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My cat threw up dry food & is belly breathing. Is it urgent?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 5 years and 2 months old | 10 lbs

My cat threw up her dry food this morning (which she never touches usually as she doesn’t seem to like the new brand I bought and doesn’t really ever like dry food anyway). In the 3 years I’ve had her she’s never puked. Yesterday her eyes seemed kind of grey and glossy, although they’re better now. It says online cats shouldn’t be breathing with their bellies, and she is. Google told me to get rid of my oil diffuser so I did, & got her a vet appt in 3 days, but is this more urgent than that?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on July 25th, 2020

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about Leila. Poor girl, it may be the dry food causing her to vomiting since she doesn't normally touch it. She may be breathing with her belly because she's feeling nauseous and may need to vomit again. I can give you a home remedy for her to see if that helps. Feed her a bland diet of boiled white meat chicken (no bones) in small amounts several times a day for a couple of days. Then slowly add back in her normal diet. If she refuses to eat the bland diet, she vomits the bland diet, develops diarrhea, stops drinking water, starts vomiting water, or becomes very lethargic, she will need to see a vet right away. I hope this helps!

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