good hairball specific food (sharky?)

There are a lot more hairball specific foods out there than I thought. I want one that is just hairball specific and not target towards hairballs and weight loss. Anyway there is hairball food by Science Diet, Royal Canin, Iams, Whiskas, Meow Mix, Purina One and Purina Pro Plan. My plan will be to have a regular food that works for them both and a hairball food and mixing them (for both cats, I am sure hairball food won't harm Jack any).
Anyway, which hairball specific food would you recomend?

Royal canin makes multiple hairball formulas ...

Originally Posted by mom2raven

There are a lot more hairball specific foods out there than I thought. I want one that is just hairball specific and not target towards hairballs and weight loss. Anyway there is hairball food by Science Diet, Royal Canin, Iams, Whiskas, Meow Mix, Purina One and Purina Pro Plan. My plan will be to have a regular food that works for them both and a hairball food and mixing them (for both cats, I am sure hairball food won't harm Jack any).
Anyway, which hairball specific food would you recomend?

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I have never relied on food to keep my cats from having hairballs and neither one (including my very longhaired cat) have ever had a single hairball. I attribute this to appropriate brushing and combing.

http://www.royalcanin.us/products/default.aspx

http://www.royalcanin.us/products/default.aspx

adding a bit of olive or salmon oil can often help too

I do brush (and pet) Raven and Jack. Jack even seems to shed more than Raven. I am really not sure why she struggles so much with hairballs.

Originally Posted by mom2raven

I do brush (and pet) Raven and Jack. Jack even seems to shed more than Raven. I am really not sure why she struggles so much with hairballs.

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shorthairs often have worse hairballs since they shed more

Maybe I will try that, the Royal Canin Intense Hairball formula. Like I said, I will mix it with a regular food, Jack has never barfed up a hairball. Or if he has I have not been able to tell, maybe it is easier to tell with Raven because her hair is black and it is obviously visible in her "pile".
Maybe she is a "low excreter" like it says on the royal canin site on the info on the intense hairball food.

Just to add my 2 cents worth....Phoebe is 12 yrs old, a DMS..domestic short-hair....she has coughed up hairballs since she could...meaning from a young age. In the last 2 yrs or so, she has also coughed up whole, and sometimes mushy food. Obviously she isn't chewing her food and/or it is partially mushed in her tummy, then it comes up.
I do brush her and get lots of that thick undercoat, but she still upchucked.

So, I saw an ad for Iams Sensitive Stomach formula. It comes in a pink bag. I thought, what the heck. It isn't her main food...I mix it in with her regular Wellness kibble. Wet food is her main food now, but wasn't until April 2008. From March 2007 to April 2008 she was on totally dry food. But with all the hairballs, I got desperate and bought a bag of the Iams Sensitive Stomach and from about August 2007 to now.....she's thrown up about 2 hairballs.....I kid you not!!!

Perhaps she has a sensitive stomach, perhaps that Iams food help pass the hairballs or prevents them from forming...I don't know...but I like it.
I've tried Tonic-Lax and something else over the years...but she always threw up.

For the price of a small bag..it might be worth a try. It can't hurt. It's not the best food, re: ingrediants, but like I said, it isn't her main source of nutrition.

Hope it helps you decide what to do. The dry food, Hill's T/D, was too expensive to be thrown up on the carpet , but then again, maybe my cat was trying to tell me something.... ....!!

Originally Posted by sharky

http://www.royalcanin.us/products/default.aspx

http://www.royalcanin.us/products/default.aspx

adding a bit of olive or salmon oil can often help too

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How much oil do you add? I was thinking about doing this with the salmon oil capsules but wasn't sure how much to use or how much is in a capsule

Originally Posted by spookzilla

How much oil do you add? I was thinking about doing this with the salmon oil capsules but wasn't sure how much to use or how much is in a capsule

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Good question. Or what about giving them a bit of oil out of a tuna with oil can.

like a half a cap to a cap.. or 1/2 teaspoon to one teaspoon

Hmm, I was just looking through a coupon book I have and noticed that Nutro Maxcat has a hairball management formula. Is this any good?

Edit: I take that back, they used to have a hairball management formula, they changed their formulas and packaging, after doing a search on their site, the hairball formula I would have chosen is now an indoor food.

What do you think of this food sharky? http://www.nutroproducts.com/mcdry-iarc.shtml

http://www.nutroproducts.com/mc-favorite.shtml (how I found it).

that is a good one but it is a bit low in fat and protein for such young one s IMHO

I would be careful with the Royal Canin hairball foods. I ended up with one cat who was constipated, one who hated it, and one who threw it up regularly. My mother-in-law has been feeding her cat RC Indoor 27 for a couple years and he's gained waaaay too much weight for his tiny frame. (she just ran out and is switching brands) I think he's a bit gassy on it too.

I had good luck with Nutro Natural Indoor formula, not a single hairball on this (and then all of a sudden lots of hairballs when I stopped feeding it). Nutro Max's hairball formula is now re-packaged as the Indoor formula I think??

Wellness Indoor Healthy is supposed to help hairballs too.

Originally Posted by Sakura

I had good luck with Nutro Natural Indoor formula, not a single hairball on this

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My Oliver is a very furry NFC who grooms himself a lot and he hasn't had any hairballs since being on Nutro Natural Indoor. His coat is very shiny and soft and his stools are not smelly or loose at all. I would do a commercial for this product!

After reading this thread i've just purchased online a bag of the Royal Canin Intense Hairball kibbles to see if they do any good. Their bringing up hairballs at the moment 3-4 times a week, and now poor Jacks shedding and hacking them up

He goes for his yearly checkup in a couple of weeks anyway, but i'm also wondering if he has a sensitive tummy so i'm getting that checked out?.

Originally Posted by Rosiemac

After reading this thread i've just purchased online a bag of the Royal Canin Intense Hairball kibbles to see if they do any good. Their bringing up hairballs at the moment 3-4 times a week, and now poor Jacks shedding and hacking them up

He goes for his yearly checkup in a couple of weeks anyway, but i'm also wondering if he has a sensitive tummy so i'm getting that checked out?.

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Let me know if it helps yours.

I will . They say on the pack it could take up to 21 days before you see a difference, so i hope it helps them because i hate seeing them cough them up

My dad always used this stuff... so I do too, I get it at the pet store, once a week I smear a little on each of the cats upper paw/leg area and they give me an angry look then start to lick it off.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...70&pcatid=3570

I've never known hairballs, I've never actually seen one...