At my wit's end with hairballs

[maggie101]

Heard back from the vet. Her kidney values are elevated. He wants to put her on a prescription food (Hills k/d) and recheck her values in 4-6 weeks. He also said to continue with the laxatone for hairballs; said that kidney disease can make them nauseated and maybe that's why she is having so many hairballs. Not sure how I feel about that--I feel that a lot of the hair ought to be moving through--but whatever. Also said we can give subcutaneous fluids as needed. I am not anxious to do that--been there, done that, with two other cats. I ordered the prescription food and just hope she likes it.

Thanks for the info. I'm not sure he ever did blood work. She had urinalysis and xray. Prescription food did desolve the crystals so keep your cat on it. I read you shouldn't mix with commercial food but eventually my cat refused it so I got a different prescription food and mixed in earthborn. Hope she feels better! It is scary

 

[Xena44]

Do you know what her numbers were? Was it just the BUN? Or was the creatinine elevated also? The phosphorous? Which numbers are elevated can make a difference in how they feel and it also would be a god indicator if the vomiting is really due to her kidneys.

 

[jamajessie33]

I give my long haired cat Cee Cee vasoline 100% petroleum jelly.. She's a Polydactal main coon mix she is huge.. if I don't give her like a little bit of Vaseline like every 3 days she will constantly puke get those hair balls right out of her and don't have a problem with her puking at all.

 

[Lucy2008]

Do you know what her numbers were? Was it just the BUN? Or was the creatinine elevated also? The phosphorous? Which numbers are elevated can make a difference in how they feel and it also would be a god indicator if the vomiting is really due to her kidneys.

He did not give me actual numbers. Said her phosphorous was a bit high, and kidney values were 'slightly elevated'.

My main issue with all this is that the vet says she may be nauseated, which is causing the vomiting--but it is generally only hairballs that come up, not food. You'd think she'd be throwing up food too, which she hasn't done in quite awhile

This is further complicated by the fact that it COULD be the other cat having the hairballs. He's short haired, but I did witness him throw up an enormous hair ball a couple of weeks ago--so who knows?? He's my daughter's cat technically, and I asked if she could possibly take him for a week or so, to see which cat is actually having all the hairballs--but so far no response.

 

[Lucy2008]

Good news, Lucy likes the k/d food. She did, however, vomit it up yesterday morning after eating. And this morning I gave her a couple of hairball treats and she threw them up. I know kidney disease can cause nausea, which brings me to my next question:
is it better to free feed a cat with kidney disease? At present she is offered food twice daily only. This is because of the other cat, who is on c/d food--we cannot leave Lucy's food out because the c/d cat will eat it!

 

[Xena44]

Good news, Lucy likes the k/d food. She did, however, vomit it up yesterday morning after eating. And this morning I gave her a couple of hairball treats and she threw them up. I know kidney disease can cause nausea, which brings me to my next question:
is it better to free feed a cat with kidney disease? At present she is offered food twice daily only. This is because of the other cat, who is on c/d food--we cannot leave Lucy's food out because the c/d cat will eat it!

Sorry for the late reply. As far as I’m concerned, as long as the kitty isn’t overeating, free feeding is a good thing to do. THeir appetites can be fickle, so seize the moment and let them eat when they wish. Or if they eat wet, feed them the food and stay with her as she eats it so other hungry kitty won’t eat hers. Is that possible?

 

[Lucy2008]

Thanks for replying.
I wish I could let Lucy free feed, I think she'd like that. She only weighs 7.5 pounds, down from 9 a couple of years ago.

She's been on the K/D food for a couple of weeks now. She really seems to like it, fortunately.
Since the other cat is also on prescription food (c/d, for urinary issues), I cannot let Lucy free feed as he would probably eat ALL of her food. I've been staying with her while she eats--she will eat quite a bit with this arrangement, and even eats a little of the canned food.
And most amazingly, she has not vomited in awhile! At first, she was vomiting a lot of the rx food--maybe 5 of the first 8 meals with it. I talked to the vet tech and she suggested giving her her former food--which I did for only one meal. Then I gave her the choice a few times--her former food or the k/d--and she picked the k/d every time!

Another thing I did was elevate her food bowls--I read that on the Tanya Kidney disease website--and it seems that since then she's not lost her meal. Fingers crossed!! Not sure if that's what's helping, but it sure seems like it.

Also--I decided to brush the other cat a little bit, and was SHOCKED at the huge gob of hair I got off of him in just a couple of minutes! So now I'm thinking most of the hairballs were actually him, more than her. We've been trying to brush him a little bit each day. He's not the nicest or most tolerant cat, so we have to choose our opportunity wisely. And even though I don't really like him at all, he seems to tolerate it better from me than my husband (whom he loves). I told my husband I think it might be because the cat is a little afraid of me.

Another thing I did was ordered the Feliway multicat diffuser. The male cat has always attacked Lucy--he's just a jerk--and I really think the attacks have diminished greatly since I got the diffuser! He doesn't attack her ALL the time, just enough to really make me dislike him. Things have calmed down a lot on that front.

 

[Xena44]

Thanks for replying.
I wish I could let Lucy free feed, I think she'd like that. She only weighs 7.5 pounds, down from 9 a couple of years ago.

She's been on the K/D food for a couple of weeks now. She really seems to like it, fortunately.
Since the other cat is also on prescription food (c/d, for urinary issues), I cannot let Lucy free feed as he would probably eat ALL of her food. I've been staying with her while she eats--she will eat quite a bit with this arrangement, and even eats a little of the canned food.
And most amazingly, she has not vomited in awhile! At first, she was vomiting a lot of the rx food--maybe 5 of the first 8 meals with it. I talked to the vet tech and she suggested giving her her former food--which I did for only one meal. Then I gave her the choice a few times--her former food or the k/d--and she picked the k/d every time!

Another thing I did was elevate her food bowls--I read that on the Tanya Kidney disease website--and it seems that since then she's not lost her meal. Fingers crossed!! Not sure if that's what's helping, but it sure seems like it.

Also--I decided to brush the other cat a little bit, and was SHOCKED at the huge gob of hair I got off of him in just a couple of minutes! So now I'm thinking most of the hairballs were actually him, more than her. We've been trying to brush him a little bit each day. He's not the nicest or most tolerant cat, so we have to choose our opportunity wisely. And even though I don't really like him at all, he seems to tolerate it better from me than my husband (whom he loves). I told my husband I think it might be because the cat is a little afraid of me.

Another thing I did was ordered the Feliway multicat diffuser. The male cat has always attacked Lucy--he's just a jerk--and I really think the attacks have diminished greatly since I got the diffuser! He doesn't attack her ALL the time, just enough to really make me dislike him. Things have calmed down a lot on that front.

Oh yeah, elevating the food bowls of brilliant idea. They get older & arthritic in their spines and necks and bending down is not as easy. And sometimes they have to inhale more air in order to get the food in because of teeth trouble and the arthritis and whatever. I thought about it once and only made sense. So yeah, good job. That’s awesome that the feliway diffuser is working for him and for Lucy too!