My Cat Is Bringing Up Its Food
Undigested food returned soon after eating usually means the cat ate too fast, but persistent regurgitation of meals has other causes worth checking.
Is this an emergency?
If it happens several times a day, if your cat cannot keep anything down, or if it is becoming lethargic, it needs to be seen the same day.
When food comes back up shortly after a meal, still recognisable and barely digested, what you are usually seeing is regurgitation rather than true vomiting. The distinction matters, because the two point in different directions.
Regurgitation or vomiting
Regurgitation is passive. There is no heaving, no abdominal effort. The food simply comes back, often in a tube shape, minutes after eating, and the cat frequently wants to eat again immediately.
Vomiting is active. The cat braces, the abdomen contracts, there is often drooling and a warning meow beforehand, and what comes up is partly digested or mixed with bile.
Tell us which one you are seeing. It narrows the possibilities considerably.
Eating too fast
This is the most common reason a cat brings its food straight back. A cat that bolts a bowl of dry food swallows air with it, the stomach stretches quickly and it comes back up.
It responds well to simple changes:
- Feed the same daily amount in more, smaller meals
- Spread dry food across a wide flat plate rather than a deep bowl
- Use a slow feeder bowl or a puzzle feeder
- Feed cats in a multi cat household separately, since competition makes them eat faster
When it is not the speed of eating
If it happens on every meal regardless of how the food is served, or if the cat is losing weight, other causes need excluding: food intolerance, a sudden change of food, intestinal worms, inflammatory bowel disease, hairballs collecting in the stomach, and in older cats hyperthyroidism.
Oesophageal problems also cause regurgitation, and in those cases the food comes back very soon after swallowing, sometimes still warm.
What to change first
Go back to the food the cat was on before, if the change was recent. Feed smaller amounts more often. Slow the eating down. Give it a week.
If it continues past that, or if the cat is losing condition, bring it in. We will examine it, and depending on the findings suggest a blood count, biochemistry, a faecal test for worms, or imaging.