I am new here, and here is a bit of backstory about the cats:
Silas: almost 9 years old. Grey & white short haired shelter cat. Neutered male. A few years ago he had a urinary blockage, so he is now on prescription food (dry, Hills C/D chicken).
Lucy: almost 13 years old. Spayed female, front declawed. Blue point Himalayan, given to me when she was around 6 or 7 because her owner was moving and couldn't keep her. She eats mostly ND food (dry), either the ocean herring or the duck/pumpkin. Lucy, being longhaired, goes for grooming about every three months--I get her shaved because she doesn't especially enjoy being brushed/combed, and it really helped with the hairballs. She goes to a feline-only master groomer.
Lucy has always thrown up the occasional hairball but lately it has been insane. It is really driving me crazy! I have lost track of how many hairballs I've cleaned up over the past three or four weeks. And to top it off, I witnessed Silas throwing up a GIANT hairball a couple of weeks ago, and to my knowledge he's never done this before.
Since then I've been giving them a squirt of Laxatone several times a week, but so far this is not helping much.
They have three water bowls available, and one is used heavily....they both seem to drink a lot of water. I know his food is formulated to make him thirsty, so that he drinks, and therefore flushes his kidneys etc....but Lucy seems to drink a lot too. Daily there are huge pee balls in the litter box. Of course, not sure who's doing that. And to be honest, not sure who is throwing up all the hairballs--we've been blaming Lucy all along, but since I saw Silas hack up a huge one, it could easily be him too....can't be sure short of catching them in the act.
A couple of years ago, Lucy wasn't eating much, so I took her to the vet--they did bloodwork, urinalysis, etc ,but found nothing wrong. They suggested feeding her Temptations as a meal as a last resort. I also bought a tube of laxatone, and the combination of the laxatone (and throwing up lots of hairballs in the space of a week) and feeding her treats as a meal, got her eating again. Then I decided to transition her to some good food, and now she's on the ND stuff and NOT on Temptations. Seemed like in that instance, she wasn't eating because she was full of hairballs, but now.....now she's eating OK. I have to feed them separately, because Silas can't get her food due to being on RX food....so they get fed twice daily and Lucy's food is put away when she walks away from it. Silas always finishes ALL of his food
Does anyone have any suggestions? I am so frustrated with this!!
Silas: almost 9 years old. Grey & white short haired shelter cat. Neutered male. A few years ago he had a urinary blockage, so he is now on prescription food (dry, Hills C/D chicken).
Lucy: almost 13 years old. Spayed female, front declawed. Blue point Himalayan, given to me when she was around 6 or 7 because her owner was moving and couldn't keep her. She eats mostly ND food (dry), either the ocean herring or the duck/pumpkin. Lucy, being longhaired, goes for grooming about every three months--I get her shaved because she doesn't especially enjoy being brushed/combed, and it really helped with the hairballs. She goes to a feline-only master groomer.
Lucy has always thrown up the occasional hairball but lately it has been insane. It is really driving me crazy! I have lost track of how many hairballs I've cleaned up over the past three or four weeks. And to top it off, I witnessed Silas throwing up a GIANT hairball a couple of weeks ago, and to my knowledge he's never done this before.
Since then I've been giving them a squirt of Laxatone several times a week, but so far this is not helping much.
They have three water bowls available, and one is used heavily....they both seem to drink a lot of water. I know his food is formulated to make him thirsty, so that he drinks, and therefore flushes his kidneys etc....but Lucy seems to drink a lot too. Daily there are huge pee balls in the litter box. Of course, not sure who's doing that. And to be honest, not sure who is throwing up all the hairballs--we've been blaming Lucy all along, but since I saw Silas hack up a huge one, it could easily be him too....can't be sure short of catching them in the act.
A couple of years ago, Lucy wasn't eating much, so I took her to the vet--they did bloodwork, urinalysis, etc ,but found nothing wrong. They suggested feeding her Temptations as a meal as a last resort. I also bought a tube of laxatone, and the combination of the laxatone (and throwing up lots of hairballs in the space of a week) and feeding her treats as a meal, got her eating again. Then I decided to transition her to some good food, and now she's on the ND stuff and NOT on Temptations. Seemed like in that instance, she wasn't eating because she was full of hairballs, but now.....now she's eating OK. I have to feed them separately, because Silas can't get her food due to being on RX food....so they get fed twice daily and Lucy's food is put away when she walks away from it. Silas always finishes ALL of his food
Does anyone have any suggestions? I am so frustrated with this!!