Cat vomits regularly after eating.

Question
Good morning.  I own a nine year old female tiger cat who weighs approximately 5-8 pounds. I feed her 1/2-1/3 cups of food per day as per the directions on the cat food.  Historically she was on Iams hairball control dry cat food, and it was not uncommon for her to vomit after eating.  Usually she would vomit twice.  This would go on for a few weeks and then begin dissipate only to intensify in consistency once again.  I switched her food to Iams natural/organic cat food as the problem seemed to become more regular.  After adjusting to the food the issue did diminish, though began to increase after a approximately one month.  Recently I switched her food again as a result.  She is now on Purina healthy naturals though it appears as though the issue is maintaining.  She has experienced this problem all of her life.  It will come and go in phases, though it seems as though it is growing more routine and consistent then it ever has in the past.  She does eat very fast, and after she initially vomits up the food upon eating (still, usually vomits twice), she will stop and be able to finish her food throughout the remainder of the day without incident.  She is healthy active n every other respect and has normal bowel movements.

Answer
Rob,
what your cat is doing is not vomiting, but regurgitating her food because she eats too fast. This is not rare, but it's more common than you know. With dogs that do this it is a bit easier to solve by elevating the food bowls. You might still try that with her. It forces them to slow down to eat since the bowl is at an unnatural height.

Most pet stores carry wire racks to place the food bowls in. I would get her on a better quality of food also, as Purina foods are not healthy and are not the same formulation from bag to bag. You might want to put her on a sensitive stomach formula such as Science Diet Sensitive Stomach. I have had many good reports from owners about this food calming their cats GI tracts down.

But when a cat eats very fast, it upsets the vagal nerve in the stomach and sets off the gag reflex, which immediately creates a regurg problem.

Since she has had this all her life there is a good chance that is what the problem is, however I tell anyone with a vomiting cat to have her checked at the vet's to make sure there isn't an underlying disorder first.

So get her checked out then try elevating her new food. Make sure you slowly transition her over to the new food in seven days.
If you want to know more about fixed-formulations vs. open formulations, just send me a follow up.

Let me know how she is doing in a few weeks.