Fur ball question

persi & alley

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I have had my longhaired cat for over seven months and he has never had a fur ball one. I contribute this to the very vigorous brushing I give him every morning, and remove handfulls of fur daily. It is amazing how much furr I get out of him every day. But he has never had a fur ball. Enter the new shorthaired cat who coughed up her first fur ball today. First let me say they are on exactly the same diet. I also admit that I have not been giving her the same attention as to brushing simply because I assumed that since she was a shorthair it was not needed and also because she is still so new and I did not want to rush into a daily routine with her right away. I have brushed her a couple of times and was not able to remove any hair at all so I was quite surprised when she had this fur ball today. So, I am wondering if it is because I have not been brushing her enough for starters. I know there are other reasons but it threw me for a loop and now I am feeling guilty that I have been negligent. I know a lot of you have both shorthaireds and longhairs. What is your experience with this?

It is so good that there is this forum to come to and ask questions like this! Thanks for any insight you may have.
 

mzjazz2u

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She may just be one of those short hairs who shed a lot of fur. And maybe you're not getting much when you brush because she's already ingested it all? I am really just making a guess here. But maybe if you started brushed her more often you'd start seeing more fur? Have you tried using a comb on her? They really work much better then a brush. And maybe even that much better on a short haired cat.
 

mamakitties

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How about adding fiber in her diet so that it can get passed through her digestive system rather than coughing it up?
 

mzjazz2u

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ACtually, MamaKitties is right. More fiber does help. Many of us give canned pumpkin to our cats. Usually about a Tablespoon a day. Some cats will eat it right off the spoon and others will mix it in wet food.
 
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persi & alley

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Originally Posted by mzjazz2u

ACtually, MamaKitties is right. More fiber does help.
Many of us give canned pumpkin to our cats
. Usually about a Tablespoon a day. Some cats will eat it right off the spoon and others will mix it in wet food.
The pumpkin is news to me, but that is why I come here in the first place so I thought I would figure out a way to get rid of all that left over canned (you did mean canned?) pumpkin.
 

carolpetunia

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Maybe the shorthaired kitty is grooming the longhaired kitty! That's what happens to our Dylan, a blue tabby shorthair. He's always bathing his beloved Sassy, a longhaired calitortie, so HE's the one who ends up with HER furballs. :-)
 
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persi & alley

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Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Maybe the shorthaired kitty is grooming the longhaired kitty!
That's what happens to our Dylan, a blue tabby shorthair. He's always bathing his beloved Sassy, a longhaired calitortie, so HE's the one who ends up with HER furballs. :-)
This is amazing! How is it that something so simple could have eluded me? I do not know if this is the answer but I will be thinking about this possibility. What amazes me is that I never even considered this and now it sounds so logical.
 
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