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Fur eater

post #1 of 10
10/27/10 at 8:32pm
Thread Starter 
I'm sure I am not the only one but who else has a cat that eats their own fur, lint balls, dust bunnies? Parker sheds in tumble weeds...I try to keep up with picking them up but I miss them sometimes and if he sees them, he eats them. Same with lint and stuff. With his issue, he licks himself enough, so he is ingesting a lot of hair. I got the gooey hairball stuff that I give to him, but is that enough? He used to have a big problem with huge hairballs and its been a long while since he's had a huge one...I'm worried he might get more...Is there a way to maybe stop him from eating all that stuff? Or is this normal cat behavior that I have to deal with? lol
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post #2 of 10
10/28/10 at 2:39am
I'll be interested in replies to this because my Jack is terrible as well.

He sits on top of the cat tree and paws at the fur that's gathered around the edge then eats it, then 9/10 he's hacking up a fur ball 30 minutes later I've started keeping on top of it by making sure theres no fur on the tree, but theres always a tiny bit he manages to get.

I swiff the wooden floors every day to keep the dust bunnies at bay as well
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post #3 of 10
10/28/10 at 3:44am
My thyroid cat, Arthur, also eats fur and it does not have to be his own. I can't tell you how many times I have ran after him to pull someone elses fur out of his mouth.

He is the only one out of 11 who does this.
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post #4 of 10
10/28/10 at 4:18am
I have several who do this, too, with no other health issues to cause it. It's a big problem if they find any of my shed hair and eat it.

Tomas and Tanna are the worst with cat fur, though. If I'm brushing one of the other cats and any loose fur gets away from me they will try to eat it. If I set the fur disc down they'll try to take that. I can only imagine that it has to do with familiar scent and wanting to get rid of it somehow. But that doesn't explain dust or lint.

All you can do is keep things clean to prevent it.
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post #5 of 10
10/28/10 at 5:13am
Osiris is REALLY bad for this. He's like my own personal vacuum cleaner. It has never caused him any problems though and he doesn't cough up furballs, so I've never really been worried.
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post #6 of 10
10/28/10 at 5:27am
When i swiff i have to bin the swiffer cloth straight away, if not Jack's straight onto it for the fur And if we both see a dust bunny together it's a race to see who gets it first
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post #7 of 10
10/28/10 at 11:01am
Thread Starter 
I do try to keep up with getting all the fuzzies and fur balls off the floor, but its so hard. I wouldn't even be too worried if he didn't have such a huge problem with hairballs. And yes, he will eat my hair if there is a bunch. I clean my hair brush and put it right in the trash but there is the odd time he will stick his face in and grab it...yuck! The worst part is he has Buddy doing this too! Parker is Buddys idol and he's learned so many things from him, all bad at that. haha...I love kitties, but they can be so frustrating sometimes...I'm just not a huge fan of cleaning up hairballs that I've stepped on in the dark.
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post #8 of 10
10/28/10 at 11:53am
Well, unless your home has inches of fur on everything, most of the fur in the hairballs is going to be coming from them.

Do the usual things to combat shedding: Improve diet (which I know you've said you're working on), talk to the vet about adding a fish oil supplement, and use a deshedding tool 1-2 times a week.
You should also get some hairball remedy and follow the dosing directions on that if they are getting frequent hairballs.
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post #9 of 10
10/28/10 at 2:00pm
Thread Starter 
I give him the the hairball stuff, as much as he hates it hehe...As for the deshedding, well I am at a loss for that right now. I've tried like about 5-6 different types of combs on him and none of them were effective on his fur type. I tried teflon comb (suggested by the vet), furminator, flea comb, those wire brushes..and two others I can't think of right now. They are just like vacuums lol.
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post #10 of 10
10/28/10 at 2:10pm
Then you probably just have to out wait the damage you done with feeding friskies and unbalanced cooked foods. It can take 2-4 months for a coat to fully replace itself.
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