Stepping in it

So who has done this - come home to a big wet pile of hairball/vomit that you didn't see and step in it? Barefoot, of course...

My kitty has been wonderfully healthy and I was just secretly congratulating myself that she hasn't had any hairball episodes. I think what I stepped in was a major hairball that looks like it came up right after she finished her dinner while I out at my volunteer shift.

There was no odor and it wasn't runny like vomit but more like undigested wet cat food. It has been years since I have dealt with hairballs so I am not so sure what this was. I am getting her started on Wellness which she likes and eats fine (except for dry). She is running around playing and very active and happy so I don't think she is sick.

How often do cats yack up hairballs? She is a well-groomed semi-long haired cat (hard to explain - she has a ruff around her neck, a full tail and ear and toe tufts, a soft thick belly, but a regular coat on her face and body). I guess I will just have to keep a close eye on her and see if it happens again and determine if it a vet-worthy problem.

It depends on how fastidious the cat is. During the shed season, cats tend to eat more fur. BRush and comb your cat everyday. This helps keep the hair out of the belly. My cat loves to be groomed. BIG Purrs and loves. She actually comes running to me when I pick up the comb.

PJ went through about a week long period of hairballs almost every other day. She's a short hair, but because it had gotten so hot, she was shedding like crazy. To prevent future hairballs, we did 3 things:

1. Started brushing her every other day. She LOVES being groomed, so that helps.

2. Put her on Royal Canin Hairball food, mixed with her Wellness.

3. Started giving her fish oil supplements.


In the ~ 2 weeks since we started doing this, we have had one teeny tiny hairball, that's it. Before her explosive hairball episode above, she'd have one MAYBE once every few months, if that.

Every cat is different. We used to have long haired (Persian mix, maybe) cat who didn't like being groomed much. We fed her Science Diet hairball, and gave her a little bit of butter to lick off our fingers. I don't think she ever had a hairball in the 6 months that we had her - which was surprising given the amount of hair she had!

Two of my cats occ are sick, and yes I stepped in once.. Rocky gets sick once in awhile from asthma flare ups.. Zakk seems to get sick once in awhile... One time I had just introduced a wet food he hadn't had in awhile, another time he ate a lot wet food really quickly, then I gave him a treat and it just sent him over the edge.. Never noticed any hair in it. I try to brush them and give hairball treats once in awhile. Suzie is the hardest b/c she is very skittish and it is hard to pet her, much less groom her.

I semi long haired cat Grizzly will go through episodes of hairball vomiting. The vet recommends that I without food for 24 hrs (hard to do in multicat household) to calm tummy down and then boil a couple chicken breasts and give her that for a day to two (again hard to do with multi cats). That seems to do the trick for her.