Best food for....?

cswatrous

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My newly acquired kitten (less than a year old) is a compulsive cleaner, and a couple times has threw up hair balls. What's a good dry food to help with this? Or is there another solution to help her
 

LTS3

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Dry food won't help, not even the hairball formulas. I don't think any food helps, really. The moisture in canned food might help a bit to keep things moving along in the digestive tract. Some people add a little extra fiber to the cat's diet to prevent hairballs from clogging up inside the cat. Plain canned 100% pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) or Weruva's Pumpkin Patch Up pouch supplement work well.

Comb / brush your cat frequently to remove loose hair and give a hairball remedy such as the ones sold in pet stores or a little Vaseline or olive oil. As long as the hairballs are vomited out and your cat is otherwise ok, don't worry too much
If the hairballs start to cause constipation and other issues, then talk to the vet about solutions.
 
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cswatrous

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Dry food won't help, not even the hairball formulas. I don't think any food helps, really. The moisture in canned food might help a bit to keep things moving along in the digestive tract. Some people add a little extra fiber to the cat's diet to prevent hairballs from clogging up inside the cat. Plain canned 100% pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) or Weruva's Pumpkin Patch Up pouch supplement work well.

Comb / brush your cat frequently to remove loose hair and give a hairball remedy such as the ones sold in pet stores or a little Vaseline or olive oil. As long as the hairballs are vomited out and your cat is otherwise ok, don't worry too much :) If the hairballs start to cause constipation and other issues, then talk to the vet about solutions.
Thank you! I defiantly want to brush her, help spend more time with her and what not.
 

xcourtney3

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Petromalt once a week is the only thing that helps my boy
 

bonepicker

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Dry food won't help, not even the hairball formulas. I don't think any food helps, really. The moisture in canned food might help a bit to keep things moving along in the digestive tract. Some people add a little extra fiber to the cat's diet to prevent hairballs from clogging up inside the cat. Plain canned 100% pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) or Weruva's Pumpkin Patch Up pouch supplement work well.

Comb / brush your cat frequently to remove loose hair and give a hairball remedy such as the ones sold in pet stores or a little Vaseline or olive oil. As long as the hairballs are vomited out and your cat is otherwise ok, don't worry too much :) If the hairballs start to cause constipation and other issues, then talk to the vet about solutions.
Mine only vomits on dry, never on wet
 

lisahe

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I agree with the previous posters that dry food isn't likely to reduce hairballs. We tried that with our previous cat, whom we brushed daily, and neither the brushing nor the food helped.

Our cat was a compulsive groomer (she licked several patches bare on her stomach) and hairball barfer, too, and, in hindsight, it's fairly clear that both problems were most likely caused by our cat's food sensitivities, which got worse and worse over the years. I wish we'd known then that hairballs aren't normal: I only learned that when Brooksie was very sick and I read up a lot on food sensitivities.

I realize that your cat is young, less likely to have developed serious food issues than our aging cat, and that you're only about to start brushing, which may help the problem considerably. For background (just in case!), I particularly like this article about hairballs; this chunk of the catinfo.org site is helpful, too.

Good luck!
 

jade14

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Mine will sometimes cough hairballs, I give him a little bit of coconut oil at night, and maybe once a week a bit of cat lax.  He hasn't had a problem in weeks.  He loves both and meows with excitement when I get it out!  He takes it from my finger.  
 
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