hairball that smells like poo!

[abnihon]

We have 3 Maine Coons (and 1 short-haired cat) so we are very familiar with hairballs.
We were away last night and when we got back today there was a hairball to pick up in the living room (nothing too out of the ordinary...)
The weird thing is it smelled like poo!
And when I picked it up with a paper towel, there was some brownish liquid on the paper.
I know what hairballs and vomit normally smells like, but this was different.
And it was definitely a hairball and not just a piece of feces.
Is it possible they could have worked a hairball up from their lower intestine?!
I'm sure it came out the front end, because it was FAR from the litter box and they NEVER have accidents.
I'm worried this could be a sign of an intestinal blockage, but the problem is I don't know which cat it came from!
All cats are acting normally and ate normally when we got home today.

 

[cat person]

My two

and experience are as follows: Panda my DLH tends to pass hair balls instead of vomiting them up. But she always does it in her litter box.

When this happens however there is more then a little brown liquid in/on them. What she passes is seventy or so percent hair and about twenty or so percent feces when it happens.

This also comes from a cat who when she has to vomit up water from drinking too much too fast or playing hard with Loki the Savannah goes to the litter box to vomit. She is an exceptionally clean cat

.

Also as a veterinarian technician they can throw up "brownish" bile. But I have never heard of or thought it smelled like feces.

Lastly the only possibility I see is this: the cat licked its anus ingested some feces and then vomited it up with the hairball. This is the only possible way I see of having the smell of feces and brown liquid plus a hairball being vomited up. Please note I have NEVER seen that happen, I just see it as a possibility.

As always if you are concerned take the cat(s) to a licensed veterinarian you trust.

 

[rafm]

Our long haired cat throws up the biggest, nastiest hairballs I have ever seen. And they smell horrific, like feces. And they are surrounded in brown liquid. It's awful but he's been that way since we got him 2 years ago.

If everyone is acting/eating normally, I wouldn't worry too much. It's normal for our old guy.

 

[leia landrock]

I know that this thread is very old - but it is the only one in all my searches today that might be helping me with our mystery. We inherited a 15 year old because the owner became very ill.  Twice now, a week or two apart, we have had what looked like diarrhea soup, with a hairball in the center, on our floors. It SMELLS like poop. It looks like brownish/tanish diarrhea around it, but....he is having normal firm bowel movements regularly in the cat box. 

We have never heard him hacking a hairball.

But from what I see above, maybe it is just a vile bile?

We are going to make him an appointment. But this thread has given me some possible answers and thank you RAFM.  I have hope this is just an older cat thing....and not something serious like a blockage because again, his cat box had fresh firm poops in it today when this mystery spot was found (and was still wet).

 

[awfulvomiting]

Leia, did you ever get a resolution to this? My cat is suffering the same thing, and the vets are lost.

 

[sptudor]

Thank goodness for old threads! One of our younger cats just vomited a hairball and when I was cleaning it, I thought another cat had just used the nearby litter box. Took me a moment to realize that godawful smell was coming from the hairball! But thanks to everybody on here (even back 7 years or so ago) for sharing your experiences. Because of this thread, I no longer am worried / frightened like I was. Thanks again everyone!