Said It Here

Cat throwing up and diarrhea after changing food

A sudden change in dry food can cause acute digestive upset like vomiting and watery diarrhea, leaving cats refusing to eat and owners stressed. This usually stems from transitioning too fast without mixing the old and new food gradually to let the digestive system adjust.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Switching cat food gradually over the span of a few weeks using a percentage breakdown (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%)
  2. 2
    Ordering the cat's normal food and wet food
  3. 3
    Having the cat checked out by a vet if symptoms persist
  4. 4
    Switching to a limited ingredient diet
  5. 5
    Using a raised or angled feeder

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/cats2 people · September 2026

“every day we wake up to a lot of barf.”source ↗

Mokobuku · r/cats · 18 upvotes

“he hasn’t really eaten it and then today puked and had crazy diarrhea but he’s acting normal expect when I had to put him in the shower , I just ordered their normal food and some wet food to make sure he’s ok I am just worried he’s my lil bro 🥺 literally my best friend ever”source ↗

Kungfujer · r/cats · 11 upvotes

Where this came up

People with this problem also raised