Pates With Sardines

[maggiedemi]

Hi. Are there any pates with sardines in them? The oil in sardines seems to help my cats with hairballs, but they won't eat human canned sardines anymore since I tried to hide their de-worming pill in it. I guess they have memories like an elephant.

Anyway, I was thinking of giving them canned pate with sardines in it once a week, if there are any. Thanks!

 

[Lari]

I feel like one of the free samples I got this weekend had sardines in it, but I could be wrong. I'll double check when I get home.

 

[walli]

can you put some flavorless oil in their food?

 

[maggiedemi]

can you put some flavorless oil in their food?

No, they always can smell it & refuse to eat it. I've tried fish oil, coconut oil, olive oil. I did have this hairball gel, but they changed the flavor of it and now they won't eat it. I can put it on their paw, but they freak out so bad, I hate to do it to them.

 

[walli]

I know! I found this one hairball paste that Joey would eat (the only one)
I can't remember where I got it or the name, I thought it was Dr K something.
He doesn't like to be brushed!!
right now, I'm using the Richards Organic hairball, If I leave it sit out
he will eat it, but not cold, and when it's room temperature it's very soupy.
so I put it in a bowl and let it sit out.
I just found this Beaphar hairball paste, not sure if I will get it.
nothing seems to work anyway!!
I feed him the royal canin hairball food too!
I'm going to try and get that kong rubber brush and see if he will let me brush him with that!
sheesh, been trying to solve this hairball problem.

 

[daftcat75]

Oil isn't really the right solution for hairballs. The main reason hair doesn't pass and instead clumps into a ball is because it gets bound with fat. Adding more fat to your cats diet doesn't discourage this.

Egg yolk will help. Raw or cooked--it doesn't matter but never raw whites because they can bind biotin making it unavailable. Egg yolk contains choline which stimulates the contractions in the gut that helps hair move along. Egg yolk also contains lecithin which breaks up the fat that clumps up the hair. You can get an egg yolk lecithin supplement to try first. A word of warning on egg yolk though. Start slow and low dose because it can have powerful laxative effects (anything that emulsifies fat should give you a little pause.) I'd start at 1/8 tsp of yolk or yolk powder. Give it once. Wait a full poop to see what it's going to do. If it didn't wreck things, try 1/8 tsp once a day for a week. You may have to proceed slowly like this to figure out which dose ends the hairballs but doesn't soup the poops. Some cats aren't that sensitive to egg yolk and those crazy cats can get 1 yolk per week to break up whatever has been building in their belly. Since 1/8 tsp is a very small amount, a lot of people prefer to either make their own or buy an egg yolk powder. You can read more about egg yolk for hairballs and find a recipe to make your own powder or a link to buy theirs.
How Best to Manage Hairballs

Another hairball solution that works for some cats is pumpkin. I figure (but don't quote me on this) that the fibrous nature of pumpkin is sponging up the hair and the fiber in the pumpkin is giving it the "weight" to pass through rather than sitting in the stomach clumping up with other hair and fat. Plain pumpkin puree or any cat food with pumpkin added.

My Krista loved Tiki Cat Aloha Friends Tuna with Pumpkin. It got her through pancreatitis but she's unfortunately sensitive or allergic to tuna now.

We're in between hairball solutions right now. Her IBD and a couple flares with pancreatitis has left her sensitive to a lot of foods and ingredients. I'm trying to heal that with meat stock (turkey broth) and it seems to be helping so far. I'm hoping that with less inflammation, things will move like they used to, and I won't need additional help besides the stock and the probiotic. We shall see.

 

[Lari]

Okay, just checked, it was a tuna with anchovies, not sardines. Sorry couldn't be more help.

 

[Kflowers]

Okay I found two, but we haven't tried either one. the first you can get from Chewy.com - Lotus sardine grain free pate. The second is from Petco.com (and I guess the stores) Solid Gold tuna and sardine pate in gravy.

 

[maggiedemi]

Okay, just checked, it was a tuna with anchovies, not sardines. Sorry couldn't be more help.

That's okay. Thanks for checking.

Okay I found two, but we haven't tried either one.

Thank you! I will check them out.