Old Cat Vomiting

Question
Hi, I hope you can help.  We have a 16 year old cat, with access to outdoors.  About 3 years ago we placed her on the Iams food for mature cats, to help with her joints and mobility, as they were getting very stiff.  It worked a treat.  Unfortunately, over the past 6 months she has started vomiting.  This may occur within minutes of eating or several hours, at various stages of digestion, although more commonly, the food is still recognisable.  We recently ran out of her normal Iams and she had to make do with standard dry food "Go Cat".  Throughout this period, about two weeks, it was on special offer!!!  The vomiting stopped, so suspecting a link with the Iams, I have switched her food to the Hills Science Plan for mature cats, 2 days in the vomiting has returned.  I am assuming this food may be too rich for her old stomach, but I am also conscious of Kidney failure often blamed on the cheaper food and her joints.  Is there any food you can recommend for the old girl, that may sit better on her stomach.  I realise brnd names may be different in the USA, so any general advice would also be welcome.  We also have a young neutered male and they will pinch each others food.

Thank you in the hope you can help

Answer
HI Paul,

First of all I would always recommend that especially for older cats, any abnormal signs like vomiting should be checked with a blood panel at the vet, including thyroid levels. Kidney disease, hyperthyroidism and diabetes are common in cats (especially when they are fed meat-flavored grains which most dry cat food are are) so you should first rule out serious disease as a cause.

Hyperthyroidism is easily treated with a drug called methimazole, and can even be cured in most cats (over 98% success rate) with a treatment called I131. Two of my own cats have been cured of hyperthyroidism by I131:
http://www.avmi.net/NewFiles/Hyperthyroidism/Hyperthyroidism.html

Kidney failure used to be treated with a low protein diet - however modern research discovered that cats fed a low protein diet experiences more muscle wasting and faster progression of the disease. It was found that high levels of phosphorus were to be avoided for cats with kidney failure, not all meat. So if your cat's kidneys are failing she can continue to live a good life for many years if you concentrate on feeding a highly digestible meat diet low in phosphorus:
http://holisticat.com/crf.html

Hopefully it is none of those serious things and it is just the bad Iams food. Regardless of whether your cat has a serious disease or not I highly recommend you stop feeding the Iams. It is very easy and better to simply choose a good food for your cat and add a joint supplement to it. In fact joint supplements will work better when added fresh to food rather than being processed along with the rest of the food. A good one is Cosequin

http://www.petfooddirect.com/product/3285/Nutramax-Cosequin-Sprinkle-Capsules-fo...

you just pull open the capsule and mix the powder with food.

Iams is basically meat flavored corn, it is not a healthy food for a cat. Cats are not evolved to eat grains or plants, they are strict carnivores. They eat meat plain and simple, and ocassionally nibble a little bit of grass when they need fiber. Therefore a cat should be eating 95% meat and 5% or less vegetable matter - and NO grain, fruit or other thing. Always made food transitions gradual, changing food overnight can cause stomach upset. I have a lot to say on the topic of cat nutrition - enough that I wrote a website on it:

http://www.felinenutrition.net

also some other pages I recommend you look at

http://www.catinfo.org
http://www.catnutrition.org
http://rawfedkitty.com
http://holisticat.com/commercial.html

I understand not everyone is willing to make their cats' food at home (although it is not much work since the meat is shipping to my door, I just thaw it out and mix in the supplements) so here are some pre-made raw food recommendations:

http://www.felinespride.com
http://www.radfood.com

If raw meat is not going to work for you the next best thing is a high meat content canned food with LIMITED other ingredients (ie no grains, very few vegetables - just enough for fiber, no fruits, no other stuff, vitamin supplements are fine). Here are some suggestions:

Newman's Own Grain Free canned (not the kinds with rice)
http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/products/Newmans-Own-Organics-Grain-Free-Canned-Ca...

Nature's Variety Instinct
http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/products/Natures-Variety-Instinct-Canned-Cat-Food/...
(the company says their dog and cat foods are the same so you can save money by buying the big dog cans and transfer unused food into a glass jar to keep better for feeding over a few days)

Evo 95% meat
http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/products/Innova-EVO-95-Meat-Canned-Cat-Food/204205...

So in summary please read the websites linked above to find out why I highly recommend that you switch to a grain-free canned food or a raw meat diet, and mix a joint supplement in with her food.