Kind of a health related question

[miese Katze]

Hello everyone,

This might seem a bit odd, but I couldn't find the answer to this question online, so what I was wondering is if it is ok if a cat eats its own throw-up?

My cat Nino brought some food back up last night and then tried to eat it again. I find this disgusting, so I immediately stopped him. Then my friend asked if that was not healthy for the cat, seeing as how birds will regergitate food for the little ones, etc. This made me wonder, am I just putting human standards on cats?

I'm sorry if this question is a little gross, it's just out of curiousity that I ask.

Thank you!

[Barbara]

Cats usually only eat fresh prey which they just have killed. They aren't scavengers.

They easily throw up because in case they should have eaten something that is bad for them they can get rid of it easily.

Dogs are different. And wolves also transport food to their little ones which they regurgitate.

So most of the time a cat won't eat the thrown up food.

However that mechanism of throwing up is also started when a cat eats too fast and too much. My Tigris is known for that. So, 1 minute after eating he sometimes has the food up again. It looks fresh and I am sure it tastes fresh. Tigris however only eats it in very rare cases. Most of the time he leaves it to us to clean up the mess

So if it is only slightly used food I can't see a problem in eating it. But if it's yucky half digested stuff I would clean it away before he eats it again.

[Craftlady]

My gang justs sniffs the mess. 99.99% of the times it happens the mess doesn't stay on the floor long enough to investigate. They seem to time their barfs when mom is sleeping and Dad is getting ready for work between hours of 4:00 a.m. when he gets us and 5:15 a.m when Dad leaves the house. Dad wakes Mom up and informs her of the problem.

[BastetsMum]

Bastet is a fast eater. Then she has a big drink of water. That results in her walking around for hte next 10 minutes barfing everywhere and Mummy cursing her for it. She never eats it though. A vet friend of mine suggested maybe the food is inadequate in something your kitty needs. Thats about the only time a cat would eat their regurgitated meal.

[RedHedd]

Whew I'm not alone! Mishi will scarf up food very quickly and then throw it up and proceed to eat it. It always gets cleaned up quickly, but I have caught him doing this .... he's my wierd kid, but we love him anyway.

[miese Katze]

Ahh, thanks for the replies!

Nino's problem that night was that he ate all his food really quickly. The food that was brought back up didn't even look chewed.

Anyways, thanks again, it is good to know it won't kill him.

[Denyce]

Both Brianna and Katiebug throw up a lot. Brianna has an IBS....irritable bowel syndrome so sometimes it is due to that. Katie is bulimic...she eats and pukes immediately afterwards. We have found with the canned food we use the lunch plate size and then mash the canned food out very throughly all over the plate so it is in a very thin layer. This forces them to eat slower and they throw up less.

Denyce

[moosmom]

One of my cats (not sure who) also has a tendency to barf after eating too much too fast. I have a feeling it might be Doogie, although I've seen Moo do it on occasion.

The only time I ever come across it is when I step in something cold and wet!! None of them ever eat it (sometimes I wish they WOULD so I wouldn't step in it!!), however.

[rkidsrcats]

Yup, the Tribe does this too - although, Tiger seems to be the most appaulled by cat urrp. He immediately tries to bury it and that's how we find the hidden spots - he's in there behind the futon or somewhere, scritching the carpet, hiding evidence.
William & Percy seem to do the most and it has to do with eating fast and then playing "race around the house 'til ya puke" game.
I used to freak cuz I thought someone was truly sick, but its just a kid thing with our tribe. They don't eat it though, just call in the waste removal guy-Tiger- and he does his best to clean up.
I have noticed that if I have a fresh container of cat grass growing for noshing, there are less episodes of this. Not scientific data, just a casual observation.