Hairball

How long does it take for a cat to pass a hairball? A couple of minutes, half an hour, or longer?

I suspect my kitty is trying to cough up a hairball. She has been licking her lips, having symptoms of trying to puke, squat down for a while and making wheezing sounds. Lasted for maybe a minute and then nothing. Then it started again. After maybe half an hour. Still nothing. It's been almost 3 hours since her last attempt now.

I would call a vet ...

I called my Vet - he won't be in the office until tomorrow evening. Spoke to the vet tech and he told me to monitor her a little bit longer. Appears that she is trying to rid herself of the furs. If still nothing by late evening, I am heading to the ER. This is my first episode with her, so scary.

so you have some petroleum jelly??? a little on her leg for her to lick off may help

Sending get rid of the hairball vibes to Lucy Belle.

You might also want to try some melted butter or a little bit of olive oil, if she'll eat either of those. They might help push the hairball (if in fact that's what it is) through her system and then out with her stool.

Many cats vomit after eating cat grass so that's another possibility.

I really hope that it's not necessary for you to bring her to the emergency vet. Please keep us updated.

I use laxatone for my cats, or catlax. It does the trick pretty quickly, you can get it from your vet or at petco, petfood express or some other place like that.

Flowerbelle hacks like that for a few minutes at a time and we know she has a hairball. Because she won't eat any of the stuff for hairballs that works quickly, we feed her the Friskies hairball treats as directed every day until she hacks it up. It usually takes her 3 - 5 days to bring it (often them) up.

Laurie

I wipe the goo onto the tops of their paws, then they have to lick it off...

Update : I feed her some melted butter as suggested and she's fine for now. No more symptoms and the hacking has gone for the day. I've been giving her Defurr-um hairball treat dailly and I am not sure if it's working. I know that hairball is preventable so I usually comb/groom her once every two day or so, when she permits me.

Anyway, she's napping now, so I hope all is ok. I've never seen a cat coughing up hairball before so it was quite scary to me.

Originally Posted by saya

I wipe the goo onto the tops of their paws, then they have to lick it off...

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She doesn't. She shakes her paw, runs, shakes her paw. Then she just ignores it, and leaves sticky spots wherever she lies down. She is a REALLY picky eater. Sometimes I'm able to shove the goo in her mouth - but she's a little thing, twists her head around (I can pill her, but liquids are impossible) - and it usually ends up somewhere on her head or neck or ears or something.

When she came to us, she was in such bad shape. She needed to be medicated 11 times a day for about 7 months - so she really hates meds, poor baby.

Thankfully, the Friskies hairball treats - though not the best - are something she'll eat and they eventually work.

Originally Posted by tutti_bella

Update : I feed her some melted butter as suggested and she's fine for now. No more symptoms and the hacking has gone for the day. I've been giving her Defurr-um hairball treat dailly and I am not sure if it's working. I know that hairball is preventable so I usually comb/groom her once every two day or so, when she permits me.

Anyway, she's napping now, so I hope all is ok. I've never seen a cat coughing up hairball before so it was quite scary to me.

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If she didn't hack up the hairball, keep giving her the defurr-um stuff until she does. That hacking meant that it's still there. I'm not familiar with that particular hairball treatment - it's just one treat a day? Like with Flowerbelle, it can take a few days - or more - to actually get the hairball(s) up. It'll look like gooey vomit - probably with obviously oblong lump(s) of fur in it.

Laurie

Hi Laurie,

Yes, the treat is to be administered once a day. I've just started actually, I think it's about two weeks now. Someone mentioned about cat grass and yes, I did purchased a pot of organic cat grass for her to munch on. It lasted three days, the grass wilted and she barely touches it. So, off the dumpster it went.

I am glad I have many off days this week so I can really keep an eye on her. She's been getting into lots of trouble lately. Testing her limits with me mostly. I guess she is really growing up now and I felt abandoned sometimes.

Aw....

I remember especially with Flowerbelle. Poor baby was so sick when we rescued her - she was actually in the hospital for about three weeks before we could even bring her home. Then she lived in our bed for weeks. Gary carried her to the litter box, we fed her water out of a bottle cap so she didn't have to get up - and she was SUCH a love bug. She purred every waking moment. She was so happy just to be alive and loved, I think.

Of course, as she got healthier, she got more playful. Then we finally had her eye removed - and her energy went up a billion percent - and she was no longer sweet, loving and cuddly. She still purred ALL the time - but she didn't want anything to do with us unless we were playing with her. So I know what you mean about feeling abandoned.

I look at this as the rebellious teen phase. But she'll "grow" up to the equivalent of a kid that's graduated college, and she'll be your friend again.

When we first became aware of Flowerbelle's hairball problem, I think it took 2 or three weeks before she finally coughed them up. There were SEVEN of those lumps! She'd probably been "collecting" those for a long time, poor baby.

Now that we're aware of the problem and long over that first "hairball" lump, it takes her 3 - 5 days to get them up. We do the maintenance - just for whatever reason, she seems to have a problem with them. She gets them about every 4 - 6 weeks despite the maintenance hairball stuff.



Laurie

Thanks Laurie,

Your posts are so reassuring. So how is Flowerbelle doing now? Is she still in her rebellious phase? Don't you love it when you are the center of their world when they are little and needy? Not that I want my kitty to grow over attached to me. But I am a first time pet parent and Lucybelle being my tiny rescue baby, I am just so in love with her.

She's awake now and is in her *kitty crazy* mode. Running all over the place again. I have a small rug on the kitchen floor and right now, she's riding on a magic carpet ... lol ... sliding on and off. She's having loads of fun so I can be pretty sure that's she's fine.

What a relief.