I have a 15 year old cat that is having a terrible time with hairballs. I have switched to wet food thinking he might be able to get it down easier and keep it down. Should I still be giving him dry food too? He still throws up, but not nearly as much. Sometimes he will come up with a hairball that is 3-4 inches long. He won't eat the food if I put hairball medicine on it. Poor baby.
By Phyllis
You need to brush or comb your cat as often as possible to get rid of excess hair, especially in the spring and summer when they are shedding the most.
It really helps a lot! (10/14/2009)
By Jean
Our longhaired cat had an awful time with hairballs and the vet suggested mixing 1/4 teaspoon of mineral oil into his dry food with every feeding. Bert (the cat) didn't like the oil on his food at first, but when he was hungry enough he ate it and got used to it. The mineral oil worked. (10/14/2009)
By Wilhelmina
The advice about combing or brushing is very important. When I had cats that would get hairballs, I found that rubbing a small amount of the hairball medicine that comes in a tube on the tops of both front paws worked great. Cats can't stand anything on their fur, so even though they didn't like doing it, they licked their paws clean! Just be sure to rub it in and not use too much because sometimes they'll try to shake it off. Hope this helps. (10/15/2009)
By bmd
Considering that you already brush your kitty and his advanced age, kitty may be losing more fur than when he was younger. If the home remedies do not work ask his vet what he should have to slow shedding. Good luck and give kitty love for me! (10/15/2009)
By Kat
I've always given any baby I have both a small can of food each day and dry food to let them choose what they want. Each baby is different.
The fur balls are probably more troublesome now because of advanced age and your baby just doesn't groom itself as much, just as what happens with we humans.
The one thing I do is give my baby a heaping teaspoon or two of either sour cream or cream cheese as a treat each morning. She loves the treat and she, who used to throw up fur balls all the time, has not done so since I started giving her this daily treat. Hope this information is helpful for you. (10/15/2009)
By Deeli
I had to switch recently to all canned food because one of my male cats was having urinary troubles. Within a week to ten days I noticed all the cats getting up their fur balls, and one even passed one in the litter box. I also rinse the can and pour it on their food so he gets more water in him. It wasn't what I was expecting, but it was a positive side effect. (10/16/2009)
By Beth
Don't be afraid of the plain, unscented petroleum jelly. It is the only thing my cat would take for hair balls, in fact she loved just licking a little off my finger every couple of days. My cat preferred Vaseline brand as when I tried the cheaper stuff she did not like the stronger smell. Also if you read the ingredients on most hairball remedies it is mostly petroleum jelly! (10/16/2009)
By Mary Lou
I was just looking online for remedies and found: 1 tsp. of canned pumpkin or baby food squash will help. And, mineral oil can deplete vitamin A. Also, 1/2 tsp. of butter 2 to 3 times a week was another remedy. (11/16/2009)
By Laura
You know, I just realized that I didn't mention that it would also be of great help for you to brush your fur baby twice a day which would remove even more of the fur instead of him ingesting it :-o Cats groom themselves at least a couple of times in a day so it makes sense to me that they do it for a reason. Sorry I forgot to write that before :-( (11/17/2009)
By Deeli
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