Hi all, wondering if anyone can help..my cat Frisky (6) has been struggling with hairballs recently, she does that hawking/ coughing thing but keeps swallowing the hairball back down. She'll do this for about a week before it finally comes up but in the meantime her breathing becomes slightly laboured and her chest rises and falls like a bellows..it doesn't affect her behaviour, (Frisky by name and nature) but I'm just wondering if there's anything I could do, add or take anything to or from her diet for instance..I'd rather not go down the medication route if necessary although a vet trip looks likely considering the breathing( this goes back to normal once she's got the hairball up). Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks!
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Struggling With Hairballs
- Thread starter NT8
- Start Date
Here are some hairball remedies, from food to paste. These help the hairball to pass down the digestive tract so it gets pooped out instead of vomited. And an article on hairballs from Cornell.
Good luck to Frisky! Let us know if you have any more problems or questions.
Good luck to Frisky! Let us know if you have any more problems or questions.
Do you groom her? I mean like at least every other day? That always helped mine. I also switched to Royal Canin Hairball formula cat food and has helped mine move things along.
I just want to say something else though -- are you sure it's a hairball? Because in my experience, they cough it up much sooner than a week. It might be respiratory issues. I don't mean to sound paranoid, but my Timmer was always doing what you describe and nothing ever came up. He was fine after these "episodes" and carried on like normal. Before he passed from IBD he had extensive testing done on his entire body and he did have an enlarged heart that I never knew about and he had a spot on his lung, which was never really diagnosed or looked at because he had some other problems.
I'm just saying next time you take your kitty to the vet, please don't forget to mention this coughing and particularly that it produces nothing right away.
I just want to say something else though -- are you sure it's a hairball? Because in my experience, they cough it up much sooner than a week. It might be respiratory issues. I don't mean to sound paranoid, but my Timmer was always doing what you describe and nothing ever came up. He was fine after these "episodes" and carried on like normal. Before he passed from IBD he had extensive testing done on his entire body and he did have an enlarged heart that I never knew about and he had a spot on his lung, which was never really diagnosed or looked at because he had some other problems.
I'm just saying next time you take your kitty to the vet, please don't forget to mention this coughing and particularly that it produces nothing right away.
I'd take the cat to the vet. Sometimes coughing that doesn't produce a hairball means a different health issue such as asthma. One of my cats had a non-productive cough and kept swallowing hard afterwards. The vet diagnosed him with asthma.
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Cheers for the reply, have booked her in to the vet as it's a recurring problem..of course now that I've made the appointment she's back to normal, massive hairball smack bang in the middle of the floor this morning! She's not a long hair but she sheds a lot, when stroked handfuls will come out but she has e really thick coat. I groom her every 2 days and she bloody hates it..she's the only one, the other 9 come running when they see the brush, typical! Will post update on how she gets on in the vet's..
