EXTREMELY discouraged...

Up until three weeks ago, I had always fed my kitties grain free kibble-TOTW to be exact. ZERO problems with it. After joining this forum and reading more into canned diets, I decided to switch my cats to canned food. I went with Authority (petsmart brand) as that was the best we could afford with three felines. We started off with canned in the evening, dry in the morning. I did this for about a week and decided to completely ditch the dry food altogether-the cats never complained ;-) So it's been two weeks of nothing but wet food and this morning, my orange DLH boy threw up a hairball. First hairball I have ever seen. Unless all the cats I have had in my life hid their hairballs in the litter, I have never noticed one before. Never. So, obviously, now I am discouraged about the whole canned food thing. However, I have noticed positive signs of feeding the canned as well. Their coats have never looked better, they have smaller poops, they urinate more (better dehydration), they are more active and just overall seem happier. I COULD try a different brand, but our budget is rather tight for anything more than $1 per can (6 oz). Also, the Authority catfish, turkey and giblets and chicken recipes all lack carrageenan and I would like to stay away from that. Other brands that don't have it can get way over my budget, I'm afraid. Opinions? Just a fluke thing?

I'm kind of thinking it's just coincidence or a fluke.
I don't know why/whether it's a bad year for shedding, but Ritz--who hasn't had problems with hairballs in the 3.5 years I've had her--threw up some hairballs a few months ago. I used egg yolk lechitin for a while and it seemed to help (I feed Raw). Here is a thread that explains why EYL may help dissolve hairballs.

I really wouldn't be too concerned.  I know that if a kitty's digestive system is working perfect then there are no hairballs, but things aren't always perfect.  If it becomes a frequent common problem then I would start looking at changing things with the diet.

Just mix in 1/2 an egg yolk into one of the meals 2 or 3 times a week. It'll make their coats shine even more, and may help keep that hair from balling up.

It's probably a coincidence, but the egg yolk is so healthy for them anyway.

Also, just to note... It's not unusual to see some issues when you switch food types. It alters their whole systems, and things need to settle back down again. Sometimes a better diet... "unmasks" issues, and the solution is not to revert back to what was being done/fed, but to be thankful it didn't progress further than it did. :rub:

I blamed the incidence of increased hairballs and vomiting in one of my cats to the food switch when we ditched the kibble. Turns out it had nothing to do with the food at all, it was totally unrelated.