Cat Food for Long-Haired Cat Prone to Hairballs

Hello!  I have two long haired cat who are almost 9 years old.  I wanted to see if anyone has any recommendations regarding their daily diet.  

Currently they eat Royal Canin Hairball dry food as well as Natural Balance Ocean Fish Wet Food.  I have attempted to switch them in the past with difficulty as they are very particular.  I have tried wet food after wet food with not a lot of success before finally getting them to eat the Natural Balance.  I also tried switching his dry food in the past to other brands but this caused my cats to have stomach issues and diarrhea every few weeks so I switched back to the Royal Canin.  Though I brush my cats every day, they seem to need the hairball control food to control this.  The stool issues seem to stem from the hairball issues.

I've been reading more about grain free cat food and want to make sure they are eating healthy.  I wanted to see if anyone had recommendations for me or if anyone has had similar experiences.  These are my first cats and I'm learning as I go on how best to take care of them.  I am hoping someone else has had long haired cats who have had hairball issues and have some suggestions for me.  I would love any suggestions regarding this.  

Thanks,

K.

Considering your cats sound to have very sensitive tummies, I would recommend doing a very long transition. My cat went through the same when we switched foods (she had runny stools). We ended up doing her transition over 3-4 weeks, mixing little by little until finally she was able to go 100% onto the new dry kibble.

Definitely feeding wet as well is an added bonus When it comes to food, sometimes you have to feed what works best for the cat, instead of what looks to be the best ingredient wise. For example, my cat can't tolerate a grain free dry kibble, but yet she can tolerate grain free wet food. Go figure!

As for the hairball issues, do they have trouble bringing them up? There are pastes you can buy to help with hairballs. Some members will also use a small amount of petroleum jelly. Daily brushing is an excellent idea as well, good job on keeping that up!

Hopefully someone else can also offer their experiences

I recommend getting a furminator if you do not have one already, it pulls all dead hair from roots. I also recommend vets best hairball relief digestive aid. It is a tasty tab cats eat like a treat(amazon sells it). I also find more wet food and less dry food helps. I find fish to be something that can cause vomiting. Have you tried natural balance indoor formula instead of fish canned?

Wet food will decrease hairballs. The amount of hairballs in my household went down from about every 3 weeks during hairball season to 2-3 times a year when on 100% wet.

You can use egg yolk lecithin to break down the hairballs and then they will be passed through.

Thanks so much everyone for the tips!  I do have a furminator that I use when I brush them.  it has helped but since they still seem to have issues, I appreciate the other suggestions.  I haven't tried natural balance indoor formula and will give it a try along with more wet food.  

Also, the vets best hairball relief digestive aid sounds promising.  Is there a gel version do you know?  My one cat is very particular.  I have tried countless treats and only one she would eat.

Thanks again for the suggestions.  I really appreciate it!

Also I find no free feeding of the dry cuts down the vomiting. I feed mine in am and pm and then nothing is left down.

@bonepicker  - I do free feed.  I made the mistake and now years later, I have found hard to switch so they don't have the option.  It is a good idea though.  

Anyone have any suggestions on how to go from free feeding to a scheduled food routine?