Any one use a slow-feeder bowl? Cat now gulping down food and immediately vomiting

[Gracie85]

Because we have had to change feeding routine due to Yeti's pancreatitis, feeding him a separate food, keeping him from Maggie and Lamborghini's food (And Maggie from Yeti's because of chicken allergy, and Lamborghini from Yeti's because of high carb content), Lamborghini has taken to absolutely wolfing his food down so he can then push in and steal Maggie's food before she gets to eat it all. He's eating so fast, you can hear him gulping it and see him pausing to eye and evaluate Maggie's progress, he's now sometimes barfing it right back up, often into his food bowl while he's still trying to eat more. I have absolutely no doubt it's because he's now eating so fast.

Has anyone used one of those slow feeder bowls, with the bumps or ridges in the bottom to make it more difficult to get the food and slow the cat down? Is there one you'd recommend, or advise avoiding, what's the good, the bad, other ideas? It's hard enough herding cats in three different directions to three different bowls, and keeping them where they belong without having to stop and clean up massive cat barf in the middle of it all.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

I have a cat who likes to eat fast and sometimes regurgitates it right back. I looked for a slow eating plate but could only find dog ones...which are probably fine.
I solved the problem by using a large plate and spreading the food over the whole plate. He rarely vomits now.
Sometimes if he’s eating fast I will take up the plate amd give him the rest 15 minutes later.
Would feeding your cats in different areas help so he can’t see the other cat eating?

 

[FarmKitty]

+1 for Bron's idea about the large dinner plate. Dixie also had issues with the good ol' 'scarf-and-barf' and the dinner plate definitely slowed her down (and saves you 20 bucks on a fancy slow feeder!).

I have also heard of people adding objects to their dog's bowls... maybe a golf ball? I wonder how effective it would be for cats.

I now use an automatic feeder so I no longer use the plate method. She started to barf occasionally so what I do now is just split up her meal a bit. Give a bit, then give the shot, then give a bit more. Try to slow the process down... although that method might be impossible for you with three cats!!

How many meals do you feed a day? If they have a big meal all at once then maybe that could be causing it as well. Dixie only barfs after her biggest meal (40g of food) and non of her mini-meals. She was definitely throwing up more back when I fed her only twice a day (although maybe that was for other reasons!).

 

[Gracie85]

We feed 4 times a day, breakfast, lunch, dinner, bedtime.
Back before Lamborghini's health went down the pipes, we used to just feed dry and had it out all the time. Then, Lambor's problems started, so we switched over to wet food, low carb, with added water, to keep him from getting worse. Luckily, it worked. Unfortunately, we have cats who are used to nibbling all day. So we do 4 meals. With Yeti's pancreatitis, he's been getting fed every 2-3 hours to make sure he's eating enough. But he's on the food the vet gave us, which is horridly high carbs, and when he was feeling so sick we were spoon feeding him, which he has now decided he likes for us to do, and since he's not back to normal yet, we give in and spoon feed him. His food is also chicken, which Maggie cannot eat, she gets stinky diarrhea and as she's a Maine Coon mix, it is NOT pleasant for her or us (ever tried to shave your cat's butt? a very long fluffy hairy butt? with klingons?) Yeti had a long bout of semi-diarrhea almost 2 months ago, it got better when we stopped feeding him the fish flavors of fancy feast, so everyone had to switch off fish as well, so we went to turkey and to beef. Maggie loves chicken, and tries to get to Yeti's food. Yeti is now tiring of chicken, and as we went back to some fish (we still have cases of it) since he's on his own food, he now wants the other cat's food. Lamborghini just wants everyone's food. So we can't leave anyone's food down when either hubby or I are not able to stand there and watch and grab whoever's going for the wrong food (they are separated within one room) and we can't put them in different rooms or then the dogs come slorp down the food in a single swipe faster than we can shout NO and make a dive for them. It's 5 against 2, and three of them have claws.
Today we put down smaller amounts a little more often. Gave Lamborghini two bowls of food tonight, half his portion in each, so he'd think he had another bowl to "steal" waiting for him and not gulp his food trying to get to Maggie's before she finished it. Seemed to work. He's not real bright. He left some food in both bowls because he felt confident he had access to plenty. yeesh. It is exhausting--herding cats really isn't easy at all.

Tomorrow I will go look for some smooth, large pebbles to try as obstacles in his food. Have to be big enough he won't bother trying to bite them. He only has 3/4 of his front teeth left, and one weak old molar in the back. Don't want him to lose the rest trying to gulp down a rock.

Anyone have links to good 'make your own cat food" recipes? Hubby, who would have to be the one doing this because of my disabilities, is now ready to try that so we could have just one food everyone can eat. (However today he put a chicken breast on to boil and make fresh broth and meat for Yeti, and left it simmering for almost two hours until I smelled the pan burning...)
No chicken, no fish, no carbs, low fat, more fiber for Lambors but easy fiber for Yeti--no problem, right?