Concerned about hairballs

[clarabelle]

We have a 1year old Maine Coon mix. He has alot of hair and it is very soft, which he loves to groom himself. Last week he coughed up the biggest hair ball ever. What do you do to prevent this? I feed him the Purina hairball formula and once a week put olive oil on his food. He goes to the Vet next month for his grooming, he is my smell good sissy boy and I will see if the Vet can give him something else to help. I just do not want him to be in pain and this hacking and coughing sounds terrible

 

[maui]

I asked our vet if that goopy malt flavored stuff was good for hairballs, he reached into a drawer, pulled out a fine tooth comb and says, "This works."

And it does

regular combing and brushing work wonders at eliminating those ack hacky things. If your kitty is ticklish, start slowly, doing a teeny part each day until he gets used to the feeling.

 

[dragonlady]

There are many hairball products on the market. Most are a paste that is given by mouth. I would try brushing him 3 or 4 times a week to remove any loose hair. This way he won't be swallowing it.

 

[funkyg]

Pounce has hairball treats and so do other places. You just need to give 3-5 a week to prevent hairballs and i think 8 to get rid of hairballs...they work very well and the cats love them!!!!

 

[hissy]

All my cats have rejected all the hairball remedies but these.

Hairball remedies

 

[clarabelle]

I brush him daily. He has alot of hair and it is very fine. As you know the Maine Coon has 3 layers of hair and he has that and more. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[onyx]

No matter if we brush our cat every day and feed him the hairball remedy (which he loves b/c of the fish oil) he still gets awful hairballs. Sometime he wouldn't eat for a couple of days at a time b/c he would have one stuck and the dry cat food he was getting couldn't go past the hairball -so he was constantly throwing up everytime he ate until he had coughed up the hairball. So, in addition to the brushing, wiping him down with a damp papertowel after we brush to pick up a lot of leftover loose hair, and the hairball remedy we give him we have begun giving him canned food b/c it will actually pass through the hairball and allow him to eat when he couldn't before.