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Why did my cat just barf up all his food from this morning?

Admittedly, I gave him a Kraft cheese slice as a treat but this isn't anything out of the ordinary. He ate his canned food about 3 hours ago like normal. He was good enough to barf on the kitchen tile, not the carpet. But it looks like the entire contents of the morning came up. He's 5 months old and hasn't barfed since he was a little kitten. Is this just something they do on occassion? His brother didn't barf, but his brother didn't eat a cheese slice either.

Public Comments

1. Mine do it every now and then but its a solid (almost looks like poo) its a hair ball, i feed hairball formula cat food and it seams to help.
2. it's called a hairball....i know, it doesn't look like a ball....but it is. the regurg of food is due to too much hair in the system...go to petco / petsmart and get some PETROMALT. hold your cat and smear a good amount of this on one of his front paws...he will lick it and it will solve the problem if the problem continues or gets worse....see a vet goodluck
3. My cat will do this everytime if she has a hair ball. Start giving your cat hair ball remedy and then continue it every month. Most are easy to give, just smooth it on a paw and she will lick it off and no more hair balls or barfing.
4. My cats do barf on occasion and I have never been able to tie it to any particular thing (except eating grass). Kinsey barfed up his canned food this morning and it was not a strange food or anything. There was no grass in it so I don't know the reason. Kraft cheese slices are pretty "junky" food - lots of non-cheese ingredients including food coloring. So a "tidbit" would be more appropriate for a kitten than a whole slice.
5. Hmmm...hard to say. Maybe something just didn't sit right, or, he could have a hairball lodged down there somewhere that wouldn't let the food digest. Try some Laxatone or whatever you use for hairballs, and see if that seems to help. My cat is 12 and anytime I feed him canned food, he scarfs it down, then barfs it up like 5 minutes later. We joke that he's bulimic, but after the 150th time scraping turkey & giblets out of my carpet, it's less than funny now. I have no idea why he does that, my guess is that he eats too fast. But you said yours ate 3 hours before barfing...that is weird. I would think that if it was the cheese that caused it, he would've horked it up right away. But then again, cats ARE lactose intolerant, and while that doesn't usually lead to vomiting, they are sensitive to milk products. (Unbeknownst to many a cat owner, since the darn furballs love to eat anything diary.). But whatever percentage of that Kraft single that wasn't milk, was probably plastic or some variant thereof. Might just want to put away the cheese for a while, give him kitty-specific treats, and see if that improves. Otherwise, if it was just a one-time thing, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Cats are the barfiest animals I know, unfortunately, so it's not that out of the ordinary.
6. I have 13 cats and we've never fed them cheese!
7. Yes, they all do it every so often. Then they'll be fine. Limit the cheese. Cats are lactose-intolerant. Maybe that was it.
8. how many slices of cheese did you fees him? i know this may be a normal practice, but the milk can sometimes upset their stomaches. nothing to fret about, just make sure he's getting plenty of water. and if it continues, i would take him into a vet just in case.
9. its something they do and most likely the other cat did it too, you just didnt find it because some cats 'clean p ' after themselves. Actually cats do not digest milk products very well. its hard on their stomachs and digestive tract and can cause the runs. 5 months old and a slice of cheese....hmmm ya gotta figure his tummy is about the size of a superball/golfball.....in comparision, thats like us eating a whole block of cheese.... It could also be that he has a fur ball in the tummy...in which case he will continue to try to throw it up if it is too big/dense to get thru the 'other' way. Dont give him any meds or pepto...its toxic to cats. Just let him be and cut back on the cheese for now...waaaaayyy back on the cheese. *smile*
10. My cat barfs occassionally. I thinks it might be because he gets excited about a certain flavor of wet food I feed him and he eats it way too fast and then throws it up.
11. Cats can barf because of a hair ball and just from an upset stomach. But u shouldn't give ur cat ppl food or milk products it can and will give them worms.
12. One of my two cats occasionally barfs up his food. I don't know which one b/c I've never seen him do it. But anyways, it just seems like sometimes he scarfs down too much food and doesn't chew it well enough so it upsets his stomach. There has never been any hair in the mess, just barely chewed food. If it continues to happen (like daily or more than once a week) I would definitly take him to the vet, but as you can see from your answers a lot of cat owners will report their cat puking from time to time. Happy cleaning!
13. nothing to worry about he probally ate too fast and it didnt settle well with his stomach
14. that doesn't sound like anything out of the ordinary~my cat's seem to do that often and it could be that he he might have had a hairball and was couching and than puked or his stomach was upset maybe from eating so mush and so fast earlier that the cheese triggered him to puke! but if he is acting normal i wouldn't worry about it I'm sure he will vomit many more times to come!