My 15 month old cat, Oliver, has taken up a very odd habit in the past week or so - eating clumps of cat hair.
I try to keep the place vacuumed, but it's hard to keep it 100% cat hair-free at all times with seven cats, so he will crawl under the dresser, or reach beneath the fridge, or find other creative ways to get his paws on hair I've missed or that's accumulated in the 12 hours since I've vacuumed.
WTHeck is he doing?! He prefers clumps, but will even eat individual pieces if he finds them, and he'll eat both his own and te other cats' hair. As a result, he's of course hacking up hairballs constantly (I'm talking 4-5 times a day).
This is a totally new behaviour, and while I'll take him back to the vet if it keeps up, he had a full exam about six weeks ago and was found to be in perfect health. He does NOT pull his hair out to eat it, he is still grooming himself normally, he only eats what he scavenges.
He does have FLUTD, but hasn't had an incident in months and is doing well on the veterinary diet he's eating to balance the PH in his urine; no recurrences since the diet change, and no symptoms at all that he's about to have an "episode", so I don't think it's about that.
Has/does anyone else's cat done/do this? If so, what did you do to stop it? I have been trying a firm "NO!" and a squirt from the water bottle, and obviously attempt to take the hair from him before he can eat it, but he often grabs it and runs somewhere I can't reach him.
Any ideas/suggestions/input/advice/whatever would be sooooo appreciated! TIA!
I try to keep the place vacuumed, but it's hard to keep it 100% cat hair-free at all times with seven cats, so he will crawl under the dresser, or reach beneath the fridge, or find other creative ways to get his paws on hair I've missed or that's accumulated in the 12 hours since I've vacuumed.
WTHeck is he doing?! He prefers clumps, but will even eat individual pieces if he finds them, and he'll eat both his own and te other cats' hair. As a result, he's of course hacking up hairballs constantly (I'm talking 4-5 times a day).
This is a totally new behaviour, and while I'll take him back to the vet if it keeps up, he had a full exam about six weeks ago and was found to be in perfect health. He does NOT pull his hair out to eat it, he is still grooming himself normally, he only eats what he scavenges.
He does have FLUTD, but hasn't had an incident in months and is doing well on the veterinary diet he's eating to balance the PH in his urine; no recurrences since the diet change, and no symptoms at all that he's about to have an "episode", so I don't think it's about that.
Has/does anyone else's cat done/do this? If so, what did you do to stop it? I have been trying a firm "NO!" and a squirt from the water bottle, and obviously attempt to take the hair from him before he can eat it, but he often grabs it and runs somewhere I can't reach him.
Any ideas/suggestions/input/advice/whatever would be sooooo appreciated! TIA!
