Hairball Question

[misty8723]

Forgive me, because I know this has probably been discussed a million times on this forum, but I'm at work and don't have time to search.

Cindy has been thowing up for the past week and a half. Usually seems to be in the night or early morning. I haven't always seen that it's her doing it, but from the couple times I have, the vomit looks the same, so I'm assuming it's her. I think she's vomited about 7 times that I'm aware of.

Each time, the vomit is a lot of undigested food that comes out in a long kind of round lump with a bit of clumped hair. Is this a hairball? (I'm not very experienced with these things) Or should I be taking her to the vet? I am inclined to want to take her to the vet, but it stresses her out so bad, her little heart just pounds, I don't want to over react.

She is fine otherwise, same appetite as usual, I've seen her at the water bowl but not excessively, she's active, plays, etc. Pretty much her normal self. She doesn't like to be combed or brushed, but if I get her when she's sleeping and relaxed I can comb her for awhile, and I haven't gotten any loose fur from combing. I should mention that bathing is her hobby, she grooms herself more than any other cat I've ever seen, so i wouldn't surprise me if her tummy is full of hair.

The other thing is, I can't get her to take the hairball remedy. She consistently refuses it, no matter how I offer it. So this morning I thought if she wouldn't take it from my finger, I would put some on her paw for her to lick off. She must have known what I was up to because she was on the bed with DH when I offered it to her. She kind of backed up a bit, then when I made just a tiny move she zoomed off (right over DH's face!) and down the stairs. So my other question is, any suggestions how I can get her to eat the hairball stuff?

Sorry so long, thanks so much for any advice.

 

[kittyl0ve4]

My cat has long hair & tho he has never thrown a hairball up, ive seen him retching & coughing to try to get one up. i buy him Temptations hairball treats, & when i bring them out he comes running. They work really good too, bc once i started buying those & giving them to him, he hasnt tried to retch up a hairball, plus, they must be really tasty, bc he LOVES them. & theyre like $1 something a pouch.

 

[sakura]

It sounds like a mixture of a hairball and eating too fast. Hairballs are long cylinder tube thingies made of hair. The undigested food makes me think she's eating too fast.

For the hairball gel, I can't get mine to eat it either so I mix it in their wet food. You could try mixing it with their dry or wet I bet. I use the natural gel stuff, it doesn't have petroleum in it.

Tempations makes hairball treats with the gel inside them. You feed 10 treats (they are tiny) a day every other day. Worked well for Mattie.

What dry food are they eating? Matilda never had hairballs when she was eating Nutro Natural Indoor Adult Dry.

 

[misty8723]

I don't know about her eating too fast, she doesn't eat that much at any one time, she grazes more likely.

Dry food I'm feeding is a combo of California Natural Chicken & Rice and Orijen. I've been feeding them this for months, with no problems. She also gets wet food a couple times a day, like about a tablespoon, which she doesn't eat all of it, or even half of it.

I will look for those temptation treats, thanks to both of you for suggesting it. She loves the tempation treats in general, so maybe that will work.

So far today, she's been fine. If she throws up again, I think she's going to the vet.