Question:
I have an 8-year-old male Abyssinian cat named Rusty who will regurgitate his food once in awhile after eating. I have observed him eating, and I think he eats too fast. I feed dry cat food to all five of my cats, and occasionally give Rusty some vegetables such as tomatoes, green beans and peas. All my other cats have never done this, and they are all younger than Rusty (who's soon to be 9 years old).What causes a cat to regurgitate food after eating? Rusty does eat more food after he regurgitates, but never has a problem after that. I feed my cats at regular times in the morning and early evening -- they always let me know when they want to eat if I forget. Could having so many cats living together cause Rusty to eat so fast? I don't feed them commercial cat food from the grocery store, so the food they eat is healthy for them.
N.M., Royal Oak, MI Feb 06, 2005
Answer:
Cats regurgitate food for a variety of reasons: the food is too cold (taken from the fridge); the cat has a large furball or an internal tumor reducing the capacity of the stomach; the cat is allergic to one or more food ingredient; the cat eats too fast because he's always hungry and may have tapeworms or a hyperactive thyroid.Certainly, "competitive eating" (as you suggest) could be the reason why he eats too much too fast. But check out the other possibilities first before you put several large glass marbles in his food bowl to force him to eat more slowly while you stop him from getting into the other cats' bowls. You might also try feeding him first in a separate room. Many cats do best on four or five small meals a day so that they are less ravenous, and by nature prefer to have several snack-like meals from morning to night. In contrast, most dogs do best on two meals a day.
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