Furballs

Hello all you fellow cat lovers. I am struggeling with my cat "Chewy" ( cuz she looks like Chibaca on Star Wars) She has a constant hairball problem, She gets a hard stomach, acts like she can't get comfortable, & just plain gets miserable. I have tried every product in the stores for hairball treatment, and she refuses to eat any of them. She won't lick vaseline off her paws, I even tried to give her flax seed in her food which doesn't seem to do much for her. I brush her daily, and the only thing we can do is force her to take cooking oil when she gets really bad. I hate doing that tho. Does anyone have any other suggestions? All responses will be greatly appreciated. Anna

I used to have a cat, like that. We got cod liver oil, for him. He liked that and took it realy well.

Hi airhead,

I would switch her to Royal Canin's Hair and Coat mixture (dry) and also buy some cod liver oil or fish oil and add that to either her water or her wet food.

Cats have the only true fur which means they have both an undercoat and an over fur, so when you groom, you need to be using the right type of brush and a good groomer that is near you can tell you what type to use.

Hi! I had a lot of good luck with one of the specialty foods for hairball control. (Science Diet manufactures one). I am also going to move this thread over to our Care and Grooming forum.

have you tried the hair ball medicine that comes in treat form? They are in the form of soft chews and have flavor. Binks loves them. Its is so nice not having to put that goopy stuff on her.

Thank all of you who replied to my thread. Several of you mentioned codliver oil, I will give that a try. Also, I have a long wire brush plus I use a comb to groom her. Is that sufficient? I am new to this forum, it's really neat how a person can ask a ?'s and have almost instant replies, thank you. Anna

I put some of that Lax'aire' stuff in a tube that is vaseline-like consistency and is carmel flavored. The kitties will lick it if I put it on their morning canned food but not off my finger. If they are needing a larger dose of it I pry open their mouth and 'scrape' it off my finger into their mouth. They don't care for it that way of course, but it's nice and quick and doesn't hurt them any.

You want a comb called a detangler- it has rotating combs and pulls mats out easily. I just purchased one (thanks to Sandie's great tip) and I have been able to get all the mats out of Bartee, and he had a lot of them too!

You can order it through Pet Discounters- here is a link: It is the second listing on the page....

Pet Discounters

Are you also giving her cat grass? I always keep a pot or two sitting around, and my cat chews it regularly. You can get ready-to-grow tubs of it at Wal-Mart or pet stores, or seeds which you can plant in potting soil. I believe most of it is "oat grass".