I recently started my long hair on egg yolk lecithin to minimize hairballs. I was wondering if I will be able to see hairballs come out in her poop or if the lecithin breaks down the hairballs into much smaller, less obvious output?
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Egg Yolk Lecithin - Evidence It Is Working?
- Thread starter raintyger
- Start Date
I got to research this.
You can use oil to push hair balls out in a maintenance way?
My kittens are obviously chomping at everything.
One of them started chewing on the carpet of her tower, then I found vomit with a clump of carpet fibers
They do split a gelcap of fish or salmon oil everyday, I wonder if they have an effect.
You can use oil to push hair balls out in a maintenance way?
My kittens are obviously chomping at everything.
One of them started chewing on the carpet of her tower, then I found vomit with a clump of carpet fibers
They do split a gelcap of fish or salmon oil everyday, I wonder if they have an effect.
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I've read that something like the egg yolk lecithin, or egg yolk, is preferable to oil for hair balls. The explanation was that hair balls are already bound together with fat and you want something to break it up. Hopefully someone will chime in who knows more.
And to the original question....if it is working I believe you will notice more hair in their poop (and a lack of vomited hair balls.)
And to the original question....if it is working I believe you will notice more hair in their poop (and a lack of vomited hair balls.)
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So will I notice hairballs in the poop, or fur spread throughout (not all clumped up like a hairball)?
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Spread throughout, I think...not like a hairball (I think.) I've just had a little experience with this....started giving one of mine egg yolk lecithin when I think she was dealing with a slight hairball problem (she had a cough and I found one on the floor.) I did notice furrier poops (I had to look closely) sometime after we started the lecithin. But I know folks like Carolina and Otto have probably had more experience....maybe they will see this and chime in.
I use the egg yolk lecithin on my long hair boys. I split a capsule between them about once a week. I have noticed less hairballs but they still happen. I've also seen little bits of fur in their poop but I have to look closely also.
I give my girl that's prone to upchucking hairballs 1/2 capsule of egg yolk lecithin every day, and haven't seen her upchucking one in a long time
. Not sure how it works, but I'm thinking it definitely does. And, yes, all their poops are filled with fur, but that's actually the way it's supposed to be, so not sure the egg yolk lecithin has anything to do with it or not.
Can egg yolk cause diahereah?
If I dont find out definitevly I will research and post about it, but I do think it is relevant to hair balls.
So my kittens are on a raw diet, primarily Hare Today Rabbit, with ground chicken or pork (from same company) every 3rd day.
Because rabbit is so "light" and my kittens are growing, I got in the habbit of adding an egg yolk to one of their two daily shared meals.
Last Thursday and Friday, I fed them chicken two days in a row (1lb each day, remember they are growing, thats how much they eat).
I may have put 2 yolks on each day, or 1 and 2.
Come Saturday morning I smell it, I think she used the bedroom litterbox, but noooo, it was the living room box that is down stairs (small 2 story city townhouse).
It stunk, real bad, not sure why.
I would expect this if I gave them a can of Weruva/Tiki sardine/tuna, but no such thing was fed.
I put her back on rabbit only, no yolks, only 1 fish oil cap per day, it seems to have stopped.
Could it be the yolk as it seems it helps cats expel hairballs at least as good, does it act as a laxative (hence why it was so stinky? does that even make sense).
Could it be the increased fat content of the chicken (chicken has 30% fat where rabbit is around 12%), fat would give my brothers puppy the runs (high protein dry and wet food).
Thanks guys!
If I dont find out definitevly I will research and post about it, but I do think it is relevant to hair balls.
So my kittens are on a raw diet, primarily Hare Today Rabbit, with ground chicken or pork (from same company) every 3rd day.
Because rabbit is so "light" and my kittens are growing, I got in the habbit of adding an egg yolk to one of their two daily shared meals.
Last Thursday and Friday, I fed them chicken two days in a row (1lb each day, remember they are growing, thats how much they eat).
I may have put 2 yolks on each day, or 1 and 2.
Come Saturday morning I smell it, I think she used the bedroom litterbox, but noooo, it was the living room box that is down stairs (small 2 story city townhouse).
I would expect this if I gave them a can of Weruva/Tiki sardine/tuna, but no such thing was fed.
I put her back on rabbit only, no yolks, only 1 fish oil cap per day, it seems to have stopped.
Could it be the yolk as it seems it helps cats expel hairballs at least as good, does it act as a laxative (hence why it was so stinky? does that even make sense).
Could it be the increased fat content of the chicken (chicken has 30% fat where rabbit is around 12%), fat would give my brothers puppy the runs (high protein dry and wet food).
Thanks guys!
I've given my 3 cats an egg yolk each twice a day for a few days to deal with a hairball problem...I didn't notice any odor but the stools were a touch looser. Now that they are on a reduced amount of yolk, the stools have firmed up again.
Korina, if you doubled up on the yolks, that could cause loose stool, but I'm not so sure about the stink, as Peaches08 points out.
Also, FYI, unless you're feeding wild rabbit, rabbit is actually rather fatty. Domestically raised rabbits have a lot of fat. Here's a link to the USDA database so you can look up domestic rabbit meat raw and compare it to others, like pork raw, or whatever: http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list
Oh - actually I just remembered I'd put a table together a while back. Here you go (you can click on it to make it bigger):
Raintyger, as to how to know it's helping... your cats will stop throwing up hairballs. I now give 1/2 capsule of egg yolk lecithin daily, and slippery elm bark powder twice a week to everyone.
Basically, this just helps them pass the hair as it's ingested. If any starts to accumulate, the EYL emulsifies the fat that binds up the hair so they can pass it.
Raw egg yolks also work to do the job. Someone in the UK didn't have access to an EYL supplement, and found that three egg yolks a week solved the hairball problem.
On raw, I find that the cats' poop is typically hair inside of a poop crust. It was like that before I started using the egg yolk lecithin. But there was the occasional hairball being brought up. The EYL stopped that, other than in one cat. So far, the addition of the slippery elm twice a week seems to have managed the problem for him. But with shedding season upon us, I guess we're about to have the real test. :lol3:
Also, FYI, unless you're feeding wild rabbit, rabbit is actually rather fatty. Domestically raised rabbits have a lot of fat. Here's a link to the USDA database so you can look up domestic rabbit meat raw and compare it to others, like pork raw, or whatever: http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list
Oh - actually I just remembered I'd put a table together a while back. Here you go (you can click on it to make it bigger):
Raintyger, as to how to know it's helping... your cats will stop throwing up hairballs. I now give 1/2 capsule of egg yolk lecithin daily, and slippery elm bark powder twice a week to everyone.
Basically, this just helps them pass the hair as it's ingested. If any starts to accumulate, the EYL emulsifies the fat that binds up the hair so they can pass it.
Raw egg yolks also work to do the job. Someone in the UK didn't have access to an EYL supplement, and found that three egg yolks a week solved the hairball problem.
On raw, I find that the cats' poop is typically hair inside of a poop crust. It was like that before I started using the egg yolk lecithin. But there was the occasional hairball being brought up. The EYL stopped that, other than in one cat. So far, the addition of the slippery elm twice a week seems to have managed the problem for him. But with shedding season upon us, I guess we're about to have the real test. :lol3:
Thanks LDG and Peeches08.
Well I will have to chalk this up to randome diaherea attack, which worries me more, as there is no immediate reason.
One possibility is these geniueses have started raiding my sink and drinking. I usually have food and mixing bowls from the cats soaking in there. The last few days I kept the sink bowls empty.
Maybe she drank some water with soap, soap can cause diahera in humans (I learned that in scouts).
Maybe she had the pathogen I dare not mention
Now as to fat, I looked at that diagram and I must say that whole chicken is really fatty (HT uses whole chicken) and beef as well, by a factor of 3x over the others.
I occasionaly feed the whole carcas rabbit with skin (which is def fattier, you can tell when it is defrost, takes a lot of force to break it apart with a spoon).
The upside is she is less constipated now, I had watched her really push to get 3 nuggets out (geez) and the other day, I saw her and brother pass like 6.
Also while we are talking hairballs, anyone have an opinion of the whole carcass rabbit from HT?
I know some beleive that fur and feathers work like fiber works for us.
But wouldnt it make a little sense that the fur from the rabbit could create or add to a hairball already in the cat?
Well I will have to chalk this up to randome diaherea attack, which worries me more, as there is no immediate reason.
One possibility is these geniueses have started raiding my sink and drinking. I usually have food and mixing bowls from the cats soaking in there. The last few days I kept the sink bowls empty.
Maybe she drank some water with soap, soap can cause diahera in humans (I learned that in scouts).
Maybe she had the pathogen I dare not mention
Now as to fat, I looked at that diagram and I must say that whole chicken is really fatty (HT uses whole chicken) and beef as well, by a factor of 3x over the others.
I occasionaly feed the whole carcas rabbit with skin (which is def fattier, you can tell when it is defrost, takes a lot of force to break it apart with a spoon).
The upside is she is less constipated now, I had watched her really push to get 3 nuggets out (geez) and the other day, I saw her and brother pass like 6.
Also while we are talking hairballs, anyone have an opinion of the whole carcass rabbit from HT?
I know some beleive that fur and feathers work like fiber works for us.
But wouldnt it make a little sense that the fur from the rabbit could create or add to a hairball already in the cat?
I've seen the argument both ways about the fur. I have no idea if it acts like a fiber in the diet or not.
I guess we will know if it causes hairballs when a members black cat coughs up a white hairball
One day I will ask Tracy if she could shave them for cat owners. The only thing that seperates whole carcass from the other one, is the skin, skin's fur, and head (good omega 3's).
I got no problem feeding the whole carcass I just want some assurance.
I wonder if anyone feeds it on regular basis?
My cats get the skinless one every other day.
One day I will ask Tracy if she could shave them for cat owners. The only thing that seperates whole carcass from the other one, is the skin, skin's fur, and head (good omega 3's).
I got no problem feeding the whole carcass I just want some assurance.
I wonder if anyone feeds it on regular basis?
My cats get the skinless one every other day.
Egg yolk lecithin is working wonders on my cat Amelie. She was suffering from these coughing / gasping attacks:
Took her to the vet and over the course of 3 visits, ran bloodwork, took antibiotic, did xrays. Entire time I thought it was hairballs and the vet thought ashtma. X rays showed No ashtma, everything seemed fine. Vet prescribed another antibiotic to rule out infection brochitits:
"We need to rule out infectious bronchitis so we will start her on a three week course of a azithromicin. the x-ray of heart lungs and stomach showed no obvious signs of asthma. The stomach looked normal. If it's not infectious bronchitis and then we will do a heartworm test. Heartworm and lungworm more rare. "
I said screw it I'm going to try this egg lecithin stuff.
So last month on June 14th, I started Amelie on 600 mg of egg lechitin 2x per day. After 10 days, tons of hairballs started showing up in her stool - each feces was stuffed with hair taking up about 50% of the feces! She even barfed up a 2 inch hairball. Some of the hairballs are so bad they are encased in this thin wafer like paper and inside is all hair. Here are some images of the stool:
https://www.instagram.com/wilson_cats/?hl=en
or search for #kittyhairballs
Will keep you posted or follow Amelie on instagram
Took her to the vet and over the course of 3 visits, ran bloodwork, took antibiotic, did xrays. Entire time I thought it was hairballs and the vet thought ashtma. X rays showed No ashtma, everything seemed fine. Vet prescribed another antibiotic to rule out infection brochitits:
"We need to rule out infectious bronchitis so we will start her on a three week course of a azithromicin. the x-ray of heart lungs and stomach showed no obvious signs of asthma. The stomach looked normal. If it's not infectious bronchitis and then we will do a heartworm test. Heartworm and lungworm more rare. "
I said screw it I'm going to try this egg lecithin stuff.
So last month on June 14th, I started Amelie on 600 mg of egg lechitin 2x per day. After 10 days, tons of hairballs started showing up in her stool - each feces was stuffed with hair taking up about 50% of the feces! She even barfed up a 2 inch hairball. Some of the hairballs are so bad they are encased in this thin wafer like paper and inside is all hair. Here are some images of the stool:
https://www.instagram.com/wilson_cats/?hl=en
or search for #kittyhairballs
Will keep you posted or follow Amelie on instagram
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Hi, I just saw this post. How's your kitty doing with his coughing problems?
My long haired calico cat is having a similar problem, she's not coughing quite in that way but definately she's been having hairballs issues....everytime she purrs she'll ended up doing that 8-(
I've been giving her EYL lately, but only less than a quarter 600mg cap almost every day.
I did try to give a less than a quarter of 600mg EYL to my other cat and it caused him to have loose and very bulky stools for several days so, that's why I've been cautious about the amount...
DO YOU (OR ANYBODY) KNOW WHAT IS A SAFE AMOUNT I SHOULD GIVE MY CATS FOR HAIRBALLS PROBLEMS? HOW OFTEN?
Also, CAN EYL BE USE FOR CONSTIPATION?
TNX
My long haired calico cat is having a similar problem, she's not coughing quite in that way but definately she's been having hairballs issues....everytime she purrs she'll ended up doing that 8-(
I've been giving her EYL lately, but only less than a quarter 600mg cap almost every day.
I did try to give a less than a quarter of 600mg EYL to my other cat and it caused him to have loose and very bulky stools for several days so, that's why I've been cautious about the amount...
DO YOU (OR ANYBODY) KNOW WHAT IS A SAFE AMOUNT I SHOULD GIVE MY CATS FOR HAIRBALLS PROBLEMS? HOW OFTEN?
Also, CAN EYL BE USE FOR CONSTIPATION?
TNX
I give my cats each at minimum 1/2 capsule once a day. No issues with diarrhea. Have been doing this for years. As a matter of fact, one cat is actually prone to constipation, probably because he eats more freeze dryed raw that the other one, and that contains more bone than he should probably be getting. Now that you mention it, i think I'll increase his EL to 1 full capsule and see if it helps with the constipation issue 
. I don't recall ever hearing anyone say it works for that, but hopefully it will. I HAVE heard some people use up to 1 1/2 capsules per cat during shedding season.
. I don't recall ever hearing anyone say it works for that, but hopefully it will. I HAVE heard some people use up to 1 1/2 capsules per cat during shedding season.I started giving my puking cat 1/2 capsule of EL for months. Some days I think it's working. But this week he still puked up a 2 inch hairball. So I don't know. I never see hair in the feces. I've wondered off the days I need to give it to everyone. If I could just put a cooked egg yolk. Might be cheaper than than the capsules.
You can use dried egg yolks. Here, see this website. It even has instructions on how to make it: How Best to Manage Hairballs
Also, typically you won't notice hair in their feces unless you break their stools apart and actually take a close look inside
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