The short version: Each time our cat has a hairball, she can't keep food or water down afterwards, no matter what we try. We are at a loss what to do. We've tried waiting a few hours and starting small, both with dry kibble, wet food, and baby food. These things might stay down for an hour or two before coming back up. It's like her stomach won't stop sending a signal that it needs to vacate a hairball. There is no hair in the puke once the initial hairball is out. Has anyone experienced this, and if so, have you found a solution?
The long version: We found a severely emaciated cat in our backyard whose fur was balding and matted. We nursed the poor thing back to health, and after many vet visits and thousands of dollars in bills, two years later she's doing great. To our surprise, the filthy little scrapper turned out to be a gorgeous Norwegian cat with fluffy white fur. I've never owned a long-haired cat before, so there was a learning curve. I didn't know that she needed to be brushed daily, for instance, to prevent matting. She's also on a hairball formula kibble (Royal Cannin), and gets hairball treats daily. I'd rather she eat canned food or raw, but once she got past starvation, Delilah became an exceedingly picky cat. She won't eat most things. I've had a few cats before, but trust me, this one is abnormally stubborn. Anyway, we brush both her normal coat and the undercoat regularly now. I asked the vet about this vomiting issue last week, and she suggested we put Delilah on Pepcid (an antacid) multiple times a day. That seems weird to me, because I don't know of any humans who take Pepcid for nausea. I'm tired of cleaning up puke, but mostly I just feel bad for her. What can we do?
The long version: We found a severely emaciated cat in our backyard whose fur was balding and matted. We nursed the poor thing back to health, and after many vet visits and thousands of dollars in bills, two years later she's doing great. To our surprise, the filthy little scrapper turned out to be a gorgeous Norwegian cat with fluffy white fur. I've never owned a long-haired cat before, so there was a learning curve. I didn't know that she needed to be brushed daily, for instance, to prevent matting. She's also on a hairball formula kibble (Royal Cannin), and gets hairball treats daily. I'd rather she eat canned food or raw, but once she got past starvation, Delilah became an exceedingly picky cat. She won't eat most things. I've had a few cats before, but trust me, this one is abnormally stubborn. Anyway, we brush both her normal coat and the undercoat regularly now. I asked the vet about this vomiting issue last week, and she suggested we put Delilah on Pepcid (an antacid) multiple times a day. That seems weird to me, because I don't know of any humans who take Pepcid for nausea. I'm tired of cleaning up puke, but mostly I just feel bad for her. What can we do?