Hairballs

I posted on the babble thread that the suitcase my son is taking to camp was covered in hairballs. Just a moment ago it dawned on me that we used that suitcase the last week of August and it was clean. Plus there have been hairballs other places. Its just a lot of hair for one cat. More than normal for him.

He has always been on a dry food diet until a bladder infection a few months ago. The vet had us start him on wet food also.

Does anyone have any ideas why he may be so bad? I'm sure part of it is extra sheding but this still seems to be too much.

Oh, forgot to say that this is from Peanut my 13 year old boy. Angel doesn't get hairballs. I'm sure they are all his because Angel doesn't like the basement where I am finding them.

I have no idea why changing his diet to add canned food would increase the amount of hairballs he is producing.  Could he be stressed out and grooming himself more?  

No matter, here is a VERY interesting thread on hairballs.  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/257969/interesting-article-on-hairballs 

He was being attacked by my younger cat Angel and now he is trying to take back his area. He is not an aggressive cat at all and even looks uncomfortable when he is tr ying to be now. Stress makes so much sense. And he did just spend the last 15 minutes sitting next to me cleaning his legs. I will definitely check out that article. Thanks.

When you say hairballs do you mean the type they throw up or just loose hair gathered into a clump? 

The kind they throw up. There is always some wet brown liquid but he'll have a big chunk of hair in it too.

OK check out this discussion http://www.thecatsite.com/t/250653/egg-lecithin-for-hairballs     

Make sure it is the lecithin from egg yokes.  There is a lecithin from soy but is not metabolized as well by cats, who aren't designed to eat soy beans.

As has already been discussed, there are lots of things that can cause increased shedding. He might just be shedding his summer coat.

 I have a nervous cat who pulls out his own fur.  Initially the vet thought he had parasites or a skin condition.  When that turned out to be a dead end, he put him on an anti-anxiety drug, doxepin.  While it's good for dogs and cats, the manufacturer had only published dosage guidelines for dogs (at that time).  We worked up in dosage until we found a therapeutic dose for that 8.5 lb cat at 30 mg per day split between two meals.  This might also help if he is just shedding due to anxiety.

He's always had hairball problems. Just never this bad. It looks like a store near me carries it so I think I'll givr that a try. Thanks for the suggestion.