Egg Lecithin for Hairballs

tdonline

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Will freezing affect the effectiveness of EYL?  We make ice cube food for a shelter cat.  He sheds a lot but hates being brushed.  I'm considering adding EYL to his ice cube food.
 

myrnafaye

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This doesnt answer your question, but mine hated brushing too - until I started brushing them while they were eating their breakfast.
 

tdonline

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Thanks for the suggestion myrnafae.  Feeding time for the shelter cats rarely leaves time to attend to one cat, but I'll try to do it and see if it helps.

LDG, makes sense right?  I just wanted to make I wasn't wasting the EYL by freezing it.
 

mphscat

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Has anyone tried Slippery Elm for hairballs and, if so, what did you like better about egg lecithin?
 

otto

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Slippery Elm Bark is more for inflammation and soothing of the digestive tract and intestine. It's a mucilage so creates a coating over everything. Egg Yolk Lecithin goes straight to the source, breaking down the fat that binds up the fur, freeing the fur so it can pass through the way it's supposed to.

Some cats have special needs, like my Mazy cat, she needs extra help and takes both, but the SEB is more to help with digestive problems than to help with hairballs.
 
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myrnafaye

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I tried both.  No luck,   I eventually went to a low dose of pred (5 mg); metameucil to bulk the stool and push the hair        throught the digestive tract; and fortiflora.  It works pretty good.  I am happy if there are not hairballs for a week or two.  If that sounds like your cat , you may want to look into my course of treatment for Obi.  The others did not work and in face, slippery elm can interfere with absorbtion which generally means it is not compatible with pred.  I know Anitra Frazier recommends these approaches, but I wonder what she bases her success on.   
 

mphscat

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I really hate to get to the pred because I've read so many horror stories of side effects (diabetes, etc.). I'm going to give the EYL a try. If that doesn't work, there may be no choice but the pred. Has anyone been able to give it to their cats and then wean them off once stabilized? Any particular brand of EYL that anyone prefers....and why??
 

myrnafaye

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I think it would be helpful to know how often your kitty throws a hairball, and how old he or she is.  My Obi was tossing hairballs way too frequently.  I tried EYL, SEB - finally I resorted to pred, after a mild attack of pancreatitis.  He  is 16, and on 5 mg, which is a low dose and shows no signs of diabetes, knock wood.  I did have a cat who developed diabetes as a result of a lifetime on pred for severe asthma, but that was also before we knew about the diff between prednisolone and prednisone.  I use metameucil on Obi, too, and Fortiflora.  It is not perfect but it is way better. 
 

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My cat is 10 years old and has no other health issues. I had noticed when cleaning house that I would find large spots on the floor which I later identified as throw up of bile. (No hairballs) Then I saw him actually do it. It was time for their check up and the vet did notice he had lost 1.5 lbs since his last check up. He prescribed a novel diet (royal Canine PR Rabbit) and the bile vomiting stopped immediately. I ordered the canned and dry but moved to the Nature Variety canned after I read about the carrageenan. He no longer throws up bile but started throwing up hairballs. (did this with the RC). He may go 4 days then throw up 2-3 days in a row. I started giving him SEB about 6 days ago and he didn't throw up for 3 days and has now thrown up a hairball 3 days in a row. His appetite is good, he's started chasing his brother around the house and he has gained some weight back. After his check up, he did have his teeth cleaned and the vet did an ultrasound and he did see some thickening of the small intestine. He did schedule a biopsy, then decided to cancel it because with his years of experience and how good the cat looks (not lethargic, not losing weight, etc.) he doesn't believe it is lymphoma and wanted to insist with the novel protein and give it time. I should take him back in for a check up around 1/20 which would be two full months after changing the food. Thoughts about the overall situation and trying EYL? If it weren't for the hairballs, you would never know anything was wrong with him.
 

myrnafaye

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Same with my Obi.  You would never know he was 16.  He also only throws up hairballs, but sometimes there is that vile brown acid that is so hard to remove from carpet.  Obi is also on the NV rabbit; no additives or grain.  I would suggest you consider what I am doing; metameucil (scant 1/4 tsp in one tsp water mixed well and into his food); and the fortiflora for gut health.  They are non invasive and will not hurt your kitty.  The metameucil bulks up the stool a bit so that it pushes the stool through with the hair.  My Obi will almost always leave a hairball close to the litter box, w hich  can mean he is strainng and that causes the hair to come up and not be pushed through.  The fortiflora is just for general GI health and that works really well.  I know a lot of people here use SEB and EYL, but I found them frustrating and not effective.  The metameucil and fortaflora work for Obi.   BTW, you may consider starting your kitty on a low dose of the pred, if he continues the frequent hairballs, and then after a period of time, do a very gradual taper.  Seems like SO many kitties have these issues...

Biopsies for many of us are prohibitive, either because of cost, of the age of the cat.  US   may show thickening but that is characteristic of IBD as well as you probably already know.  And yea, when they start discussing lymphoma, the obvious gets overlooked; if the cat is eating and not losing weight, he is probably OK.
 

mphscat

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Sorry I forgot to mention that he does get Provobial DC every day. It IS so frustrating because there is no one fix that works for every cat. It is trial and error.

About the biopsy, besides the cost there isn't any SURE way to guarantee that the pieces they get are the cancerous pieces so you can get a false negative. Or you may get lucky and those small samples are the right ones.

About the metameucil....does your cat eat the food willingly? Rube is a genius of detecting anything in his food. :(
 

mphscat

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And where did you find your metameucil? EVERY single grocery or pharmacy I went to today only had orange flavored! In the meantime I ordered the EYL ans Vet's Best and started him on 1/2 capsule of EYL a day and 1/2 tablet of Vet's Best crushed in his food starting 3 days ago. He has vomited a hairball every morning around 4.30am so hours after eating. I gave him another 1/2 capsule of EYL this morning (i use Nature Plus and use a toothpick to get it out of the capsule). I know natural remedies take longer to work so i'm interested in hearing your personal experiences on what combinations you tried and how long it took to work. Thanks.
 

myrnafaye

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My cat vomited on Vets Best Hairball remedy so out it went.    The EYL did not help either.  I got a very large container of metameucil - unflavored - from Walgreens.  If there is not a Walgreens near you, go to Walgreens.com, my guess is that they have it.  I know, most is flavored.  It is also called psyllium. I actually give it to both my cats to help their stool.  It helps push the hair through the digestive tract.  I also, as I said, give Fortiflora, and that is also a big help.  I have never had much luck with "holistic" remedies, the metameucil and psyllium are about as natural as I get with my kitties, and they are bothfine products, natural.  My cats  eat it no problem.  I mix a scant 1/4   tsp of the metameucil with a tsp of water, and then just mix it in with the Nature's Variety rabbit.  They dont even know it is there.
 

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Biopsies for many of us are prohibitive, either because of cost, of the age of the cat.  US   may show thickening but that is characteristic of IBD as well as you probably already know.  And yea, when they start discussing lymphoma, the obvious gets overlooked; if the cat is eating and not losing weight, he is probably OK.
My cat Spooky hadn't lost weight, didn't throw up anything, no bile, no hairballs. So when she did, I took her in. But her appetite was normal, she was playful. An ultrasound showed thickening. We opted for full surgical biopsy. This is expensive, but as it pulls samples from all the layers (vs endoscopic biopsy), you are less likely to get false negative. She has small cell lymphoma. So please do not assume there is no cancer because there are no other symptoms apart from inflammation. Of course if the approach to care would be palliative, then one doesn't need to know anyway.
 
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myrnafaye

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LDG, what symptoms WAS Spooky showing?  and yes, I give Obi the metameucil in the AM and pred at night.
 

ldg

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Oh, and her blood work was all normal, other than thyroid: she was slightly hypo thyroid. This is consistent with chronic diseases such as diabetes, IBD, cancer and others, though those three are most common. At 12 years old on a species-appropriate diet I felt diet-induced IBD (which is most likely what it would be if turning up at that age) was low risk.
 
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