich? They have been fine on every other food though! I am not 100% it was Maleke that threw up, although he is back in his bed now and normally he is up with me at this time. When we go in there to see him he doesn't even lift his head, it's like he is REALLY tired.

The vet can't find anything visibly wrong with either of them, and Maleke had millions of x-rays done and they didn't see anything there either. Does anyone have any ideas what this could be? Is it normal for kittens to throw up this much? (Tonight it was food that one of them threw up, not bile). I'm REALLY confused and as students, we aren't rich and can't afford another $500 vet bill just to say they can't find anything wrong!

 

[AngelZoo]

I'm afraid I have not been kept informed of this whole issue with your cat.

But what blood tests have been run?

It's possible the innova was to "rich" for them, in the case of your cat having a sensitive stomach. It's possible they ate the food too fast.

Try hand feeding them, nice and slowly from now on, see if that makes a difference.

When you feed them, offer them the food at the same level as there head as of when they are sitting up. So they don't have to crouch down for their food.

If you are changing foods often this can also cause a problem like this.

 

[Maleke]

Is it a bad idea to change wet foods often? I give them a different brand every night because I have heard that if you dont' your cat may become picky and only like one kind when they are older. I was under the impression that it was ok to switch wet foods.......but if it isn't I will definately stop!

They eat Felidae dry only, I never switch their dry food.

 

[AngelZoo]

As is for dry food, the same can apply to wet food.

Formulas can range drastically with wet food, specially switching brand to brand.

If you wanted to fed a couple different formulas from the same brand that are very close in similar ingredients that should be fine.

Some cats can be picky eaters reguardless of their feeding style. It's not something which is garunteed.
If you slowly wanted to make a more drastic change in canned foods do it every 3 - 5 months and make it a slow transition much like you would dry food.

 

[Jeanie]

Maleke, I think it would be best to move this to Health and Nutrition. If you don't see improvement, I would take Maleke back to the vet. I know this is a real worry to you. Dr. Jean might have some additional ideas for you. Sometimes rich foods are the problem, but I know you want to be certain.

 

[kitkat]

I went to the store at Petsmart to get some Nutro Natural and I picked up one can of Sheba, I always feed my cats different canned foods like Wellness, Solid Gold and Innova and all different flavors too. Basically I fed my cats Sheba and Sugar threw up later that day. Since it was your first feeding with Innova maybe it was too rich for your cat and you should just stick with the other ones. Seems like they're already getting a good variety of foods so I doubt your cats would be hooked on any one thing in particular.

One thing about Innova is, they only have one flavor basically but Sugar loves it! She will even steal Twinkie's portion, that little piggie! That stuff must be good...<<))

 

[faile]

i don't know if this would be any help at all, or even if there is a point to posting it, but innova is the ONE wet food cujo turned up his nose at and wouldn't eat. i've offered him 5-6 different kinds.

 

[drjean]

innova

Boy Maleke sure has had a bad week!

Innova *is* very rich, and contains a lot of unusual ingredients, like peas and carrots, that you don't find in most foods.

When switching, go easy--just little bits at a time.

Variety in both canned and dry is vitally important, but you have to be careful with those tender tummies!

If he's really feeling bad, though, and it persists, please let us know or email me privately so we can look into a bit more thoroughly.

Cheers,
Dr. Jean

 

[juliahadley]

Poor Maleke he has had a rough time

I replied to your previous thread
but to recap I have had a similar problem with one of my cats, Sonic
she kept throwing up loads of food
we took her the vet, and he said her tummy was slightly inflamed and said it was a food intolerance
so we tried other foods, to no avail
but then I tried hairball remedy (paste) and she is a lot better now
she throws up now about once every 10-12 days and it is just a small amount with fur in it
and last week she threw up a smallish furball
so it could be Maleke has a furball, that is getting lodged and causing vomiting
its worth trying furball paste as it won't do any harm if furballs aren't the problem

how often is Maleke sick , and how much is it? is it all food or bile as well

Sonic was mainly throwing up lots of food, but occasionally she would throw up a bit of bile
she was bing sick every other day on average

don't worry too much, Sonic was always a bit lethargic after being sick, it takes it out of them a bit, and she was throwing up huge amounts of food
try furball stuff but if there's no improvement you'll have to get to the vets
see if the vets will let you pay in installments to soften the blow of the bills
and I mentioned in my previous reply to your other thread, its a good idea to get pet insurance

hope this helps
keep us posted
J

 

[mismodliz]

don't know if this will help, but...

When Stephen was 2 years old, she started having problems throwing up her food. Almost every time she ate, she became sick. The food wasn't usually very digested.

When this became an everyday occurrence, I took her to the vet. She told me that most cats are allergic to the red dye in dry and wet food. I believe I was using Meow Mix at the time. She suggested that I avoid all foods with red dye in them, which can be done by reading ingredient labels.

After the switch, Stephen immediately stopped throwing up. I now use the Nutro Natural food, and she has no problems, except for the occassional throwing up associated with hairballs. (She's now 5 years old).

 

[Maleke]

Thanks everyone....Maleke is feeling much better. He never throws up so that wasn't like him at all! He hasn't been sick for 2 days so far....so lets hope this keeps up! I have been feeding him Felidae wet and it seems fine, he also gets Felidae dry. I think I might steer clear of Innova until maybe he is a bit older, he loved it but I'm just not sure it agreed with him. That or he ate it too fast!

 

[shlanon]

Maleke, do your cats like the Felidae wet? I give mine the dry but haven't tried the wet yet. I may though, because it comes in 16 oz cans and wouldn't be as much of a pain in my checking account to feed them wet everyday!
It seems like wet food is so much more expensive than dry!

 

[Maleke]

Yup, they love the Felidae wet. I get the chicken-turkey-lamb-oceanfish and the Chicken and Rice in Chicken Broth. If there are any other flavours I don't know about them because my store only has those two. But yeah, they really really like it. You can actually see grains of rice in the chicken and rice one!