Hairballs, Homemade Food, And Added Fat

lisahe

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Does anybody add extra fat to homemade food, be it cooked or raw? Has anybody ever found that fatty foods help prevent hairballs? Or that low-fat diets seem to help hairballs form?

Why I'm Asking. Edwina, who's always been something of a barfer (meaning I think of you, 1 bruce 1 1 bruce 1 , as well as Akeem, rather regularly!) has been having far more vomiting and hairball problems than ever this summer. Sure, she's getting older (motility declines!), she's pretty fluffy, and this has been a crazy summer weather-wise. But she vomited early in the morning (what a wake-up) multiple times last week, gacking up only liquid. At first I thought it was just hunger but then the lightbulb went on over my head on Friday morning and I gave her about 1cc of Vaseline, which she absolutely loved. That worked great: by Saturday morning there was lots of poop-covered hair in the litter box. She didn't barf again until today. She vomited up a small puddle this morning and barfed up a small hairball in the early afternoon despite regular brushing over the past week.

Is There a Hairball-Fat Connection? After today's hairball, I started thinking about what's different this summer. It's not just the hotter weather that might mean more shedding. We also switched one commercial meal a day to relatively hefty portion of Alnutrin, which means the cats now eat two homemade meals a day. Crucially: the vast majority of those meals are relatively low in fat. The meal that we took out of the rotation was turkey Primal: 23% fat, guaranteed analysis, so the cats' diet has seen a sizeable decrease in fat. By contrast, plain chicken breast has only 2g of fat per 112g of chicken! Yes, I make food with other meats but turkey is pretty lean and even much of the fattier pork I buy doesn't have tons of fat. Basically, the vast majority of the meat I'm using is far, far less than 23% fat by weight. So I wonder if fat in food helps a cat pass the fur.

Any Suggestions for Good Fat(s) to Add? I'd rather not keep feeding Vaseline (though Dr. Jean Hofve says she fed it to her cat every day for years!). More than an extra teaspoon of egg yolk a day makes Edwina gassy. :eek: And I'd rather not use a lot of pumpkin or other fiber (see above Hofve link) for a long time, either. I've looked casually at lard ingredients, wonder about schmaltz, and shake my head at camel hump fat, but am thinking about asking about extra fat (preferably not beef suet) at butcher counters. And I will definitely more really fatty pork chops! I guess ideally the fat would be rendered so it can melt/liquefy in the gut.

Anyway, I know I tend to go on and on so will stop there. Any suggestions, ideas, or tales of similar experiences would be most welcome! Thank you, cat colleagues! :catrub:
 

daftcat75

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Fat is what binds hair and forms balls. So it would be paradoxical if fat helped Edwina pass the hair. Never put it past a cat though.

I would think lecithin would be good for busting up the fat. But Krista is sensitive enough to egg yolk that I am hesitant to try lecithin with her. Fortunately the meat stock and regular meals seems to be doing the trick the last couple of weeks or so.
 

1 bruce 1

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This tag made my day :flail:

Yes, I think good fats can lubricate the system and help hairballs, but I'm not an expert by any means.
We have never used vaseline, and we've used pumpkin in certain cases but not for long term hairball control (though our cats really, really like pumpkin).
Fish oil would be my top choice, salmon oil in particular. It's species appropriate, high in omega 3 fatty acids, and most cats like it. (We store fish oil chilled in the refrigerator.)
The problem can arise if there's any issues of IBD (diarrhea) or pancreatitis going on, not likely but something to keep in mind if you feed fish oil and stomach upsets or vomiting/diarrhea get worse.
Over the years we've had a handful of animals that fish oil was greedily consumed but stomach upset followed, and those guys got flaxseed oil or coconut oil (neither is the top choice for cats, but you take the bitter with the sweet I guess.)
Another option would to be feeding something like sardines (in water, no oils. I looked last week at sardines, and they have them packed in tomato sauce! :eek: So read those labels.)
Hare today has been discussed on this forum many times as being a high quality resource for raw feeders, and they're in Pennsylvania. I'm not sure if they have sardines or fish for cats, or if they have meats you'd want to look into but it might be something to consider :wave3:
 

daftcat75

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Every cat is different.

But...

Krista’s hairballs were bad when she was eating Rawz Duck with added salmon oil. She eats more than a can a day so I think she was getting too much fat and forming that ball. When I switched her to rabbit and added my own salmon oil in the right proportion for her daily intake (mixing oil-added can with non-oil-added can at meal time), her hairballs nearly disappeared.

Now it seems as long as I don’t feed her old stock or bad stock, that’s one more thing it seems to be helping her with. I think it just helps with the motility because I skim the fat away.
 
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lisahe

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Huge thanks to both of you for these comments and suggestions! You gave me lots to, ah, chew over. :lol: Almost immediately after posting, I wondered about fish oil, which I haven't been adding. Maybe I should try a bit of that?

A couple things:

-daftcat75, I hear you about egg yolk lecithin and sensitivities. I'm very hesitant to try it, too, given how gassy Edwina got when I upped the cat's egg yolk. Also, you're so right about "never put it past a cat"! Especially these two!

-1 bruce 1, Edwina loves pumpkin, too! But I'm not keen on long-term use of larger amounts of it. And you told me to think of you when think of vomit! ;) It's as good as done!

What I may try for now is adding a little fish oil to the cats' food plus increasing the (meat) fat in their diet by using more pork: they would still almost certainly be getting less fat than they were before.

The good (I think?) news is that I do know a small amount of Vaseline works quickly. But I really want to try to solve this in a real way!

Thanks again!

P.S. As a special thanks, check out this photo of cleaned hairballs that were pooped out! (Yes, I love trying to figure out studies!) At least this makes me feel better in the sense that I'm not sure Edwina has ever had anything approaching "medium" in size.
 

darg

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I don't know about fats in food in terms of helping hairballs but I've been using Hartz hairball stuff. I give him a little blob on my finger twice a week. One can debate the natural alternatives versus giving a petroleum jelly based aid but the way I figure it, my cat was bred to have long, thick hair. Not exactly unassisted evolution. He benefits from a little of the hairball prevention in a tube stuff ... so I use it.
 
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lisahe

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I don't know about fats in food in terms of helping hairballs but I've been using Hartz hairball stuff. I give him a little blob on my finger twice a week. One can debate the natural alternatives versus giving a petroleum jelly based aid but the way I figure it, my cat was bred to have long, thick hair. Not exactly unassisted evolution. He benefits from a little of the hairball prevention in a tube stuff ... so I use it.
The part that I bolded is something I think about, too: Edwina has a lot of fur! She's not exactly long-haired (I don't think "medium-haired" is a real term) but she's very fluffy. And even if she's a random Siamese mix and not a pure-bred, your point on evolution is well-taken.

Yes, I've been thinking that one of my options is about the same as what you do: giving Edwina small amounts of Vaseline (or something similar) a couple times a week. Many of the hairball remedies (like Hartz, I believe) are basically petroleum jelly plus flavors so in some senses I'd rather just give her the Vaseline since she likes it! Of course I'd much rather find a diet-based solution that includes more animal fat, which might be helpful for Ireland's constipation, too. That said, even if I don't especially like the Vaseline-type of option, I'm glad to have a backup option that I know works. And I feel a little better about it given what Dr. Hofve wrote.
 
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lisahe

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Thank you again, everyone, for your thoughts on this. I realized how right daftcat75 daftcat75 is about fat :doh::doh: when I looked at the Food Fur Life page about hairballs. How many times have I read that!? How could I have missed that!? Thank you for the reminder! Instead of increasing the overall fat, I'm going to make an attempt to distribute it better so certain foods (lookin' at you, pork chops!) don't get most the fat. Maybe those heavy shots of fat are a problem?

I'm also going to try increasing the egg yolk again, in the hope that maybe the gassiness last time was just an anomaly. (Edwina does sometimes get gassy anyway...) Since she's barfed up a couple small hairballs in the last week (!!! cue 1 bruce 1 1 bruce 1 and Akeem, who knew they'd be so in demand!?) I'm also going to give her a few more doses of Vaseline or hairball remedy if I can find anything decent at the store today. And we're ramping up the brushing; we'd gotten a little lax. (The hair amounts weren't that big so the vet's pollen theory is still in the back of my mind, as a contributing factor during this raging ragweed season.)

I still find all this very puzzling since we've never had such a problem with Edwina! She seems fine and certainly has not lost her appetite!
 
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lisahe

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Well, :doh::doh: again and :doh::doh: again because I'm so slow to make connections and only now realized that Primal has added fish oil (sardine and cod) as well as coconut oil, meaning Edwina's getting less of those fats in her diet. This could have two effects: more shedding (which we've certainly seen in both cats this summer, shortly after the food switch) plus less lubrication for the fur to leave the gut.

I'd been thinking about adding fish oil to Alnutrin for months so I guess it's time. I have my own fish oil capsules, which are fine to use since they're not lemon-flavored and the vegetable glycerine is just a part of the actual capsule rather than mixed with the fish oil. (Or maybe I'll use the capsules, too, since even Dr. Pierson doesn't mention concerns over the glycerin plus I know the gelatin's actually a plus.)

So that's the latest installment of "As Edwina's Stomach Turns." :p (Yes, there was another episode today! With fur. And the pollen's still quite high so the vet's pollen theory is still on the table, particularly given the time the cats spend on the veranda.) (Sorry to keep thinking of you like this, 1 bruce 1 1 bruce 1 ! :lol:)
 

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Well, :doh::doh: again and :doh::doh: again because I'm so slow to make connections and only now realized that Primal has added fish oil (sardine and cod) as well as coconut oil, meaning Edwina's getting less of those fats in her diet. This could have two effects: more shedding (which we've certainly seen in both cats this summer, shortly after the food switch) plus less lubrication for the fur to leave the gut.

I'd been thinking about adding fish oil to Alnutrin for months so I guess it's time. I have my own fish oil capsules, which are fine to use since they're not lemon-flavored and the vegetable glycerine is just a part of the actual capsule rather than mixed with the fish oil. (Or maybe I'll use the capsules, too, since even Dr. Pierson doesn't mention concerns over the glycerin plus I know the gelatin's actually a plus.)

So that's the latest installment of "As Edwina's Stomach Turns." :p (Yes, there was another episode today! With fur. And the pollen's still quite high so the vet's pollen theory is still on the table, particularly given the time the cats spend on the veranda.) (Sorry to keep thinking of you like this, 1 bruce 1 1 bruce 1 ! :lol:)
:flail: These types of jokes last a life time, don't they?
It's funny you mentioned that, because our boy (who has been doing so well for so long) threw up three times today. Nothing changed so once again we're stumped as to what causes this.
 
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lisahe

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:flail: These types of jokes last a life time, don't they?
It's funny you mentioned that, because our boy (who has been doing so well for so long) threw up three times today. Nothing changed so once again we're stumped as to what causes this.
Yes to long-lasting jokes! (Here, let me page Akeem, too!)

Edwina had a twofer today but (as they say in Russia) it's not evening yet! Well, it is evening according to the clock, but you know what I mean.

Seriously, though, I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble with this, too. With E, there are so many things going on that it's always difficult to know what's causing it. But I'm hoping that adding fish oil and using more egg yolk in their Alnutrin will help. And putting a jar of treats for early-morning wake-ups at bedside... that's how we started the day, with a hunger barf. She gets worked up, waiting for food, as soon as she hears us stir but of course sometimes we do go back to sleep! I'm thinking about getting a feeder and putting a few little chunks of freeze-dried raw food in it for early morning. It's so hard to know what's right!

Fingers crossed that your guy will stop at three and feel better tomorrow. :crossfingers:
 

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Yes to long-lasting jokes! (Here, let me page Akeem, too!)

Edwina had a twofer today but (as they say in Russia) it's not evening yet! Well, it is evening according to the clock, but you know what I mean.

Seriously, though, I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble with this, too. With E, there are so many things going on that it's always difficult to know what's causing it. But I'm hoping that adding fish oil and using more egg yolk in their Alnutrin will help. And putting a jar of treats for early-morning wake-ups at bedside... that's how we started the day, with a hunger barf. She gets worked up, waiting for food, as soon as she hears us stir but of course sometimes we do go back to sleep! I'm thinking about getting a feeder and putting a few little chunks of freeze-dried raw food in it for early morning. It's so hard to know what's right!

Fingers crossed that your guy will stop at three and feel better tomorrow. :crossfingers:
He took a good bath and got up, wanted some food, but only took a bite or two. Probably smart of him, he looks brighter in the eyes but still a little green.
I told him I'd give him 20 bucks if he'd tell me what caused this. So far, he's demanding 50.
 
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lisahe

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He took a good bath and got up, wanted some food, but only took a bite or two. Probably smart of him, he looks brighter in the eyes but still a little green.
I told him I'd give him 20 bucks if he'd tell me what caused this. So far, he's demanding 50.
They always want money.
 
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