She came from Angell about a month ago.  We were told she is 2+ but there is NO WAY.  She is tiny as can be.  She does however throw up all the time.  I am wondering what we can do to help her.  I feel she can't gain weight because she is constantly throwing up - OR she is just a kitten (8 months old) and we are not feeding her the right thing.  HELP :)

I had a cat who was a chronic vomiter. Usually once every other day, no matter what we fed her or how much. She never got bigger than 6 pounds. Lived to be 14 and no one could ever believe she wasn't a kitten because she was so small. Vet found no digestive problems or anything else that caused the vomiting in spite of many tests, just chalked it up to anxiety in the end. She was the sweetest cat ever and was very healthy. We just learned to not leave anything important any place she might vomit (a few ruined piles of mail are a good lesson)

I would have the vet rule out any digestive problems or other potential issues.

Try feeding her only small amounts each time. We had a cat that would gobble down its food then promptly throw it all back up. Did it almost every time until we learned to only give her small amounts several times per day. She had been a stray prior to adopting my family.

Are you feeding your cat cheap cat food?  That sounds harsh but I don't mean it that way. Cheap cat food is like junk food and is often not tolerated by sensitive stomachs.

My cat was a daily vomiter until we started feeding him higher quality food at the recommendation of the vet. When I first got my cat, I was young and didn't know any better so was buying Cat Chow. Once I switched to Iams, the vomiting stopped (aside from hairballs which are a separate issue). We eventually upgraded to Science Diet, also with good results.

Iams and Sciene Diet still have way too much corn meal and by-products in them to provide the nutrition cats need. To test their formulas they use real cats and dogs and find out just how much corn and other cheap ingredients they can include before it makes the animal sick. This is why so many cats develop diabetes, kidney failure and other health problems on regular cat food. Consider switching to an organic or hollistic brand, such as Innova, Wellness, Blue Buffalo or Spot's Stew. Not only are these foods of better quality, adn more nutritious, cats prefer the flavor. My cat used to hate dry food, but once I got Spot's Stew dry food in salmon, she can't get enough.

It is scandalous how expensive Science Diet is when their first ingredients are:
Chicken By-Product Meal, Brewers Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Whole Grain Corn, Powdered Cellulose, Chicken Liver Flavor

those ingredients are incredibly cheap and provide little nutrition to cats. what cat would eat corn in the wild, especially that much corn?

In comparison the first few ingredients in Spot's Stew are:
Chicken, Eggs, Pea Protein, Oats, Pearled Barley, Vegetable Broth, Chicken Fat

NO by-products, no corn filler.

Same with dogs - all the big advertisers are charlatans as far as I'm concerned, selling junk and convincing well meaning pet owners their stuff is healthy, especially Iams and Science Diet which might be better than some because corn isn't FIRST in the list, but Pinkkittie is right, it shouldn't be there AT ALL.  They lie, plain and simple, to make more money, and they obviously (by the ingredients) don't care about the health of your beloved pet.

what i find incredible and scandalous is that the vets push the science diet on you when they have all that crap ingredients and they have it all at their offices to purchase

In Response to Re: My Cat:


Hi, Lukes!  my sister had a beautiful, healthy golden retriever who develolped cancer at age 11.  When he was diagnosed, she started doing some real research on the vet-recommended food (like the ones referenced above).  Her intent was to give her dog the healthiest, highest-quality food on the market, and when she dug a bit deeper, she was shocked and felt terrible about what he was given.  It's a shame that these better-quality foods aren't better advertised and known.  On the subject of cats and vomiting, I've heard
that for cats, vomiting is a somewhat voluntary reaction (unlike for humans).  So it's possible that the kitty is just trying to let you  know he/she isn't crazy about that particular food.  But yeah, have a vet check her out...she sounds like a cutie!

Where can you find Spot's Stew or the other holistic foods mentioned? I'd be interested in trying it.

wellness is a holistic brand that is very widely available, no byproducts and all that stuff, i've been feeding it to my kitten since we found him outside at 6 weeks old (after the formula stage was over, of course), and at his first yearly check up recently he got rave reviews about his overall health, fur, eyes, teeth, bodyweight, and coat quality. I would never buy anything else

You can get any pet food made from the internet. Here is Spot's Stew on Only Natural Pet.

Spot's Stew

(I haven't fed it or know anything about it personally.)

Wellness is terrific - I've fed it to my Riley since I adopted him at age 5 - he's 7 1/2 now and the vet says he's wonderfully healthy.  He eats only the wet because he had to have his teeth pulled (acute gingevitis - he had it when I adopted him) but prior to having his teeth pulled he loved the dry too.  You can get it at Petsmart, Petco and Whole Foods.

Also, if your cat is eating too fast, you might try putting large marbles in with the food to slow him down.

good luck!

In Response to Re: My Cat:

This truly could be from eating too fast.  Try putting a couple of golf balls in the dish with her food.  It will help slow her down when she eats (more of a challenge). And only give her a small amount at at time (the size of a Fancy Feast can).  When she finishes the food, pick up the dish.  See if that helps.  It works wonders for my uncle's cat.

I also have a cat (10 yrs.)  who eats to fast, and vomits up her food if I give too much at once. I give her a bit at a time. She still has hair balls, but they are better now that I give her a little bit of butter a couple of times a week. (about 1/4 tsp) She likes it too! Seems to have lessened the fur balls!