Stop normalizing vomiting in cats.

—About a 5 minute read.—

Do you shrug away your cat vomiting? It might seem normal but I’m here to tell you: it’s not. Frequent vomiting is not normal. Something is going on and we need to investigate further.

Vomiting sucks. Imagine if you were to vomit every month, or every week, or every day! It impacts your body: your throat hurts, your stomach hurts, you’re not getting any nutrition in your body… It’s not a fun time. Vomiting means something. We ate something bad. We have the flu. Or something more serious and we need to investigate further with our doctor.

Vomiting in cats is the same. It hurts. It means something.

I follow the rule: If my cat is vomiting and I cannot explain it (like they just ate some cat grass and they threw it up), then I have to investigate further.

Vomit in cats can indicate many things: toxins, drugs, foreign bodies, ulcers, hyperthyroidism, urinary tract infections, stress, food intolerances - just to name a few.

Vomiting can also indicate nutrition or gut issues. Below, we look at a few types of vomit that we commonly see in cats with gastro issues in more detail.

My cat just threw up… 

What your cat throws up can tell you a lot about what is going on internally. Here are a few common types that are related to nutrition and gut health:

Greenish/brown vomit

This indicates there is bile in your cat’s vomit. The vomit can also smell absolutely dreadful. Your cat’s liver and pancreas are working overtime, producing too much bile so it is expelled from the body. Talk to your vet about diagnostic tests and potentially adding in a digestive enzyme and/or probiotics to help your cat’s digestive system perform more optimally. 

Also, look at the ingredient list in your cat’s food. Are you feeding a diet with high quality proteins? For a cat, high quality proteins are from animals. Are there plant ingredients and do they have the word “meal”? (For example, corn gluten meal.) Then this ingredient is the food’s main source of protein. Find a food that has fewer plant ingredients with the word “meal” in them, and more animal-sourced ingredients instead. These foods are more easily processed by your cat’s digestive system.

Also, what is the fat content in your cat’s food? You can try a less fatty formula and see if their vomiting improves. The best diets have animal-sourced ingredients and are rich in moisture. Commercial cooked and raw food brands are both: animal-sourced ingredients and moisture-rich. 

However, not all raw and cooked food brands are created equal. 

Just like kibble and canned food brands reduce their production costs by adding in plant-sourced ingredients, raw and cooked brands do the same by adding in more fat. Plant ingredients are cheaper (especially because many are subsidized in the USA) than animal ingredients. Fat is cheaper than protein.

So I often see pets vomiting bile on a lower quality raw diet. This is because it has a higher fat content than what the animal can handle. I look for a protein to fat ratio of 2:1 but always judge a brand by how well your particular pet digests it. 

White/Yellow Foam

If your cat is vomiting up foam, their stomach is empty. It’s overproduced stomach juices, anticipating incoming food, so the body expels it. Often, this occurs late at night or early in the morning.

First, are you feeding enough? Take a look at your brand’s feeding guide to make sure. This is especially important for kittens: they eat a lot and have a fast metabolism. Use a kitchen scale to measure food to the gram. If you have multiple cats in the home, feed them behind a closed door (see my blog on Separate Dining Rooms) so you can more easily monitor their food intake.

Cats are built for multiple, small meals over the day. Aim for three or four meals and see if that makes a difference. See below in the section on undigested food for a feeding schedule example.

You can also use a slim ball, a Doc & Phoebe’s mouse toy, an automatic feeder, or set up a treat search before you leave for the day.

Undigested Food

Your cat just vomited up undigested food 20 minutes or so after a meal: this is regurgitation. Often, this happens because the stomach is overfilled and needs to get rid of it. 

Regurgitation can aggravate the throat, leading to more vomiting even if you’re feeding an amount the stomach can handle. This is why it’s important to wait a few hours after vomiting before feeding again. We need to let the body go back to normal.

Here’s an example feeding schedule:

Early morning meal

Before-work meal

Lunch

After-work meal

Dinner

Midnight snack

Feel free to add or subtract meals to suit your schedule and pet. Use an automatic feeder to make this even easier to implement. There are dry and wet food automatic feeders on the market and you can get ones with ice packs.

Final Thoughts

Bile, foam, and regurgitation are common types of vomit related to gastrointestinal concerns. Any vomit is worth investigating further - don’t normalize vomiting! Think of it as a little red flag your cat is waving, saying “I need assistance!”

Work with your veterinarian to determine what other diagnostic tests can be performed. Vomit can give us clues but doesn’t usually tell us the full story.

So no, vomiting is not normal. Ask questions, be curious, and always investigate further. 

Thank you for reading!