Advice for constant hawking

Hello fellow cat lovers,

My kitty, Liken, has a BIG hairball problem. I have had him for several years and he is an indoor cat only, with short hair. Liken has been very healthy since I found him until 4 months ago.
He started what I call "hawking", like that thing they do when they are trying to get a hairball up. Even after giving the over the counter treats and using Laxatone, he ended up at the vets office twice, once overnight, and the bill came to $400. They ran tests and put him to sleep to clean him out and stayed for 2 nights at the kitty hospital. The problem was solved when Liken came home and we started him on the treats to help with hairballs.
I noticed yesterday, the problem is back again and I have tried the methods that had been suggested by my vet but he's still hawking. Here's my big problem: I started back to school and we have no extra funds, period due to an unexpected illness several weeks ago. I am so worried and stressed out right now because I just don't have the money or any credit cards and my cat apparently needs treatment again. I thought the last time was a one-time fluke.
I hope I'm not coming across as a tight-wod not wanting to help my cat. I spent $3500.00 trying to save my last kitty, who died this past June. I have always taken great care of them but I simply do not have the funds and she cannot wait several weeks until I will have it.
Please, someone give me some advice or something, anything. What am I going to do?? I do not have $300.00 to $400.00 that will be needed to treat him again. A month from now I will but he cant wait that long!!!!
I'm so worried and angry at myself.

Thank you for allowing me to vent,
Jane

Thanks for the "kind words".
I was looking for some advice from people who have this hawking problem with their cats and what may have helped to prevent it from coming back.
Obviously, I will end up taking him to the vet, as I have many times in the past for my other cats, and skip bills here and there. My cats have NEVER, EVER went without one thing. I have taken in 9 cats in the past 10-11 years, provided medical care, spayed/neutered and given them to good homes.Whoop-de-doo huh? So, now that I spent thousands upon thousands to save abandoned animals, I am the one in need and guess what?? Too bad for me.
I realize this is a msg. board and you don't know me but I am offended by the link.
I am stressed out because I know that I will be taking my cat to the vet in the morning, costing me hundreds of dollars and I will then have to not pay other bills.
If I were a witch, I'd pitch him out on the street like the barbarians do just because he will cost money...I want to help my cat.
And you know what? In the link provided, it says when we take on animals we take on the financial responsibility for them. I have done that and then some for mine and other people's cats and dogs. So is the writer suggesting that I get rid of the cat that I have loved for years just because I will be going through a financially difficult time until I get back on my feet in 4-6 weeks?
Thanks for the uplifting words you posted. My kitty feels better already.

What are you feeding him? What sort of grooming schedule do you have for him? - do you use any deshedding tools like a furminator?

There are some foods that may help with hairballs (without knowing what's available in your area or what your cat can eat, I won't suggest any yet), and some foods and supplements that can help with shedding.
Regular brushing, even though your kitty is short hair, will help, too. Do you have any fresh cat grass? - if not, get some.

I understand your point. While your kitty will get vet care if necessary, that's not the ideal way to treat a reoccurring hairball problem.

Strange_wings,

Thank you for your reply. I agree that taking him to the vet every couple of months is not the answer. I had thought the first time was a fluke but now, here we are 4 months later going through it again and that is why I am now searching for any advice.
I had been feeding my cats the regular Cat Chow and stuck with it to adoid causing any stomach upset from switching to another brand or style. After having Liken in the kitty hospital, I gradually switched exclusively to the Indoor Cat Formula. I also give him the cat treats that are available over the counter 2 times per week and also give him either Laxatone or Cat Lax (from vet's office) 2 times per week but on opposite days of the treats. He hates, hates those!
Liken does like to clean himself more than any cat I have ever seen. He's almost OCD about it but it causes no skin problems thus far.
The weakest area in his care is with brushing his hair. Since the vet trip, we actually hold him down to brush as much as possible but he despises it and it is quite the battle. We might not get a lot done at one time but I think we do okay as we attempt it 3-4 times per week.
I live in Virginia if you might have any knowledge of what might help or I can order online. I know he is miserable when this happens and I wish I knew what would make this go away permanently for him.
Also, I will see about the cat grass. I have heard of it in the past but cannot recall from where but I'm sure Drs. Foster and Smith would carry it. Do you know if it is sold in stores?
Again, thank you for your response. I am off to attempt to get Liken to "enjoy" this Laxatone that does not seem to be working.

I have a cat who gets hairballs and we tried all kinds of things to no avail. The routine that has worked most effectively with us has been to increase feeding of canned food. She gets two canned food servings a day. I add a couple of teaspoons of water to it as well as a teaspoon of plain canned pumpkin. We brush her at least once DAILY for as long as she will stand it. About once a week or so, I use a Zoom Groom and a comb on her. The other days I use a regular brush and comb. She LOVES being groomed and will purr up a storm! I do have a Furminator, but I only use it about once a month on her. These two things have been the best things for her.

A word about dry food and hairballs. Dry food absorbs much of the liquid from a cat's body and makes it more difficult to pass. Since hair is usually eliminated when cats poop, if the food ain't movin' easily, the hair isn't being flushed out either. Canned food is chock full of moisture and then adding a bit extra to the serving helps increase the hydration in the digestive tract and move things along more smoothly. The pumpkin also helps with fiber content.

HTH!

I am so sorry you are going through this... As an unemployed person on a very tight schedule, I get it...
I think the fact that he is hacking doesn't necessarily means that the situation is all that bad yet...
I would call the vet tomorrow and ask him before taking him in - explain your situation, leave a message and ask for a call back; vets are usually good about telling you over the phone what to do, and if you really need to go in, if you already have a relationship with him. That is what I do with mine...
You can also pick up from the vet's office an RX Hairball prescription food. Yes, there are plenty on the shelves, but prescriptions are stronger, and on your case, I would do that - it has more fiber, and IMHO that is what your guy needs.
The furminator is the BEST grooming tool to prevent hairballs. The link I provided you, by the way in on pdeal right now - $12 - I NEVER seen on this price, the cost for this is usually $30... GET IT!!! When used weekly this will reduce shedding up to 95%.
Continue with the laxatone, and etc...
good luck!

Stephanie is right, work some canned food into his diet. That will also be the answer to getting hairball paste into your cat! Hide it under a bit of canned food, I have one who hates it, too.

Improving food can help. In this case an Rx food would be a step up - slowly mix it with the regular dry you provide so your kitty doesn't have to get use to a quick change. Some people, in order to save money on the Rx, will mix that in with another higher quality food - feeding it 50/50 or such.

A high quality fish oil (such as salmon) supplement can help with shedding.

I have one who's getting hairball issues lately, too. He's fluffy and is getting that fur off of his mane (it gets stuck in his teeth and he accidentally pulls little tuffs out). He also hates brushing and will only let me do a little. I've solved this with a once a week forced brushing - he doesn't get to leave until I get him fully brushed -then he gets a treat, and little touch up brushings whenever I can get a chance to. I keep a comb and brush on the living room coffee table for this. I also have a zoom groom, too, and that works well for fussy cats.

I'm needing to find a good food for him that doesn't have any common allergens in it due to his, and other cats in the house, issues. I doubt I'll have any luck in this. You'll have better luck than I will since your cat doesn't have any food intolerances.

As for online food suppliers, there's petfood direct. They usually have some shipping deals and if you look around you can find coupon codes online for extra %'s off.

I would do what carolinalima suggested and call your vet. Most vets are not hesitant about giving advice to their clients over the phone. If they can't talk during the day at appointment times, then most vets are accomodating and will sometimes talk after hours if you call ahead and state a specific time. The vet may be able to tell you over-the-counter remedies that you could get.

Many different forms of grass for cats are also available at places like Petco and Petsmart. In the Petco where I shop, there is grass by the front registers normally, or with the cat treats/catnip.

Also, wet food helps with lubricating the intestines, which is essentially what Laxatone kind of does [but in a better, more efficient way. Plus other effects]. Perhaps give your cat some wet whenever you feed it. Mixing it in with his normal food is fine. Also, ask your vet for different veggies/other things that can be given to a cat that help with fiber.

I hope that those are helpful tips. Being in college, I understand what you are going through. Sometimes you have to conserve money for a few months in response to unplanned events.

If you go the grass route, you can buy your own wheat grass seeds which cost next to nothing. That way, you can plant the containers staggering planting dates and have green grass to give your kitty. Doing it from seed you get more bang for your buck, too.

Wow...thank you for the responses. I feel so "kitty uneducated" after reading your posts! I appreciate the sharing of info. To be honest, my love of cats just started in the last 10+ years and it was only after I took in an abandoned one and that was just the start. Perhaps I should have been doing more research all along before I got this far.

I have never heard about giving cats moist cat food helping with hairballs but it certainly makes sense after reading it! I actually have some here that I keep on hand just in case so I will give it to Liken after I post this and he comes out of hiding! He's still mad at me over the Laxatone at the moment.

I will get the furminator on Friday (hubby's payday). I've never heard of that, either!

If he is not better by morning, I am going to call the vet's office and I know that he will say to bring him in due to his history. If I can't talk him into waiting until Friday for pymt., I'll just pinch the money from elsewhere. One way or another, I'm going to get this hairball problem taken care of for him. He just looks so sad and miserable right now!!

-Jane
*BTW, someone send a pvt. message but my pop-up blocker wouldn't let it through. I did turn off the blocker but I don't know how to retrieve the message, now.

Hi Jane & Liken

you've gotten some great advice here such as the cat grass and wet food. I've been very lucky in that none of my longer haired cats nor my short-haired cat that was an obsessive groomer never had issues with stuck hairballs, knock on wood. They just puke them up

In regards to your PM, click on the words User CP up in the left corner and then on the left hand side there will be a block entitled Private Messages click on List Messages there and your PM's will be listed

Originally Posted by aintmissbehavin

Wow...thank you for the responses. I feel so "kitty uneducated" after reading your posts! I appreciate the sharing of info. To be honest, my love of cats just started in the last 10+ years and it was only after I took in an abandoned one and that was just the start. Perhaps I should have been doing more research all along before I got this far.

I have never heard about giving cats moist cat food helping with hairballs but it certainly makes sense after reading it! I actually have some here that I keep on hand just in case so I will give it to Liken after I post this and he comes out of hiding! He's still mad at me over the Laxatone at the moment.

I will get the furminator on Friday (hubby's payday). I've never heard of that, either!

If he is not better by morning, I am going to call the vet's office and I know that he will say to bring him in due to his history. If I can't talk him into waiting until Friday for pymt., I'll just pinch the money from elsewhere. One way or another, I'm going to get this hairball problem taken care of for him. He just looks so sad and miserable right now!!

-Jane
*BTW, someone send a pvt. message but my pop-up blocker wouldn't let it through. I did turn off the blocker but I don't know how to retrieve the message, now.

Click to expand...

Go to the "user cp", you can see your pms in there.
Also - fiber fiber fiber Probably that was your vet's trick, BTY - Pumpkin! Canned pumpkin! Not the sweet stuff, but the plain canned pumpkin - does wonders for hairball. Add a tea spoon per meal on his wet food - that will help him a lot. If he is hacking a lot, add a little more... You are doing this for the fiber in it...
For the food, instead of indoors, get hairball formula -
and your vet will work something out with you... I am sure he will... they always do. They are not heartless, and he knows you are a good pet parent, just tell him your situation.
Good luck again

^ Actually some brands have relabeled their hairball formulas as indoor formulas now.


Either go to the menu and user cp or just click on the underlined "private messages". Mine has done that too, I just tell it ok and it opens it in another window. If you're using firefox and adblocker plus you can go in and add this site into the allowed popups.

Stick around, you're sure to learn more. I think I found the solution for hairballs for my cat - the food brand I use added some new formulas with more fiber.

Moist food is good to offer overall for your cat's health. I'm not sure how much regular formulas help hairballs as far as fiber goes, because they're generally much lower in fiber than dry foods. But it's still wise to offer them. There have been past threads on wet food brands and prices. There's some cheaper brands you can get that have a few ok flavors - if you have access to petco or petsmart that can help.

How's he doing today?

One thing I've noticed, too, with my cat is that if she's constipated, she'll eat less since there's nowhere for the food to go. She'll eat some, just less than her normal appetite amount. Watch the litterbox and learn your cat's normal pooping schedule. This sounds strange, but my girl will usually only poop every other day. My other cat poops daily for the most part. That will also help you know if you've got a blockage or if it just needs a bit more time to pass. Hope that helps.

Hello Fellow Cat Lovers!

First off, a huge, gigantic, tremendous thank you for all of your help and advice with Liken's hawking/hairball problem.
On Monday morning, I had to go to school as I had 2 tests that day but my daughter stayed home with Liken in the event of an emergency before I could get home from school. I wanted to give Liken a few more hours to get rid of the problem himself since I had received advice from you guys and I wanted to give that a chance to work. My darling professor allowed me to leave class, in the middle of a test!, to call the vet's office. I explained my situation (financial and hairballs) and they were extremely nice and understanding and put me through to the vet. He told me that since I have been with him for many years and been a loyal, paying customer, that any time any of my cats need treatment to bring them in and we would work it out later as he knows I would be good for the money. Hopefully, this financial situation is short-lived and I never have to take him up on it in the future but it is nice to know that money will never stand in the way of emergency treatment, if it were ever needed.
I told him that if Liken wasn't any better when I got home that afternoon, I would need to bring him in and he said fine; even if he was busy that Liken could spend the night (free) and I'd only have to worry about paying for supplies used. I just love my vet even more now!
My daughter called me around noon and said that Liken hadn't been hawking for a couple of hours! He didn't hawk anymore that day and hasn't since then, either. We never did find a coughed-up hairball so I'm assuming it went out the other way!
We have started more aggressive, preventive measures for Liken so that hopefully, we never have it get this drastic again.
I honestly appreciate your quick replies, not only because of their usefulness but also because your posts calmed me down when I was absolutely panicked about my kitty's well being.
Liken is just fine now and picking on his "kitty brother" as we speak. It's so nice to see him active again.

Thank you for all of your help!!!!
Mary

One of mine has chronic hairball problems. I give him a nibble of cat grass every day which helps tremendously. I buy seeds on ebay and grow it in a little pot, very cheap that way. I also feed him Royal Canin Intense Hairball formula which has extra fiber and helps also. Its pretty pricey, but he's picky and doesn't like some of the other hairball formulas I've tried. I still give him laxatone but not on a regular schedule anymore, only if he needs it.

He has gone from throwing up hairballs a couple times a week to a couple times a month now. I notice if I forget to plant the grass on time and he has to go a week or so without it, they get worse, so it really does help.

The best preventative is brushing, brushing brushing! I know how hard it is. I come away bleeding every time

Glad to hear that Liken is better! Also, sometimes the best "medicine" is aggressive prevention. So glad you have a wonderful vet who'll work with you, too!

Originally Posted by stephanietx

Glad to hear that Liken is better! Also, sometimes the best "medicine" is aggressive prevention. So glad you have a wonderful vet who'll work with you, too!

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glad Liken is doing better

I am so happy your baby is better!!!
I am also glad you decided to call your vet - most of them are like this, and WILL help in the case of need... maybe not to that extent, but they do help... They will not leave your animal suffering; that is not what they became vets for... Kuddos to you for asking for help - you are a great kitty mommy!
I hope he never ever goes through that again!
Prevention will be his best friend now -