Whole Carcass Rabbit And Hairballs

valentine319

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i appreciate all the help everyone has given. My cat has done well changing to the whole carcass rabbit other than one issue arising so far. She was having a really bad time with allergies, ripping out fur and swallowing the hair in the weeks before switching to raw and in the first week of raw. Tonight she coughed up a pretty nasty hairball. Part cat hair and part fur from the rabbit.
Should I be concerned or add something to her food to help out. She's been pooping about every 2 days. I'm not sure if this is a transition thing or I should add fiber. I did not add psyllum husks since she was going on whole carcass rabbit. Normally she would only have a hairball once a year but this is about the 3rd one but she ripped a ton of her hair out this allergy season. The raw has really helped that.
The food was digested, it was mainly her fur and some rabbit fur with brown liquid. I know it's just once since she's switched just want to make sure I don't need to add something to her raw food.
 

silverpersian

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You may want to add canned pumpkin. I add 7.25 oz (a quarter of a large can) to each 3 lb. batch of food. My understanding is that it promotes regularity and can help with both diarrhea and constipation.

I've heard of people using coconut or olive oil for constipation, but I haven't had to try either. The pumpkin keeps our cats pretty regular. I add quite a bit of water to their food, and that probably helps.

I feed ground rabbit, but mine is skinned before grinding, so it has only tiny chunks of fur, if any.

As an experiment, are you able to switch to skinned whole grinds for a while?
 

Ardina

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I can't help you much with the hairball situation, but I did notice that my cat went from pooping stinky, soft stool once a day to dry, hard stool once every 2-3 days when I switched her to raw. Most of the stool is fur, though I haven't noticed any extra fur on days she's eaten the whole carcass rabbit vs chicken or turkey.

Even though the stool is hard, she isn't straining, so I don't worry too much.

If your cat is straining though, pumpkin may be worth a try.
 

dhammagirl

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Adding a bit more water to the whole carcass ground rabbit and some fish oil, or some other oil if she's allergic to fish, such as flax oil, helps keep things lubricated and moving along. The oil also helps with skin and coat issues. Even though I do this, I have one cat, Bilbo, who is a regular hacker of hairballs unless I regularly give him hairball control treats, while the other two kitties very rarely hack up hairballs. Go figure. :dunno:
 
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valentine319

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Thanks everyone. I've only got the whole carcass rabbit. She's not straining. I'll try adding more water. If that doesn't help I'll add pumpkin.
 

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One of my cats, Chai, had that same problem with the whole carcass rabbit, regurgitating after eating. He grooms a lot more than the other cat, so I guess the fur proved too much. I tried getting him to slow down his eating, but he would regurgitate even after eating a small amount. It helped to add extra water, fish oil, and even coconut oil to the rabbit, but it didn't completely stop the problem. I finally gave up and switched to the regular (not whole-carcass) ground rabbit. Chai hasn't regurgitated since.
 
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valentine319

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One of my cats, Chai, had that same problem with the whole carcass rabbit, regurgitating after eating. He grooms a lot more than the other cat, so I guess the fur proved too much. I tried getting him to slow down his eating, but he would regurgitate even after eating a small amount. It helped to add extra water, fish oil, and even coconut oil to the rabbit, but it didn't completely stop the problem. I finally gave up and switched to the regular (not whole-carcass) ground rabbit. Chai hasn't regurgitated since.
Thank you! I'll keep an eye on this and change her if it continues.
 
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valentine319

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Well she just had another one. I'm going to get the egg lecithin. I'm not sure if there's anywhere with pumpkin. This area doesn't carry it year round. I'll add in some coconut oil and if this doesn't clear I'll change the rabbit to without fur.
 

sophie1

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Egg lecithin is something I didn't try. I'm curious to know how that works out for you.
 

abby2932

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My cats have the same problem with the whole carcass grinds (rabbit, cavies, mouse). I actually did try to add egg yolk lecithin daily to stop the hairballs but it didn't work for us. Once I went back to the fur-free grinds, we haven't had any hairball issues since.

My cats never had a problem with hairballs when they were on commercial wet food. It happened when I started feeding whole carcass grinds. But like I mentioned, once I switched to fur-free raw, things went back to normal. It's a shame because the whole carcass rabbit is cheaper :rolleyes: and the cavies and mouse are super species-appropriate. But alas, it wasn't meant to be for my two.
 
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valentine319

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My cats have the same problem with the whole carcass grinds (rabbit, cavies, mouse). I actually did try to add egg yolk lecithin daily to stop the hairballs but it didn't work for us. Once I went back to the fur-free grinds, we haven't had any hairball issues since.

My cats never had a problem with hairballs when they were on commercial wet food. It happened when I started feeding whole carcass grinds. But like I mentioned, once I switched to fur-free raw, things went back to normal. It's a shame because the whole carcass rabbit is cheaper :rolleyes: and the cavies and mouse are super species-appropriate. But alas, it wasn't meant to be for my two.
Thanks! If it doesn't work out I've done a spreadsheet on what to order to feed her rabbit that's not whole carcass.
 
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valentine319

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It seems like she passed hair in her poop. Fingers crossed. I still have to add another meat this next order, probably turkey. Hoping this was just a passing thing. I did add 1 tsp coconut oil per day to food. I added back in a small amount of her probiotics. Fingers crossed. :clap2:
 

sophie1

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If it takes that much coconut oil to deal with the hairball issue, you probably should just switch to the non-whole-carcass rabbit.

Call me a skeptic, but as the above websites make some dubious claims and cite no sources, I wouldn't take them at face value.
 

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A few thoughts on the oil:

Coconut oil is one of those "health foods" that has become debatable, especially with the new report out 2-3 days ago that it's not any healthier than butter or meat drippings. I'm mostly on the fence about giving it to cats, but I lean towards offering animal-based products to our carnivores, not plant-based supplements. As such, I would more likely offer a bit of melted animal fat, or maybe butter, if that seems to help with hairballs. It is likely the oil, and not the type of oil which helps.

valentine319 valentine319 - Since you are planning to introduce turkey with your next Hare Today order, you might go pick up a couple of turkey legs and try offering a little bit of turkey skin (or melt the fat off turkey skin over very low heat to offer). That may have the same effect as coconut oil, plus you would have an inexpensive test against turkey allergy/intolerance before placing a large HT order.

Also, a turkey mix is going to be higher in fat than rabbit, so you may not need to add oils to it.

Final note. A teaspoon of oil every day is 40 calories, like feeding an extra day's worth of calories over a week (280 calories per week), so watch the weight. ;) 1/4 or 1/2 tsp may be just as effective.
 
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valentine319

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She gets 1/8-1/4 a teaspoon of coconut oil (i haven't been measuring it just using a tiny bit on the end of a knife she doesn't like too much), i had the amount wrong.
Anyone Else Use Coconut Oil?

She didn't have a problem with turkey canned so I'm going to assume it's fine. Right now she's on rabbit which is lean. I have a thought that after the next batch I pull the coconut oil and see if she's adjusted. She did amazing taking to the raw food. My thought is it was taking her stomach and intestines time to pick back up and deal with raw food. I'm pretty sure this is the first time on raw for her.

I can't really do any allergy checks on beer right now. A kitten found a way to steal a bite of biscuit.

Maybe it was misunderstood that the probiotic (for pets) I'm fine using long term. I am not planning on keeping her on coconut oil long term.
 
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orange&white

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I don't think 1/8 to 1/4 tsp could hurt her, and if it does help with the hairballs, I would call it a good thing.

You've improved her diet so much by switching to raw food and she is benefiting from it. Compared with all the seriously "yuck" ingredients in processed cat foods, I don't think a dab of coconut oil should be much to worry over.
 

dorimon

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If the coconut oil is only going to be used for a short while, I wouldn't worry about it. If you need something to use long-term, I would research other options. It's debatable whether or not coconut oil is safe, and why take the risk?
 
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