Kitty hairball issues?

shiaena · Dec 11, 2016

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shiaena
Dec 11, 2016

Shes currently steeping next to me while I type this. My kitty has been having some issues recently, at different times. Sometimes shes fine. Sometimes she has a dry cough for a small while, sometimes she has this really rough sounding purr (like something in her throat) and swallows frlm time to time. Both times, we give her a bit of chicken broth with her wet food which helps immensely. But this is my first ever kitty, and this happens once every 3-4 days, especially if I forget to groom her with her furminator. I just wanna know if what I'm doing is okay and I'm not making the situation worse, as I know the hairball can mix with food and turn into a blockage.

We also feed her cat grass, and some hairball control wet food, then we discover a ton of hair and some carpet pieces (I hate carpet to death now) in her poop, is this okay? This means she's passing them just fine, right?

Just a concerned beginner kitty mom worried for her baby!

stephanietx · Dec 11, 2016

Has she ever thrown up a hairball? Does she have a history of throwing up hairballs? Are you feeding her canned food or dry? This sounds like what one of my kitties does. She has a light case of asthma.

missmimz · Dec 12, 2016

Shiaena said:
Shes currently steeping next to me while I type this. My kitty has been having some issues recently, at different times. Sometimes shes fine. Sometimes she has a dry cough for a small while, sometimes she has this really rough sounding purr (like something in her throat) and swallows frlm time to time. Both times, we give her a bit of chicken broth with her wet food which helps immensely. But this is my first ever kitty, and this happens once every 3-4 days, especially if I forget to groom her with her furminator. I just wanna know if what I'm doing is okay and I'm not making the situation worse, as I know the hairball can mix with food and turn into a blockage.

We also feed her cat grass, and some hairball control wet food, then we discover a ton of hair and some carpet pieces (I hate carpet to death now) in her poop, is this okay? This means she's passing them just fine, right?

Just a concerned beginner kitty mom worried for her baby!

Hairball control food doesn't do anything, it's a gimmick. I wouldn't give her chicken broth because it often has garlic and onion in it, which are toxic to cats. I would probably take her to the vet for a check up. It's possible she has asthma or allergies, or just a mild URI. Hair in poop is totally normal, carpet not so much.

shiaena · Dec 13, 2016

stephanietx said:
Has she ever thrown up a hairball? Does she have a history of throwing up hairballs? Are you feeding her canned food or dry? This sounds like what one of my kitties does. She has a light case of asthma.

She eats both wet and dry food. Mostly wet right now and dry food as backup for when we leave home. She's thrown up a hairball once before, and she constantly cleans herself, but we've been various methods to prevent them. So she has yet to cough one up, but we don't know if the hair in her poop is it.

shiaena · Dec 13, 2016

missmimz said:
Hairball control food doesn't do anything, it's a gimmick. I wouldn't give her chicken broth because it often has garlic and onion in it, which are toxic to cats. I would probably take her to the vet for a check up. It's possible she has asthma or allergies, or just a mild URI. Hair in poop is totally normal, carpet not so much.

Well it was until we started giving her the hairball wet food (has extra fiber according to the ingredients), and cat grass, that the hairy poop started making an appearance. If she skips some time from either, she gets her little coughing fits. We gave her some of the hairball food after her swallowing episode, and low and behold, the next day was hair in the litter box and no sign of throat issues. I'm glad to know thats normal though! As for the chicken broth, we don't use actual store-bought chicken broth. We boil chicken breast and use the soup made from it, along with some of the meat. All natural!

stephanietx · Dec 13, 2016

The normal way cats pass the hair they ingest while grooming is through their stool. Tossing up hairballs is actually not the best way to eliminate the hair. I have one cat out of my 4 who is a hairball hacker. The rest of them pass it through their stool.

Has your weather changed recently? Sometimes when dry weather makes its appearance, it's harder for kitties and they will cough. My guess, though, especially if it continues or worsens is that there's some kind of asthma at play. My asthmatic girl has issues when the weather changes from summer to fall and then from winter to spring. She gets a shot and is good for another 6-8 months.

shiaena · Dec 14, 2016

stephanietx said:
The normal way cats pass the hair they ingest while grooming is through their stool. Tossing up hairballs is actually not the best way to eliminate the hair. I have one cat out of my 4 who is a hairball hacker. The rest of them pass it through their stool.

Has your weather changed recently? Sometimes when dry weather makes its appearance, it's harder for kitties and they will cough. My guess, though, especially if it continues or worsens is that there's some kind of asthma at play. My asthmatic girl has issues when the weather changes from summer to fall and then from winter to spring. She gets a shot and is good for another 6-8 months.

It comes and goes with her, but temporarily stops when we give her the hairball food or homemade chicken broth. We're in Texas so yeah, the weather has changed significantly. It went from summer to winter weather real quick. Since she just reached about 9 months almost, I noticed her fur has become thicker when I use her Furminator (resulting in bigger hair balls combed out), but I'm not sure if the chilliness of the house is a contributor.

stephanietx · Dec 14, 2016

I know all about Texas weather! We're having fall today and tomorrow, then summer on Friday & part of Saturday, then winter on Sunday.

As for the hairball issue, I have had better success feeding mostly canned with a little bit of water added so it's like thick oatmeal and a bit of plain canned pumpkin to the mix to keep things moving along. We don't usually have many hairball problems.

greypaws · Dec 14, 2016

stephanietx said:
I know all about Texas weather! We're having fall today and tomorrow, then summer on Friday & part of Saturday, then winter on Sunday.

As for the hairball issue, I have had better success feeding mostly canned with a little bit of water added so it's like thick oatmeal and a bit of plain canned pumpkin to the mix to keep things moving along. We don't usually have many hairball problems.

How much plain canned pumpkin do you serve? Per meal or per day? Not having hairball issues right not, just thought I'd file this in the gray matter

OP, hope your kitty is better soon. If not, probably should jingle your vet and possibly an appointment.

shiaena · Dec 15, 2016

stephanietx said:
I know all about Texas weather! We're having fall today and tomorrow, then summer on Friday & part of Saturday, then winter on Sunday. :lol3:

As for the hairball issue, I have had better success feeding mostly canned with a little bit of water added so it's like thick oatmeal and a bit of plain canned pumpkin to the mix to keep things moving along. We don't usually have many hairball problems.

That sounds like an interesting idea! Espa's a bit of a picky eater, but we'll see how she handles tuna with a wee bit of pumpkin. How much is good per day for a kitten? Is there a max?

babylexus · Dec 15, 2016

I don't know about the cough part, but my kitten had the same thing with the carpet. She was pulling it up from a door way and eating it. One day she finally passed a long strand that was bloody. She couldn't get it all by herself so she ran around the house in a panic with a long carpet strand coming out. We finally caught her and had to help her along with the rest. After that we blocked the place where she was ripping up carpet and she was totally fine. We never took her to the vet. So definitely be careful with carpet! If we had continued to let her get to it I think things would've gotten a lot worse!!

stephanietx · Dec 15, 2016

I have all adult kitties and they get about a level long tea spoon (tall drink spoon) full of pumpkin twice a day. Sometimes it's a bit more, sometimes a little less. All of my cats get it mixed in with their canned food and thankfully, I've had no problems with them not eating it. Maybe because it's a small proportion compared to their wet food?? When Tumbles was a kitten, we fed him about half that twice a day.

Be sure to get plain pureed pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling.

Kitty hairball issues?

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