My sixteen-year-old cat was vomiting more and more until she couldn't keep anything down. I was having a meltdown as I knew she was dying: she was getting skinnier, weaker and looked kind-of greasy. Also, she had been having small hard stools for years and I had been dealing with that.
I tried many, many things for these two conditions. To list just a few: aloe, slippery elm, homeopathic medicine, canned pumpkin, probiotics from the vet (very expensive), vaseline, fur ball remedies, digestive enzyme, laxative....
My cat has always been a fussy eater, and I have always spoiled her rotten, giving her whatever she wanted.
The only cat food she seemed to like was popular brand, a beef variety (that comes in small cans-don't want to get sued by the maker!) In the past year it got wetter and often smelled bad.
After having three meltdowns due to her impending death, something clicked inside of me. I was spoiling her too much. I had tried many different types of cat foods over the years, but like I said she is VERY fussy. So I went out and bought about twelve different kinds cat food that looked to be fairly healthy. A few she would actually eat.
As soon as I changed her diet the vomiting stopped. Now it is about a week later and her stools are starting to look normal for the first time in years. And they are frequent.
My girlfriend's vet said the most natural type of food for a cat is chicken or turkey. So now, though kitty is not always wild about it, she is getting mostly Evo chicken and turkey formula and California Naturals, chicken and rice.
You would not believe what a quick turn-around my cat had!