Bingo! (And, Amen!)
We believe we've sorted out why the big male cat has been vomiting.*
Emotional stress. He has a major case of separation anxiety. And, we think, he also experienced getting "ousted" from whatever human family's habitation he'd been living at, due to what we don't know, but judging from some of his other fears which too clearly are fears, he was for some reason treated very badly.
We feed those two or three outdoor cats.
We've been reasoning that he's getting plenty of food, which he does get: his two main meals (breakfast, dinner) and as many snacks of prescription cat food as he thinks he needs.
Often we've fed the outside cats immediately after giving him one of his many, or at least several, daily snacks.
We've not been thinking like the big male feels.
Our reasoning: he's getting fed twice a day, with supplements or medications in the food, and every two or three hours between meals, more or less on demand. He gets fed more, and he gets fed more often.
Big male cat's experience: "They're feeding those other cats without feeding me. They must love those cats more and if they love those cats more they won't love me at all."
We had wondered if this vomiting, of which we'd seen quite a lot over the past oh, eight or ten days, might be due to food given to the outside cats, but we just weren't understanding the mechanism of why he's so upset.
It comes down to this: even if he's just been fed, and outside cat or cats are then given food out of doors, then we must---MUST---give him another dish of food even if he hasn't touched the one we put in front of him before we checked out the back door for either of our stray or feral visitors. And, we have to prepare that second-immediately-after-feeding-outdoor-kitties dish of food for him before we present outdoor kitty food to outdoor kitties.
'Cause he's special. He's our bestest, firstest, bravest, most wonderful hero kitty. And that additional dish of food proves that we love him better, that we love him first and best.
And what if he doesn't eat the food in either of those dishes, presented minutes apart? Ain't that wasteful?
I'm not going to give you numbers of dollars, but believe me: the occasional "wasted" quarter-can or half-can of his prescription food costs nothing compared to what we just spent at the vet's.
And that's just money.
Wednesday of this past week, this cat vomited eight times between his breakfast at about 6:15 a.m., and his dinner time, five of those times within ninety minutes of breakfast, and then yorked up whatever else he had in his belly, by then mostly water, stomach acid (we're presuming) and a slight bit of blood, for good measure, just to end the day on a consistent note.
I was on my way out to run a simple errand, and just as I turned away from locking up the back door, the calico female was standing pretty close behind me, looking...hopeful. A, "You'll give me food, won't you?" kind of look on her face.
"Just a minute, and I'll call himself to get you some food," I told her.
I did, and himself did, and, he told me later, immediately he put food out for her, made another plate or dish for the big male.
And everything was calm and serene.
Amen!
* Cats can vomit at will, and some do it because they're upset or stressed, and others will do it to get attention. I'm willing to "spend" some extra prescription food if that's what it takes to keep him calm and feeling secure.