Do cats throw up a lot?

Joy wrote:

Almost any question beginning with "Do cats ...?" is answered
"Yes and no." Cats are different. I've had only one who vomited
very much, and that was only once or twice a day. Most cats will
cough up "throw up" a hairball occasionally, but that's about it.
The fact that both of your daughter's cats throw up all over the
house makes me suspect that she may have something in her house
that cats can't tolerate. It could be ant powder, indoor plants
or something else.

Or maybe their food?

My cat Roxy, age 13, has been the hurly-girl in my house. I always
tell her that she "lives to throw up", as it seems to be one of her
favorite recreational activities. A lot of the time, it's just a
hairball, but she can sometimes barf up a bunch of cat food. Then
there are the days when she roams around the house, deposting little
puddles of white foam. I think she just has a sensitive stomach.

Don't worry, I've mentioned this to vets for years. Throwing up
doesn't necessarily have alarming connotations in cats like it does
in humans. Occasionally, perfectly decent food might cause a person
to have an upset stomach, but usually when a human vomits, it means
something's wrong, whether it's the flu, spoiled food, or some other
condition. People usually don't throw up for fun, whereas I swear,
some cats do.

As for eating grass, I've heard people say many times that eating
grass is good for cats because it helps to "clean out" their
digestive system, by which they mean throw up the grass along with
anything else that might not belong there.

So usually it doesn't mean anything bad, but if you have carpets,
then as someone else suggested, have some spot remover handy. If a
cat throws up excessively while also not eating, then I'd bring them
to the vet. After a puke-attack, Roxy usually trots to the food bowl
immediately, because there's nothing else that works up an appetite
quite like that.

Just for a point of reference, my other cat, Licky, doesn't throw up
much at all. Occasionally he'll cough up a hairball, but that's about
it. So some cats just have more sensitive stomachs than others.

Joyce

--
Anyone who has accustomed himself to regard the life of any living
creature as worthless is in danger of arriving also at the idea of
worthless human lives. -- Albert Schweitzer

"J J Levin" wrote in message
...
As we prepare to make the big decision and adopt a couple of cats, my
daughter (who has 2 cats) has told my wife that her cats throw up a lot
all over the house. So that's a new concern for my wife.

Do they really vomit a lot? I know cats can vomit at will if they need
to, but "a lot" ??

Your experience? Reasons for throwing up? How to prevent?

Thanks for any assistance,

I'm not exactly an expert, I have had only two cats and neither of them ever
vomited much, maybe once every 3 months. Usually if they ate too quickly.
So my experience is that if you get two cats they are not likely to cover
your house with sick.
However do not come back to say I was wrong ;-)
I have not found that my cats vomit all over the house on a regular basis,
if they did, I would be concerned and would be involving the vet.

Tweed

"J J Levin" wrote in message
...

"J J Levin" wrote in message
...
As we prepare to make the big decision and adopt a couple of cats, my
daughter (who has 2 cats) has told my wife that her cats throw up a lot
all over the house. So that's a new concern for my wife.

Do they really vomit a lot? I know cats can vomit at will if they need
to, but "a lot" ??

Your experience? Reasons for throwing up? How to prevent?

Thanks for any assistance,

Jay



Got lots and lots of good advice here, and I think your replies managed to
calm my wife down -- especially the comments about their having small
stomachs and the cleanup being of the paper towel variety rather than the
"we need to change the carpets all over the house again" kind.

Many thanks!

Jay

With cats, a very good product to have on hand is Nature's Miracle,
available at most pet supply stores. It comes in two varieties - one that
sanitizes and deodorizes, and another that is a great stain remover.
Between them, with paper towels or rags, any sort of cat mishap can be
cleaned up as though it has never happened. I have a beige carpet, which is
where vomiting usually occurs, when it does. Since their food apparently
has a red coloring in it, it makes a nice spot on the carpet. Nature's
Miracle makes that spot disappear. It's good for any organic stains,
spills, etc.

Joy

"Joy" wrote in message
...
"J J Levin" wrote in message
...
As we prepare to make the big decision and adopt a couple of cats, my
daughter (who has 2 cats) has told my wife that her cats throw up a lot
all over the house. So that's a new concern for my wife.

Do they really vomit a lot? I know cats can vomit at will if they need
to, but "a lot" ??

Your experience? Reasons for throwing up? How to prevent?

Thanks for any assistance,

Jay

Almost any question beginning with "Do cats ...?" is answered "Yes and
no." Cats are different. I've had only one who vomited very much, and
that was only once or twice a day. Most cats will cough up "throw up" a
hairball occasionally, but that's about it. The fact that both of your
daughter's cats throw up all over the house makes me suspect that she may
have something in her house that cats can't tolerate. It could be ant
powder, indoor plants or something else. OTOH, it could just be the cats
themselves.

I think it's very unlikely that any cat(s) you get would throw up a lot,
as long as you don't have anything around that could make them sick.

Joy

Persia used to vomit a lot (not hairballs) until the vet changed her food.
Some of it was attributed to her eating too fast. But I do think there was
something in the other kibble that tended to upset her stomach. It doesn't
seem to be a problem with the new stuff. (One of my neighbor's cats had the
same problem; again the change in food helped.)

The worst part is I have - or should I say *had*! - white carpet. That was
my mother's choice. Even before I brought Persia here Mom wondered what
possessed her to get white carpet. Beats the heck out of me! One of these
days I'll have it professionally cleaned, although I do worry about the
chemicals they use.

JillJill

On 2011-07-28, J J Levin wrote:
As we prepare to make the big decision and adopt a couple of cats, my
daughter (who has 2 cats) has told my wife that her cats throw up a lot all
over the house. So that's a new concern for my wife.

Do they really vomit a lot? I know cats can vomit at will if they need to,
but "a lot" ??

Your experience? Reasons for throwing up? How to prevent?

Thanks for any assistance,

Jay

Housecats hardly ever throw up. Something is wrong when they vomit a lot.

Bud

"J J Levin" wrote
As we prepare to make the big decision and adopt a couple of cats, my
daughter (who has 2 cats) has told my wife that her cats throw up a lot
all over the house. So that's a new concern for my wife.

Do they really vomit a lot? I know cats can vomit at will if they need to,
but "a lot" ??

Your experience? Reasons for throwing up? How to prevent?

With 15 cats, rarely does a day pass without having to clean up at least one
cat vomit. It will usually be a hairball, or someone ate/drank too
much/fast. No way to prevent. Cleanup is very easy tho.

On 29/07/2011 2:10 AM, J J Levin wrote:
As we prepare to make the big decision and adopt a couple of cats, my
daughter (who has 2 cats) has told my wife that her cats throw up a lot all
over the house. So that's a new concern for my wife.

Do they really vomit a lot? I know cats can vomit at will if they need to,
but "a lot" ??

Your experience? Reasons for throwing up? How to prevent?

Thanks for any assistance,

Jay



I have a pair of littermates. The medium-long haired one (Suki) has
barfed nearly every day for the 4 years we've had her. Its usually
hairballs, although she'll also barf if she's eaten too much too quickly
or gets too excited or scared. I've never seen her brother, Pickle, barf
once in all that time. My previous owner, Shmoggleberry, seemed only to
barf when he was expressing his displeasure at his hoomin's poor
attitude and behaviour. And he'd make sure he'd get my attention before
barfing on something soft and unwashable, as if to prove the point.

Yowie

On 28 Jul 2011 19:58:16 GMT, wrote:

Joy wrote:

Almost any question beginning with "Do cats ...?" is answered
"Yes and no." Cats are different. I've had only one who vomited
very much, and that was only once or twice a day. Most cats will
cough up "throw up" a hairball occasionally, but that's about it.
The fact that both of your daughter's cats throw up all over the
house makes me suspect that she may have something in her house
that cats can't tolerate. It could be ant powder, indoor plants
or something else.

Or maybe their food?

My cat Roxy, age 13, has been the hurly-girl in my house. I always
tell her that she "lives to throw up", as it seems to be one of her
favorite recreational activities. A lot of the time, it's just a
hairball, but she can sometimes barf up a bunch of cat food. Then
there are the days when she roams around the house, deposting little
puddles of white foam. I think she just has a sensitive stomach.

Don't worry, I've mentioned this to vets for years. Throwing up
doesn't necessarily have alarming connotations in cats like it does
in humans. Occasionally, perfectly decent food might cause a person
to have an upset stomach, but usually when a human vomits, it means
something's wrong, whether it's the flu, spoiled food, or some other
condition. People usually don't throw up for fun, whereas I swear,
some cats do.

As for eating grass, I've heard people say many times that eating
grass is good for cats because it helps to "clean out" their
digestive system, by which they mean throw up the grass along with
anything else that might not belong there.

So usually it doesn't mean anything bad, but if you have carpets,
then as someone else suggested, have some spot remover handy. If a
cat throws up excessively while also not eating, then I'd bring them
to the vet. After a puke-attack, Roxy usually trots to the food bowl
immediately, because there's nothing else that works up an appetite
quite like that.

Just for a point of reference, my other cat, Licky, doesn't throw up
much at all. Occasionally he'll cough up a hairball, but that's about
it. So some cats just have more sensitive stomachs than others.

Joyce

Instead of spot remover, how about just getting Spot? Dogs seem to
like taking care of the problem.

It varies by cat- Dunzi was a champion puker all her life usually
because she bolted her food but Sarsi almost never pukes

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

"J J Levin" wrote in message ...

As we prepare to make the big decision and adopt a couple of cats, my
daughter (who has 2 cats) has told my wife that her cats throw up a lot all
over the house. So that's a new concern for my wife.
Do they really vomit a lot? I know cats can vomit at will if they need to,
but "a lot" ??
Your experience? Reasons for throwing up? How to prevent?
Thanks for any assistance,
Jay

Cats normally don't throw up a lot. Long-haired cats will sometimes upchuck
a hairball, and any cat can vomit on occasion. But all the time? Your
daughter should perhaps take her cats to a vet for a check-up to find the
problem - possibly diet.