Do Maine Coons Throw Up A Lot? [ Know More Here ]

Maine coons are one of the most well-known cat breeds in the world. They are smart, athletic, kind, and amiable towards other animals.

A typical Maine Coon will have a large size, shaggy-long hair, round paws, and uneven thick coat. They are also quick to adapt to new places and learn things faster than most other cat breeds.

However, vomiting is a common tendency. In this article, we will take a close look and try to determine the reasons for the vomiting and provide specific remedies to prevent your Maine Coon from the same.

Do Maine coons throw up a lot?

Unlike humans, cats have a sensitive gastrointestinal system.

It is common for cats to throw up, and there is not much to worry about. You can monitor their actions easily and save yourself from the tedious cleaning work.

Maine coons usually vomit due to food-related issues like gulping the food down too fast, eating cold and stale food, allergic reaction to a specific ingredient, and indigestion.

But there also may be an underlying health issue in your cat that is causing the trouble.

Reasons why your Maine Coon is throwing up a lot

There can be a lot of reasons why your cat is throwing up. Most Maine Coon owners are pro at decoding the signals that their cat makes just before they vomit.

It is mostly a harsh-sounding meow followed by vigorous retching.

While throwing up is not often indicative of a severe health concern, you should not overlook it either. Here is a list of few reasons why your Maine Coon is throwing up –

1. Hairballs:

A Maine Coon is a furry cat and often suffers from hairball problems. If you observe the cat’s tongue up close, you’ll notice the texture to be rough.

This sandpaper-like texture helps the cat to remove extra fur while it grooms itself. The cat often swallows some fur in the process of grooming.

Hairballs are nothing but leftover fur in the stomach that turns into a wet ball.

While most of the hair passes easily through the digestive tract, some turn into a hairball and restrict the cat from swallowing food.

It is what causes the cat to throw up. Maine Coon kittens are most likely to suffer from this condition.

2. Eating too fast:

If your cat finishes its food the very moment you feed it, vomiting can follow. Unlike humans, cats have a horizontal esophagus.

When a cat swallows too fast, the food hits the lower sphincter and causes regurgitation of the food it just had. It is most common in a multi-cat household when cats become competitive to eat more food.

3. Problem with the food it eats:

Maine Coons tend to retch when they have cold or stale food. But low diet is one of the primary reasons behind your cat vomiting.

Poor-quality cat food contains feathers and bones, which are hard for cats to digest. It can also develop allergic reactions to ingredients.

Few everyday items include seafood, artificial coloring, preservatives, lactose in milk, and corn.

Sometimes a cat is not even allergic to a particular substance, but the immune system attacks the protein thinking it to be a hostile body.

If you are giving rendered meat to your cat and it is throwing up, there is a possibility that it is having a problem digesting it. Certain ingredients in cat treats can also trigger vomiting.

4. Problem with Meal Timings:

If you can spot yellow bile or white foam in your cat’s vomit just before its meal, it is because the cat has been hungry for long, and its stomach has already secreted digestive acids. When you are late in giving the food, the cat vomits to reduce the irritation caused by the acids.

5. Enzyme Deficiency:

If the pancreas of a cat does not produce enough digestive enzymes, it can develop pancreatitis, i.e., inflammation of the pancreas.

It usually happens as a result of exposing the cat to a modern diet. The initial symptom only includes intermittent vomiting.

6. Maine Coon is sick:

If your cat is frequently vomiting, there are high chances that it is suffering from a disease.

Also known as IBD, inflammatory bowel disease is common for middle-aged and old cats.

Look out for symptoms as your cat may also be suffering from an organ dysfunction, tumor, hernia, ulcers, feline panleukopenia, heartworm, or even cancer.

7. Consuming an inedible Object:

Like most other cats, Maine Coons too like to play with toys. Sometimes when they playfully chew on these toys, they can swallow parts from them.

Other than that, they also tend to chew things like buttons, papers, rubber bands, plastics, and feathers.

These items cause indigestion in the cat and remain stuck in the stomach, causing it to vomit.

Toxic substances like insect sprays, human medications, and cleaning soaps can also lead to throwing up if consumed by the cat.

Should you be worried if your Maine Coons are throwing up?

A cat can throw up for a lot of reasons. While in most scenarios, there isn’t much to worry about if your cat behaves perfectly fine.

But if your cat frequently vomits, seems unfit, and has behavioral changes, you may want to look into it. There are high chances that your cat is suffering from a severe disease.

Look out for the following symptoms in your cat and seek medical help immediately if your cat shows one or more of these- lethargy, loss of appetite, weight loss, presence of blood in puke, diarrhea, frequent urination, and abnormal vomiting.

Ways to prevent Maine Coon’s throw up

In the earlier sections of this article, we have discussed the reasons behind a Maine Coon’s vomiting tendency. Now, we will provide you with solutions.

  • To avoid your Maine Coon from having hairballs, groom its fur frequently. If you start and follow a grooming regime from when it is a kitten, it will most likely get used to it. Play and spend more quality time with your cat to prevent it from having stress. You can also try a hairball formula diet to maintain the cat’s exterior and interior health.
  • Give food in small quantities to your cat to slow down its eating speed. In this way, you will also not overfeed your cat. If it is a multi-cat household, serve food separately to each cat. It will reduce its competitive eating tendency.
  • A Maine Coon can have problems with the food it eats for a lot of reasons. You can start with making sure to serve it food that is of room temperature. Check the packaging of cat food when you are buying them to avoid feeding stale food. Both dry and wet food tend to stale once you open it in case of any packaged item. Be careful of the quality and store it only in a cool, dry corner. Improve the cat’s diet and include proper nutrients, carbohydrates, minerals, proteins, fats, vitamins, and amino acids. Most cat foods available in the market fail to give your cat what it needs to stay healthy. Observe and look out for ingredients that cause trouble to your cat; it will be easy to detect its allergies.
  • To maintain meal timings and prevent your cat from having gastrointestinal irritation, give it some food before its regular meal or adjust it to an earlier time to cater to its hunger.
  • Spend time with your cat and notice their behavioral changes. If your cat is healthy and is vomiting once in a while, you do not have to worry. But if it is unfit or you notice a change in its behavior, seek medical help immediately. 
  • Please keep a close watch on your cat while it plays. In this way, you can keep it from swallowing unwanted items. You can also give it chew sticks to divert its mind. Do not keep any medications, insect sprays, or hazardous ingredients near its reach.

Conclusion:

Maine Coons cats are one of the fascinating cats in the world. Owning a cat comes with several complications, and vomiting is one of them.

As you have read, vomiting can be a result of several results. If you are attentive and caring to the Maine Coon, you can avoid most of it.

We have also given you some guidelines which will help you in avoiding such scenarios in the future. Keep taking care of your Maine Coon because they deserve every bit of love you have.