Getting hairball remedy down my cat

illusion

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OK, Sateycat gets an actual hairball about once a year, but he vomits up food (only food, no hair or bile) quite a bit, and I've read that this could be due to hairballs also. So after I woke up to the longest pile of kitty-food-puke on my floor the other day I decided to start a regimen of hairball remedy.

Now, in the past Satey would eat a full dose off my finger, so I figured I'd have no problem, right? Wrong. He refuses to take the stuff from me. I tried to wipe it onto the roof of his mouth, but he spit it out. So I tried what I'd read in another thread, and put the dose on a saucer. He sniffed at it but refused to eat it. So I took the dose and wiped it onto some of his food. This is the first time I have ever seen my cat refuse to eat his food! I held out for as long as I could, and when he didn't eat it, I washed out his bowl and got him fresh food. Then I waited for him to settle down to nosh, when I got a dose of the hairball remedy and wiped it on his front paws. He took off running, shaking the crap all over my walls and furniture, jumped onto my bed (making a mess in the process), but refused to lick it off his paws! I tried one more time, smearing the stuff a little better, then set him in the bathroom. After 10 minutes I went to check on him, and he still hadn't licked it off.

The stuff I have is just some Hartz Hairball Remedy from the grocery store, so I was wondering if there was a more palatable hairball remedy out there that you've had no problem giving to your cat. Perhaps there are even home remedies such as olive oil or something that I may be able to give him with a syringe. Or maybe I should be looking into other reasons for the vomiting, and nix the hairball theory altogether?

Thanks for any advice you may have for me!
 

sandie

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As far as the rememdy, there are some cats who just dont like it. I would try a hairball food, butter or a little fish oil instead.
With the vomiting, It may not be a hairball. I find that some of the chronic vomiting of whole food is due to an intolerance to the food they are eating. If he seems all around healthy in all other respects, you may want to consider changing the food.
 

dodo

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You can give your cat oil occasionally (too much might cause diarrhoea). As for which oil to give, I was giving my cats olive oil before. Then my vet suggested to give them safflower oil instead. I did some research on all kinds of oils (about their nutritional values & stuff) but I was very much confused at the end.
So, now I sometimes give them olive oil & sometimes safflower !!:

Some hair remedies may contain mineral oil & or petroleum, both of which have controversies about their usage for cats. Other than that they contain almost the same things as the oils. The idea is to provide an easy passage of the hairballs through the intestine. Also foods rich in fiber are good for hairballs; fiber absorbs water in the intestine, softens stools thus make the passage easier.

I have never bought any hair remedies and my Minnosh (3 yrs old) very rarely vomited hairballs throughout her life time


Sometimes cats vomit only food when they eat their food rather quickly. Maybe that was the reason but not the hairballs in this case
 
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illusion

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He's vomited food like this all his life. He does it maybe once a month to once every two weeks or so. He's done it on ALL the various foods I've given him throughout his lifetime.

Right now he is on a high-fiber food, Hill's Prescription Diet R/D for weight loss (at least my vet told me it was high in fiber). Once he gets down to a desired weight I want to switch him to something else, but for now, this is the only food which has helped him lose the weight.

So perhaps, since he LOVES food, the reason he vomits is because he eats too much at a time? I always thought this could be the reason, but have also read it could be due to hairballs. I was just going to try the hairball remedy and see if it helped him.

Thanks Dodo and Sandie!
 

buttercup429

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My older kitty Laura does the exact same thing. We brush her almost every day and control the amount of food she gets at one time. By keeping up with all this we rarely have any messes to clean up any more. Also by increasing her brushings she seems to have become even more social and touchable lately.
 

mofong

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My older cat vomits all the time too. It is never a hairball, just the food, or whatever is in his stomache. I've had him tested and he is okay. No matter what food I give him, he still vomits. My little one leaves hairballs all the time until I switched to the Science Diet Hairball food. She also gets the hairballs treats that are inside a crunchy outer coating. She LOOOOOOves these. She won't eat the soft Pounce ones, only the Science Diet ones. I have only seen one little hairball now in the past two months, and I'm crossing my fingers.

If you do give oil, there are capsules you can buy for cats only at the petstore. It's the Omega-3. This is good for them, and helps with the furballs.
 
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