When your cat vomits regularly, it can become worrisome. Occasional vomiting is usually not a cause for concern, but it may indicate that your cat’s food is causing them some digestive upset. Switching to a food that settles their stomach and reduces vomiting episodes can improve your cat’s overall health and disposition. There isn’t a single answer for what food will make your cat feel better; it can be tricky to find the best cat food for cats that throw up. With so many different ingredients and possibilities for food sensitivities, you can easily become overwhelmed. In this article, we will review the best cat foods to prevent vomiting to help you choose.
A Quick Glance at the Winners of 2024
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Best Overall
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Smalls Fresh Cat Food Subscription |
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Budget Buy
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Purina One Sensitive Systems Cat Food |
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Halo Natural Sensitive Stomach Dry Cat Food |
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Blue Buffalo Tastefuls Kitten Food |
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Royal Canin Digestive Dry Cat Food |
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The 11 Best Cat Foods to Prevent Vomiting
1. Smalls Fresh Cat Food Chicken Recipe – Best Overall
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| Primary Ingredient: | Chicken |
| Food form: | Fresh |
| Lifestage: | All |
| Special Diet features: | Sensitive digestion, grain-free |
Smalls is a human-grade meal plan catered to your carnivorous cat. They offer three flavors rich in protein, all gently cooked to preserve as much nutritious value. It’s the best overall cat food to prevent vomiting.
Smalls offers different textures like smooth, pulled, and ground meat for picky eaters, as well as multiple protein source options.
Complete a brief questionnaire about your cat, and they will start you off with a taste test first so you’re confident your cat loves the food. You have to sign up for a subscription before receiving the sample food. So if your cat doesn’t like it, you’ll have to cancel the subscription, which comes with its own rules and steps.
It is worth mentioning that you’re receiving a month’s worth of refrigerated cat food in each shipment, so shipping could potentially cause this food to spoil if something goes wrong. Most customers have never faced this issue, but it’s worth considering.
Ultimately, many cat owners report better energy levels, shinier coats, fresher breath, less stinky poop, and less vomiting since switching to Smalls cat food. It’s worth a try if your puking kitty needs help transitioning to fresh food!
2. Purina One Sensitive Systems Dry Cat Food – Budget Buy
| Primary Ingredient: | Turkey |
| Food form: | Dry |
| Lifestage: | Adult |
| Special Diet features: | Sensitive digestion, high-protein, all-natural |
Purina ONE is a good-budget cat food to prevent vomiting. This cat food promotes intestinal health and also contains a good variety of vitamins and minerals to promote the health of your cat’s muscles, skin, and teeth.
There are several different varieties of Sensitive Systems food from Purina One, but this one is focused on digestive health.
There are a few not-so-good ingredients in Purina One food, so if your cat has serious digestive concerns, it may not be ideal. If your cat just needs food that’s gentle on her stomach, however, this will work just fine.
3. Halo Natural Sensitive Stomach Dry Cat Food
| Primary Ingredient: | Whole meats and seafood |
| Food form: | Dry |
| Lifestage: | Adult |
| Special Diet features: | Sensitive digestion, GMO-free |
The Halo Holistic line of cat foods is specifically formulated to help cats who need dietary care. It is made entirely with real meat and no by-products. This company even takes extra care to ensure that they use animal products from non-factory farms and that all meat is antibiotic-free.
However, it’s worth noting that Halo is a more expensive brand of cat food than most.
4. Blue Buffalo Tastefuls Kitten Food
| Primary Ingredient: | Deboned chicken |
| Food form: | Dry |
| Lifestage: | Kitten |
| Special Diet features: | Natural, corn, wheat, and soy-free |
If you prefer to feed dry food to your kitten, this Tastefuls Chicken Food from Blue Buffalo is a good choice to prevent vomiting. Designed for kittens, this food is free of by-products, corn, wheat, soy, and artificial flavors. It contains plenty of protein and nutrients to support your kitten’s brain, eye, and heart development. The lack of wheat, soy, and corn in this food makes it a healthy option for kittens that are prone to vomiting.
5. Royal Canin Digestive Dry Cat Food
| Primary Ingredient: | Chicken |
| Food form: | Dry |
| Lifestage: | Adult |
| Special Diet features: | Sensitive digestion, pea-free |
While Royal Canin is notorious for not being transparent about their ingredient lists, this food works so well for decreasing vomiting in cats; it was impossible to leave it out. This food has three different shapes of kibble, which is different from most dry food recipes.
Royal Canin Digestive promotes gut flora by adding fermentable fiber into their cat food. This has a huge impact on digestion and significantly reduces the risk of vomiting.
6. Hill’s Science Diet Sensitive Stomach & Skin Cat Food
| Primary Ingredient: | Chicken |
| Food form: | Dry |
| Lifestage: | Adult |
| Special Diet features: | Sensitive digestion, pea-free |
The sensitive stomach blend from Hill’s Science Diet may be just the dietary change your cat needs. It not only promotes healthy digestion but reduces skin irritations as well. It’s well-received by most adult cats and has added vitamins and antioxidants to support their immune system. The comprehensive ingredients in Hill’s food are what make this cat food great in preventing vomiting.
This food isn’t recommended for pregnant or nursing females as it doesn’t provide enough calories to support them.
7. Instinct Original Grain-Free Chicken Cat Food
| Primary Ingredient: | Chicken |
| Food form: | Dry or wet |
| Lifestage: | All life stages |
| Special Diet features: | High protein, wheat-free, gluten-free, corn, and soy-free, all-natural |
For a completely grain-free, all-natural option in cat food, Instinct Original has you covered. This cat food is comprised of 81% natural ingredients and is 100% grain-free.
This food can be fed to kittens and adult cats, as it has a balance of high protein and low carbohydrates. While the kibble version is classified as dry food, it’s actually freeze-dried raw food that’s coated to look like kibble. The bonus of this is the ability to feed an all-natural raw diet without the hassle of preparation and storage.
8. Wellness Signature Seafood Selection Canned Cat Food
| Primary Ingredient: | Seafood or poultry |
| Food form: | Wet |
| Lifestage: | Adult |
| Special Diet features: | Grain-free |
Wellness Signature is one of the very few wet foods on this list for cats that throw up. It has a palatable texture and comes in six different flavors. It’s also 100% grain-free.
The ingredients in this food are designed to promote digestive, eye, teeth, and gum health while increasing fluid intake and increasing your cat’s overall energy level. The ingredient list on the can isn’t very comprehensive, so it’s impossible to know everything that’s in it. It is, however, a great soft food for cats with sensitive stomachs.
9. Blue Buffalo Basics Limited Ingredient Dry Cat Food
| Primary Ingredient: | Turkey, duck, or fish with potato |
| Food form: | Dry or wet |
| Lifestage: | Adult |
| Special Diet features: | Grain-free, sensitive digestion, no wheat, corn, or soy, limited ingredient diet |
Blue Buffalo is one of the healthier brands of cat food out there, and for cats with sensitive stomachs, their Basics line of food contains limited ingredients. For cats unable to tolerate chicken, this is a great option. There is no chicken contained in Blue Buffalo Basic, and it’s available as wet or dry food, depending on your preference.
One unique factor about this food is that it contains pumpkins. Pumpkin is commonly fed to cats to settle an upset stomach, as it promotes gentle digestion.
10. Royal Canin Feline Gastrointestinal Dry Cat Food
| Primary Ingredient: | Soluble fibers |
| Food form: | Dry or wet |
| Lifestage: | Adult |
| Special Diet features: | Veterinary diet, pea-free, sensitive digestion |
Sold as dry or wet food, Royal Canin Gastrointestinal is a special veterinary food for cats with digestive challenges. This food is also fortified for hairball prevention, which can reduce the frequency of vomiting episodes.
The biggest downside of this food is that the first ingredient is water and “soluble fiber.” The protein content is unidentified, which likely means that it’s mostly filler and by-products.
11. Royal Canin Feline Health Nutrition Hairball Cat Food
| Primary Ingredient: | Soluble fibers and psyllium seed husk |
| Food form: | Dry or wet |
| Lifestage: | Adult |
| Special Diet features: | Indoor cats |
If you need multi-purpose cat food for your indoor cat, try this Hairball formula from Royal Canin. This recipe helps promote the health of your cat’s GI tract while also helping reduce hairballs. If your cat is vomiting while trying to pass balls of hair, this food is worth a try.
For older cats, Royal Canin has added ingredients that help reduce inflammation. It also provides triangular-shaped kibble to promote chewing and reduce plaque buildup on your cat’s teeth.
Some of the ingredients in this food are a little questionable. In other words, there are some fillers, by-products, and “meal” ingredients. But the benefits offered by this blend are strong enough to earn it an entry on this review list.
Buyer’s Guide: Selecting the Best Cat Food to Prevent Vomiting
How do you stop a cat from throwing up?
Frequent vomiting can be a sign of food intolerance or dehydration. Dehydration can usually be resolved by ensuring your cat has access to a water bowl at all times.
For food intolerance, it’s critical to find the right food. Food for stomach sensitivity is easy to find at most major pet stores. It’s also important to avoid rich treats or snacks to make sure your cat only has easy-to-digest food.
If you have transitioned your cat to a sensitive stomach recipe and they are still throwing up, it’s probably time to see your veterinarian. In most cases, however, finding a food your cat can tolerate will fix the problem.
- You may also be interested in: 10 Best Cat Foods for Kidney Disease (Low Phosphorus)
What causes vomiting in cats?
There are a few key features to look for when shopping for cat food to prevent vomiting. The choice between wet vs. dry food is mostly based on personal preference (whether yours or your cat’s). Wet food is usually more expensive, but it also has more water content and can help maintain hydration.
Here is a list of the most common reasons cats throw up:
High-quality cat food is an important part of fostering a long and healthy life for your cat but the right cat food and water dish will promote good posture, offer whisker relief, and aid in good digestion. The Hepper NomNom Cat Bowl is our favorite bowl since it offers all of the above and is beautifully crafted to meet modern home stylings. The wide tray design catches any food and water spills and the entire setup is dishwasher safe. Learn more about the Hepper NomNom Cat Bowl here.
At Pet Keen, we’ve admired Hepper for many years and decided to take a controlling ownership interest so that we could benefit from the outstanding designs of this cool cat company!
Final Verdict
If you’re looking for the best cat food to prevent vomiting, you are sure to find one on our list. We recommend Smalls Cat Food as the best overall choice. Purina One Sensitive Systems lands second on our list as the best value for the money.
You may also be interested in:
- 10 Best Cat Foods for Pancreatitis – Reviews & Top Picks
- Why Did My Kitten Throw Up? (8 Potential Causes)
Featured Image Credit: Chendongshan, Shutterstock
