Question about Hairballs.

baloneysmom

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Hi Guys. Once again I am having problems with Bugsy. I have already spent way too much on him. He has once again started vomiting around 2x a day for no apparent reason. He has has this problem since we got him about 6 months ago. We have had blood tests, x rays, exams etc. every test that can be done has been done. So I cant take him to the vet again after Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve spend hundredâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s and hundreds of dollars for nothing.

Anyway Ill try and ask you guys again, maybe someone knows something. I know we have had a few new people join.

His vomit is mostly food, usually digested. It usually comes out long and thin. Lately I have noticed some hair in it. I am not familiar with how hairballs look but this is mostly food with a little bit of hair.

He is vomiting a few times a day. Could it be hairballs? Do hairballs make him vomit most of his food as well? I am going through our supply of cat food way too fast now. He pukes then eats. He eats twice as much now.

Thanks all! I just donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t know what to do anymore.
 

maxcat08

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From what I've seen, my cat's hairballs are definitely long, thin with hair.

She did the same thing...ate really fast, then puked up what she had eaten.....so I started mixing Iams Sensitive Stomach dry food (in the pink bag) in with her usual dry food.....and lo and behold.......nary a hairball in over 2 months. I also started giving her some wet food....just because I felt she needed it.

I also moved the other cat's dish further away from Phoebe's dish. I think she felt compelled to eat really fast in case her 'brother' ate her food. Of course, that was all in her mind...because he had his own dish of food.

Hope that helps!
 
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baloneysmom

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So your saying itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s a mixture of hairball and fast eating? We actually just switched him from Medi-Cal sensitive belly (forgot real name LOL) to Medi-cal maintenance. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m pretty sure itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s not the switch because that was about 1.5 months ago. Maybe I should go back? My vet said I should only use that food as a last resort.

I just hope its something as simple as a hair ball. Capone had a hairball once in his life and it was a big hair ball lol basically only hair. So I am not sure if there are other type of hairballs. Bugsy is 95% digested food and 5% peices of hair.
 

sharky

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are you feeding off a flat or elevated dish???

Hairballs usually look like pardon me POOP with hair in it
 

maxcat08

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Hairballs do look like poop, because it's the same colour as their food...because some liquified food gets wrapped up in it....and what colour is the usual cat food......brown!!

I'm not saying that it's a mixture...but with Phoebe, when she wolfed her food down...yes, she did bring it up again about 20 minutes or so, later. The Iams seemed to do the trick..as well as the addition of wet food. Don't ask me why..and I'm not saying it's the answer...it's a bit of trial and error. I did mix her usual dry food with the Iams...Also, for different reasons, I also changed her main dry food from Hills T/D to Wellness Indoor......the chunks are smaller and so maybe that helped her.

But..years ago, she had lots of hairballs on small dry food. So, I think it is the Iams that has helped her to flush the hairballs through the back end instead of bringing them up (on the rugs of course, LOL)

Nothing worse than throwing out expensive cat food!!

Hope you can get your kitty to stop throwing up hairballs....but if you're really concerned...take a sample to the Vet and see what they have to say. It's worth a visit for the peace of mind.
 

alleygirl

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Riley gets petromalt weekly to help him pass his hairballs. If he coughs one up, it does look like poop, but often he will start throwing up his food in the day or so before he throws one up. The weekly medicine prevents most of this, but now and then he will need an extra does if he throws up his food like that.
 

maxcat08

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And another thing...a hairball doesn't smell like poop...
....my cat Wayne was just 8 months old when I saw what I thought was poop on the kitchen mat. I was a little annoyed/concerned until I realized that there was no smell to it. That was his first of many hairballs. I wished that the Vet had had a few more ideas on how to stop them..all he suggested was tonic-lax. It didn't really help.

I'm glad to hear that petromalt works.....if my medium-hair length kitty starts with hairballs...I will be looking for a stop to it.
 
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