Our Favorite, The Hairball

[Mim]

Good morning or evening everyone!
My 9 year old cat, Baby, is an over groomer. His belly, tail and backs of his feet are mostly hair-free from constantly cleaning himself. It is due to nerves, I have attempted medication ect but nothing really helps him out. He will throw up spots all over the house, sometimes full meals, that will contain small amounts of hair (the rest pass I believe). As far as I have seen there is no issue with going number two, but with him getting older I don't want this to harm him more later on. Any recommendations on anything I can give him?

 

[margd]

I started giving my Chula Vet's Best Hairball Relief after seeing it recommended in several forums here and it does seem to be helping a little bit. I'm not sure that the formula now is the same one present when the recommendations were written, though. It seems there has been a fair amount of back and forth with formula changes over the last few years. Still, it is helping a bit so I thought I'd mentioned it. As with anything you add to your cat's food, be sure to check with your vet first.

Just out of curiosity, have you considered that your cat may be allergic to something in his diet? I'm also wondering if it is possible to identify and eliminate what is causing him such stress that he is overgrooming so much. It sounds like you've worked pretty hard trying to find a solution so you may have already both but I just thought I'd mention this.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I have an odd suggestion. Try your boy on chamomile tea to reduce anxiety. The dosage is 1-3 tsp (depending on size) given via syringe up to 3 times a day. It is a natural calming agent, and has the advantages of not containing any synthesized chemicals. It sometimes works better than prescription meds. You can get the tea bags in the coffee aisle of your local market. It will be GERMAN chamomile, so you don't need to worry. It is the ENGLISH chamomile (which is what is grown in most gardens) that is toxic to cats.

 

[susanm9006]

One of my cats was a big time puker, hairball and otherwise. Sometime it was almost an intact meal and other times clearly a hairball. A few things we tried with some success. First a food that claims to help with hairballs. Whether it did or not, not sure, but the kibble pieces were larger and required more chewing and therefore slower eating which was part of her problem. When we went to one of those bowls designed to slow down eating her puking diminished further .