Hairball, Tummy Bug, Food Sensitivity, What?

[fuschiafrog]

This is chock-full of details. Some are definitely relevant. Others might not be. I think there's a possibility that some that I don't think are relevant actually *are* relevant, thus the giant post full of details!

Here's the bullet form of Abby's history and what's happening now.

The cat: Abby, currently 1.75 years old, adopted December 2017 when she was 6 months old
- had loose stool when we adopted her; was super playful and cheery, but made LOTS of visits to the litter box every day
- after testing for parasites and rounds of meds (I know we had her on metronidazole and I think another antibiotic), vet settled on food sensitivities to chicken, turkey and who knows what else
- after many different foods, settled on Primal freeze dried raw venison which was practically a wonder drug for her. Her tummy settled down and she's been on that for about a year or so
- she is a constant/over groomer who didn't seem to shed much

Fast forward to this past September:
- after being on primal for many months, she pooped outside the box and threw up a hairball. I took her to the vet who said the poop was basically all hair and to try a laxative or hair ball treatment.
- we tried a few different treatments but she didn't like them. (I wanted something she'd willingly eat since we'd have to do it daily.) She loved pumpkin, though, so we started giving that to her daily to help bulk up the stool and make it easier to pass the hair through her system
- she seemed to be shedding a whole lot more; her fur was (and is) still super soft but she's shedding a ton

Recent developments (so for about the last 2 weeks):
- we went out of town for a week and had people come by 2x/day to feed and visit her
- when we got back in town, the house had a distinctive "cat gas" odor that seemed familiar from when she was having food troubles when we first got her
- stool was softer than normal, but not "bad"
- thought we might have a bad bag of food, so switched to a new one
- her behavior during this time was sorta fine, but not completely normal. She wasn't climbing on her tower (which she practically lives on), she was on our laps more than normal; she wasn't following us around as much as normal; she'd mainly perch/lie on the floor with her feet underneath her; her appetite was good
- I thought she might be a little needy since we had left her, but who knows
- threw up a hairball one evening and then threw up 3 early mornings in a row. Some had hair, some had bone fragments with hair, some was liquid
- pooped mucousy liquid poop one morning, so I took her to the vet
- vet prescribed a 4 day course of metronidazole. Vet felt her tummy and almost sent her for X-rays but decided it was poop she was feeling based on location and Abby's lack of reaction/pain when vet was feeling tummy
- on the 4th day of medication, she threw up another hairball with bone fragments so I took it to the vet to make sure that what I thought I was seeing was what I was seeing.
- vet confirmed bone fragments from food and thought primal venison was causing the problem; recommended we switch food
- we tried the hydrolyzed protein food that the vet recommended but Abby didn't like it. Decided to see about a different brand of raw food and settled on Stella & Chewy's freeze dried rabbit. We switched foods on Saturday morning.

Since then:
- she's been pretty sleepy
- Sunday morning, she threw up a small firm wad of hair along with a little liquid, no bone fragments
- she's been eating her rabbit. Not super enthusiastically but she'll eat it
- poop is normal; then poop is normal combined with some that's soft; then poop is normal again; then poop is smelly. No rhyme or reason to the change as far as I can tell, but she did have some ziwipeak air dried venison one time on Monday and a different type of rabbit on Sunday afternoon
- This morning before I got up, she threw up on the couch (boo) and another spot. The couch spot had bits of hair in it and the other spot had another firm little wad of hair

- Today her appetite seems to be better. She actually meowed for food while I was getting it ready.
- She had a little bit of smelly poop today mixed in with normal and some slightly soft poop that was all in the same pile. Last night's poop was normal
- She's following me around more than she has in recent days
- She played with a toy for quite a while and was running after it
- She's still not in her tower, but it seems like she's feeling better

What I'm wondering about:
- could her lack of enthusiasm for food be related to the metronidazole? She finished her last dose on Friday afternoon
- could a whole lot of hair inside her be part of the problem? And is it possible that today's small hairball was enough to dislodge things and get them moving again? She seems to feel better today but it's not like she threw up a huge hairball.

I'm also wondering what we should do. If the hair is a more likely culprit than the venison, maybe switching foods isn't necessary. I'd like to avoid so much bone in the primal, though. Is there a good hairball treatment to try with her? We can continue giving her pumpkin and we finally found a brush that she'll let us use on her, so the amount of hair she's consuming should decrease.

I can take her in to the vet's if necessary. If some of these issues are from taking the metronidazole OR a hairball that doesn't need medical intervention, I'd rather keep her home and not stress her out.

Cat detectives, any thoughts or ideas?

 

[bodester413]

This is chock-full of details. Some are definitely relevant. Others might not be. I think there's a possibility that some that I don't think are relevant actually *are* relevant, thus the giant post full of details!

Here's the bullet form of Abby's history and what's happening now.

The cat: Abby, currently 1.75 years old, adopted December 2017 when she was 6 months old
- had loose stool when we adopted her; was super playful and cheery, but made LOTS of visits to the litter box every day
- after testing for parasites and rounds of meds (I know we had her on metronidazole and I think another antibiotic), vet settled on food sensitivities to chicken, turkey and who knows what else
- after many different foods, settled on Primal freeze dried raw venison which was practically a wonder drug for her. Her tummy settled down and she's been on that for about a year or so
- she is a constant/over groomer who didn't seem to shed much

Fast forward to this past September:
- after being on primal for many months, she pooped outside the box and threw up a hairball. I took her to the vet who said the poop was basically all hair and to try a laxative or hair ball treatment.
- we tried a few different treatments but she didn't like them. (I wanted something she'd willingly eat since we'd have to do it daily.) She loved pumpkin, though, so we started giving that to her daily to help bulk up the stool and make it easier to pass the hair through her system
- she seemed to be shedding a whole lot more; her fur was (and is) still super soft but she's shedding a ton

Recent developments (so for about the last 2 weeks):
- we went out of town for a week and had people come by 2x/day to feed and visit her
- when we got back in town, the house had a distinctive "cat gas" odor that seemed familiar from when she was having food troubles when we first got her
- stool was softer than normal, but not "bad"
- thought we might have a bad bag of food, so switched to a new one
- her behavior during this time was sorta fine, but not completely normal. She wasn't climbing on her tower (which she practically lives on), she was on our laps more than normal; she wasn't following us around as much as normal; she'd mainly perch/lie on the floor with her feet underneath her; her appetite was good
- I thought she might be a little needy since we had left her, but who knows
- threw up a hairball one evening and then threw up 3 early mornings in a row. Some had hair, some had bone fragments with hair, some was liquid
- pooped mucousy liquid poop one morning, so I took her to the vet
- vet prescribed a 4 day course of metronidazole. Vet felt her tummy and almost sent her for X-rays but decided it was poop she was feeling based on location and Abby's lack of reaction/pain when vet was feeling tummy
- on the 4th day of medication, she threw up another hairball with bone fragments so I took it to the vet to make sure that what I thought I was seeing was what I was seeing.
- vet confirmed bone fragments from food and thought primal venison was causing the problem; recommended we switch food
- we tried the hydrolyzed protein food that the vet recommended but Abby didn't like it. Decided to see about a different brand of raw food and settled on Stella & Chewy's freeze dried rabbit. We switched foods on Saturday morning.

Since then:
- she's been pretty sleepy
- Sunday morning, she threw up a small firm wad of hair along with a little liquid, no bone fragments
- she's been eating her rabbit. Not super enthusiastically but she'll eat it
- poop is normal; then poop is normal combined with some that's soft; then poop is normal again; then poop is smelly. No rhyme or reason to the change as far as I can tell, but she did have some ziwipeak air dried venison one time on Monday and a different type of rabbit on Sunday afternoon
- This morning before I got up, she threw up on the couch (boo) and another spot. The couch spot had bits of hair in it and the other spot had another firm little wad of hair

- Today her appetite seems to be better. She actually meowed for food while I was getting it ready.
- She had a little bit of smelly poop today mixed in with normal and some slightly soft poop that was all in the same pile. Last night's poop was normal
- She's following me around more than she has in recent days
- She played with a toy for quite a while and was running after it
- She's still not in her tower, but it seems like she's feeling better

What I'm wondering about:
- could her lack of enthusiasm for food be related to the metronidazole? She finished her last dose on Friday afternoon
- could a whole lot of hair inside her be part of the problem? And is it possible that today's small hairball was enough to dislodge things and get them moving again? She seems to feel better today but it's not like she threw up a huge hairball.

I'm also wondering what we should do. If the hair is a more likely culprit than the venison, maybe switching foods isn't necessary. I'd like to avoid so much bone in the primal, though. Is there a good hairball treatment to try with her? We can continue giving her pumpkin and we finally found a brush that she'll let us use on her, so the amount of hair she's consuming should decrease.

I can take her in to the vet's if necessary. If some of these issues are from taking the metronidazole OR a hairball that doesn't need medical intervention, I'd rather keep her home and not stress her out.

Cat detectives, any thoughts or ideas?

I've noticed that my cat gets super picky about food for a few days before he throws up a hairball. I grow some of that cat grass for him.... That seems to help him. I bet the antibiotic could be causing it too though....I know when people take them sometimes they can really do a number on your stomach. I wouldn't be surprised if it would be the same with cats.

This is the cat grass I get...It's some type of oat grass.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Imperial...75035&wl11=online&wl12=19264178&wl13=&veh=sem

 

[Furballsmom]

I agree with bodester413 about cat grass - you can buy a bag of cat grass seed at The Sprout People, super easy and fast to grow.
I'd give it a day or two more, it seems that she's starting to feel quite a lot better than she was. A side effect of metronidazole is loss of appetite.

Just a comment, if there was that much bone in the primal and she's obviously not able to expel it other than throwing it back up, that's a problem, plus she could be at risk of too much calcium. I'm not a vet but I'd stay away from the primal.

There are a lot of canned products on the market, maybe you can find something where you wouldn't have to totally rely on a raw food, in other words do a rotation.
Maybe this would help - it was last updated Nov. 2017. Pet Food Guide

Also, can you get her a lion shave? I'd say her system needs a break from the hair and although brushing is a really good thing and you definitely want to do that, I personally really think she needs a break from hair, hairball meds, other meds...

With that said, Pet Naturals and Vetri Science both have hairball products that don't rely on petrolatum, Tomlyn has Laxatone (a blend of Petrolatum, soybean oil, and mineral oil). You might want to double-check with your vet whether he/she thinks more fiber would be bad, what with the bone/calcium issue...

Hang in there!!

 

[duckpond]

I dont know, but maybe she is having a problem with freeze dried raw? I dont feed it but i have heard others say that Stella & Chewy's has a lot of bone? If she is not better soon maybe try a different type of food? Raw such as Rad cat, Canned food, or even dry, for a few days to see if it helps?

 

[fuschiafrog]

I’m fine switching to a non-raw food. The problem is which one to switch to! When she was a kitten I went through all manner of canned and dry foods. Primal freeze dried venison was the first food that worked for her. I think she’s sensitive to chicken and turkey and some other unspecified ingredient. I wish I had written down all of the foods that we tried (canned and dry) when she was little!

I guess I'm also wondering if her poop issues could be caused by a hairball or if she had some sort of tummy bug going on. If she had a tummy bug, I don't want to change her food up right now since the chances are good that the trial and error process will irritate her stomach.

I haven't noticed a lot of bone in Stella & Chewy's rabbit. It's very visible in the Primal, though. And I hadn't thought about the issue of too much calcium. Ugh.

 

[duckpond]

hard to say what the problem is, could be a bug, if she is having that much trouble with hair balls i think maybe an underlying issue. I dont know. My cats dont have problems with chicken or turkey, so im not really up on other proteins, as i feed quite a bit of poultry, and some fish.

For Dry i might try Farmina? My cats are not big on Venison most of the time, but they love the farmina venison and pumpkin. the only place i have found to order it is from Farmina's website, i think its fairly new. my cats all really like it, no chicken, but it does have chicken fat. has some pumpkin so that might help too?
Farmina Pet Foods - Cat food - N&D Pumpkin feline - Venison & Apple Adult

Another newer limited ingredient dry food is taste of the wild Prey. very limited ingredients, it is new as well but i think most pet stores, and our tractor supply has it. my cats like it, and my moms cats eat the Turkey and are doing quite well with it. They have one with no poultry, just beef?
Angus Beef Limited Ingredient Formula for Cats - Taste of the Wild Pet Food

Im sure others that feed other wet foods without poultry will chime in. The only one i can think of that my guys eat, other than some fish flavors is nulo beef and mackerel, and weruva steak frites
Nulo Freestyle Minced Beef & Mackerel in Gravy Grain-Free Canned Cat Food, 3-oz, case of 24
Weruva Truluxe Steak Frites with Beef & Pumpkin in Gravy Grain-Free Canned Cat Food

 

[Furballsmom]

Take a peek at that database, I'll bet you remember some of them, but even so it might not matter in the long run due to so many manufacturers changing their recipes, all the time - plus her tastes may have changed.

Tender and True is organic and antibiotic free, which could make a difference for your kitty (if she eats it), they have an ocean whitefish variety but it does have chicken in the ingredient list.

TikiCat Aloha Friends has a pumpkin variety - no poultry anything in the ingredient list, plus the ingredient list is actually somewhat short compared to some. A plus, I think...

Caveat that I'm not sure about chicken ingredients in commercial toppers, but

• Tiki Cat has a Stix mousse topper,
• Applaws has only 2 or 3 ingredients, tuna with crab, sardine with mackeral, etc, good for treats or toppers
• baby food with no onion or garlic,
• bonita flakes
• samon, mackerel--this is almost as good as bonito in this house , or sardines (no bones)
• freeze dried minnows
• and you can crumble some of her favorite food or treat onto the new food

So here's my thoughts; send some hairball remedy through her system, get her poo back to normal on a consistent basis--it looks to me like you're really really close, brush her incredibly frequently if you aren't willing to do a shave (be absolutely sure to include her tail), and then take a look at the food situation .
There's my two cents

 

[fuschiafrog]

This evening, I tried to feed her the Stella & Chewy's rabbit and she just wasn't all that interested. She took a few bites and looked at me, like, Really? This is what I have? I decided to go ahead and give something else a try.

I had a bag with some cans of food that were next on the list to try before we settled on the Primal venison. The bag had Koha Kangaroo pate and Ziwi Peak Rabbit & Lamb. After checking the expiration dates, I gave her some of the Koha kangaroo. She seemed very interested in it. She didn't eat all of it that I gave her, but I think she might be a little confused about the consistency and texture.

The good news is that she's running around tonight and interested in doing things. She's still not 100% but she seems better. I'll keep this thread updated with what I try. It'll help me remember and it might help someone else out in the future.

I'll go tomorrow to get some cat grass and some sort of hairball treatment.

 

[Furballsmom]

The good news is that she's running around tonight and interested in doing things

This is wonderful to hear!!

 

[catlover73]

Petflow.com has Farmina dry cat food and that is where I order mine. They have the larger bags on that site. It is also available on Chewy and Amazon too. We found the pricing on petflow to be better. I feed my 4 cats the Lamb & Blueberry Dry Food and they love it. One of my cats was losing fur on his tummy. There were no obvious signs of an actual skin issue. He is not itchy and there is no rash at all. One of my other cats also recently had to be hospitalized for a partial pee blockage. The vets that treated him did not think I needed to change his diet but between Apollo's fur issue and Sonny's medical issue I decided to try a new food. There is a small independent pet food store in my area. I wanted to try a new food and they told me to try the Farmina. I was feeding Wellness Core Grain Free Original which uses chicken for the protein. I wanted to switch away from the chicken as the main protein to see if Apollo would stop losing fur. His fur is slowly starting to grow back now. I was also having a hard time getting Sonny to eat enough of the Wellness when he came home from the hospital. He lost weight while he was sick and I felt like he was eating to little. The vet that treated Sonny knows about this pet store and has sent them her clients who want to change foods because they have excellent knowledge on grain free cat food. I was able to get sample of the Farmina for them to taste test before buying a lager bag. I had also read more recent reviews where people mentioned their cats developing Urinary Issues from the Wellness Core Dry. I found good reviews where people were seeing good results with cats with Urinary issues with the Farmina. People decided to try this when their cats would not eat the prescription food so I decided to try it even though Sonny's vet told me he did not need to be on prescription food for Urinary Issues.

 

[fuschiafrog]

It looks like a pet store near me carries Farmina. I hope they carry the cat food as well as the dog food. I'll give that a try.

 

[duckpond]

Petflow.com has Farmina dry cat food and that is where I order mine. They have the larger bags on that site. It is also available on Chewy and Amazon too. We found the pricing on petflow to be better. I feed my 4 cats the Lamb & Blueberry Dry Food and they love it. One of my cats was losing fur on his tummy. There were no obvious signs of an actual skin issue. He is not itchy and there is no rash at all. One of my other cats also recently had to be hospitalized for a partial pee blockage. The vets that treated him did not think I needed to change his diet but between Apollo's fur issue and Sonny's medical issue I decided to try a new food. There is a small independent pet food store in my area. I wanted to try a new food and they told me to try the Farmina. I was feeding Wellness Core Grain Free Original which uses chicken for the protein. I wanted to switch away from the chicken as the main protein to see if Apollo would stop losing fur. His fur is slowly starting to grow back now. I was also having a hard time getting Sonny to eat enough of the Wellness when he came home from the hospital. He lost weight while he was sick and I felt like he was eating to little. The vet that treated Sonny knows about this pet store and has sent them her clients who want to change foods because they have excellent knowledge on grain free cat food. I was able to get sample of the Farmina for them to taste test before buying a lager bag. I had also read more recent reviews where people mentioned their cats developing Urinary Issues from the Wellness Core Dry. I found good reviews where people were seeing good results with cats with Urinary issues with the Farmina. People decided to try this when their cats would not eat the prescription food so I decided to try it even though Sonny's vet told me he did not need to be on prescription food for Urinary Issues.

My cats love all of the Farmina flavors. However i have found that they all do cause my guys to have a bit of loose stool, with the exception of the with pumpkin flavors. It seems to be more limited ingredient, i dont know. The with pumpkin flavors i have not found anywhere except the Farmina website? My cats never would eat Wellness, and i tried several times. They do love Farmina, and Dr. Elseys

 

[fuschiafrog]

I’m not at home this morning, but Abby seemed to be pretty chipper this morning when I left. My husband is feeding her more of the Koha kangaroo. The bad news is that the litter box is a smelly mess. I’m guessing the koha kangaroo isn’t going to work for her. We’ll give her a little more of it since she seems pretty energetic, but I’ll be looking for other options today at the store.

I’m wondering if the agar agar is a problem ingredient for her.

 

[duckpond]

I’m not at home this morning, but Abby seemed to be pretty chipper this morning when I left. My husband is feeding her more of the Koha kangaroo. The bad news is that the litter box is a smelly mess. I’m guessing the koha kangaroo isn’t going to work for her. We’ll give her a little more of it since she seems pretty energetic, but I’ll be looking for other options today at the store.

I’m wondering if the agar agar is a problem ingredient for her.

many feed food with agar-agar, without issue. It is one of the ingredients i will not feed, agar or Carrageenan, might try some foods without, and see if it helps.

 

[Furballsmom]

I wonder if you could try the kangaroo on a once-a-week type of schedule or something like that, since she likes it. I've noticed with my Big Guy that over time his system has become quite a lot more forgiving, so to speak, since I've been feeding him more of a variety.

 

[fuschiafrog]

Interesting about the agar agar, duckpond. I’ll try to avoid it (along with carrageenan). Of course, I say that now after I got back from the store! I swear that I forget about half of the things I’m either lookin to find or trying to avoid when I look at labels. I’m guessing I should do a lot of the looking at labels online. The print on them is so small and so hard to read.

Furballsmom, I’m definitely going to do a better job of rotating foods when I find things that work. She didn’t eat all of her kangaroo from this morning. I think she liked it well enough, but isn’t thrilled by it. So, for better or worse, I gave her a little bit of Nature’s Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Rabbit kibble when I got home from the store. She seemed to like it. Too soon to tell how it treats her digestive system.

I spoke to someone who worked at the store for recommendations on food. The store has some dog food and supplies but is definitely cat-centric. I’ll post the list of foods I bought to try out in a little bit. I’m currently trapped on the couch with Abby curled up on top of me.

 

[fuschiafrog]

Correction: she’s definitely gassy. Oh, my. Let’s hope that it’s feom the kangaroo and it’ll settle down soon!

 

[fuschiafrog]

The good news is that Abby seems to be acting more and more like her normal self every day. I really think the metronidazole took a lot out of her.

The bad news is that she threw up 3x yesterday afternoon. Hairball came up the first time and then mainly liquid for the next 2. She was still interested in food when I got home and it was time for dinner. She also had liquid poop yesterday. I think I changed her food up too much, especially when it didn't seem like she was interested in eating what we had out for her. Hubby thought that we should go back to the primal venison (and daughter agreed) because she tolerated that for so long. I crushed one nugget up and looked through for bits of bone and pulled them out. She seemed happy to eat it again. I didn't give her very much of it since she'd thrown up earlier in the day, but she ate a decent amount when I first gave it to her and then went back and finished it up later.

If the primal doesn't help with the poop issues, I'll try one of the prescription foods recommended by the vet. She didn't seem too interested in it, but she's not super thrilled with the other options we've tried, either.

 

[fuschiafrog]

We switched her back to the primal venison yesterday. In the morning, she ate most of the food I gave her. She didn't finish it all at one time. She took breaks and finally finished what she ate about 2-3 hours after I put the food down.

I found another hairball yesterday afternoon. I think I had just missed it when it happened and that it was from the 3 (now make that 4) vomiting instances from the last episode. That would make more sense.

We gave her some petromalt hairball treatment yesterday afternoon. She licked some from hubby's finger and then some from her front paw, where he wiped the rest on her. Some of that she managed to fling off. She definitely wasn't a huge fan! I took pieces of a pill pocket and used that to conceal a little more of the petromalt. She happily ate them.

Yesterday evening, I put the primal venison down again and she just looked at me. Wouldn't touch it. I decided to try the hydrolyzed protein/sensitive dry food that the vet had recommended. She ate about half of that.

At bedtime yesterday, she suddenly jumped down from the bed like she had gotten really spooked. I couldn't figure it out until I heard the sounds of her throwing up about 5 minutes later. This time, she threw up food, no hair. The first time I gave her the hydrolyzed protein food she ate it happily and then vomited it up a little later. I thought that was from eating too much. This time could be from the hairball stuff earlier in the day, but I think it's reasonable to move on.

As far as the litter box goes, she went in once and just passed gas. Two other times, though, I found small but normal looking poop along with a little poop puddle.

She's pooped liquid twice this morning so far. And I hear her in there again right now. sigh

And looks like we'll be going back to the vet this week.

 

[Furballsmom]

And looks like we'll be going back to the vet this week.

Sending you hugs!!