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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / July 2003Hairball problem?
My 4-year old kitty has thrown up 3 times today. This morning it was last night's food. A couple of hours later it was a clear, thick liquid. Just a few minutes ago it was 2 lumps of brown stuff that looked like matted hair. Since this is July 4th, my vet isn't in but hopefully will be tomorrow. I give her the Purina hairball treats once a week according to the directions but I know that's not the cure-all for hairballs. Is there anything else I can give her until I can get her into the vet? She hasn't drank any water all day from what I can tell and she hasn't eaten any food. She hides for a couple of hours after she's thrown up then is her usual affectionate self until she throws up again. So, I'm thinking this is not an emergency vet situation. However, if my vet doesn't have his usual Saturday hours tomorrow, then I'll take her to the emergency vet. Thanks for any help or advice. circa Fri, 04 Jul 2003 22:33:26 GMT, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav, Kris (emanning@cox.net) said, > My 4-year old kitty has thrown up 3 times today. This morning it was last > night's food. A couple of hours later it was a clear, thick liquid. Just a [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Thanks for any help or advice. What you describe is pretty typical for my cats when they're bringing up a hairball. As far as prevention of hairballs, the best thing to do is brush the cat regularly. Daily is good. The more hair that ends up in the brush, the less hair ends up in the cat's tummy. Laura Thanks Laura. I do brush her but probably not as often as I should. I will definitely get her in somewhere tomorrow if she's not better. She's under my bed right now recovering from her latest bout of vomiting. I hope the fireworks tonight don't make her sicker. > circa Fri, 04 Jul 2003 22:33:26 GMT, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav, > Kris (emanning@cox.net) said, [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > Laura Laxatone, or PetroMalt, are available at your vet's. Inexpensive, and a more standard hairball treatment than the Purina routine. Always keep some on hand. If it is hairballs, more often than not, they are ok, once they get the hairball up. I'd definitely have any cat that didn't return to normal by morning to the vet. > Thanks Laura. I do brush her but probably not as often as I should. > [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] > > > > Laura >What you describe is pretty typical for my cats when they're bringing >up a hairball. As far as prevention of hairballs, the best thing to >do is brush the cat regularly. Daily is good. The more hair that ends >up in the brush, the less hair ends up in the cat's tummy. I read somewhere recently (have no idea where I read this) that hairballs do serve a bit of purpose for cats: fiber. So I imagine that some amount of it is necessary, no? I wonder how much mouse hair feral cats end up eating.... My childhood cat used to bring her kills into the house through the heating vents... she was shorthaired and only did the hairball thing now-and-then. I wish I understood this stuff better. Hey all. Thanks for your responses. She started feeling better last night after getting the hair balls up. She's eating and drinking and seems perfectly OK now. I will try the Petromalt or Laxatone as suggested. I'll also start brushing her every day, too. > >What you describe is pretty typical for my cats when they're bringing > >up a hairball. As far as prevention of hairballs, the best thing to [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > I wish I understood this stuff better. > Hey all. Thanks for your responses. She started feeling better last night > after getting the hair balls up. She's eating and drinking and seems > perfectly OK now. I will try the Petromalt or Laxatone as suggested. I'll > also start brushing her every day, too. Good. :-) One of my cats was feeling just sort of "off' at one point, & so she had a vet appt. *Just* before the appt. - as I was about to put her into the carrier - she threw up a _huge_ hairball. And immediately felt better. ;-) Cathy -- "Staccato signals of constant information..." ("The Boy in the Bubble") Paul Simon > > >What you describe is pretty typical for my cats when they're bringing > > >up a hairball. As far as prevention of hairballs, the best thing to [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > > > I wish I understood this stuff better. After the last bout a little while ago - of throwing up the hair masses, see if she now acts fine, including eating & everything. If so, that was her problem: a hairball that needed to come up, & finally did. Cathy -- "Staccato signals of constant information..." ("The Boy in the Bubble") Paul Simon > My 4-year old kitty has thrown up 3 times today. This morning it was last > night's food. A couple of hours later it was a clear, thick liquid. Just a [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Thanks for any help or advice. My five-year-old cat was vomiting with increasing regularity a few months ago. I started him on Petromalt, a flavored petroleum jelly hairball remedy, and this seems to have cleared up the problem completely. Pet stores, Targets, Wal-Marts etc. all have a variety of these petroleum jelly-based "medicines." My cat doesn't like the flavor (of course), so I rubbed it onto his paw, per the directions. I did two weeks of a one-inch ribbon each day. I saw results immediately. He vomited only once in that first two weeks, it was only a bit of spittle, and his feces look fine. Now I give him a 3/4-inch ribbon twice a week. I brush him down once a day, too. He seems completely cured. The Internet has reports that Vaseline petroleum jelly works just as well, typically suggesting one put a dollop on the cat's nose. I see one site also states pats of butter work, too. See http://home.stny.rr.com/carmon/Vomit.htm . The mechanism appears to be simply lubricating the fur the kitty has swallowed so it passes more readily through its "plumbing." Please post an update. :-) > My 4-year old kitty has thrown up 3 times today. This morning it was last > night's food. A couple of hours later it was a clear, thick liquid. Just a [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Thanks for any help or advice. > My five-year-old cat was vomiting with increasing regularity a few months > ago. I started him on Petromalt, a flavored petroleum jelly hairball remedy, [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > The Internet has reports that Vaseline petroleum jelly works just as well, > typically suggesting one put a dollop on the cat's nose. The hairball remedies Petromalt and Laxatone (basically the same thing as Petromalt) - are both just petroleum jelly (Vaseline), with flavor added. If you have the molasses flavored kind that you cat doesn't like, try & see if you can find the fish-flavored variety, in case that's a bigger hit w/ him. Cathy -- "Staccato signals of constant information..." ("The Boy in the Bubble") Paul Simon I see one site also > states pats of butter work, too. See > http://home.stny.rr.com/carmon/Vomit.htm . The mechanism appears to be > simply lubricating the fur the kitty has swallowed so it passes more readily > through its "plumbing." > > Please post an update. :-) Hi Cathy, As it happens, my cat's first tube of hairball remedy was the molasses (I think) flavored Petromalt. His second tube is Hartz's salmon flavored one. My cat is not keen on either, but it's not a big problem. At least the drops he shakes off his paw clean up easily from the carpet. After this second tube runs out, I am thinking of trying the butter or maybe giving him helpings of canned tuna fish in oil (people version) a few times a week. He was on dried food (Iams mostly) for almost all his life, so perhaps the fur he consumed didn't pass because of insufficient oil in his diet. Diet variety perhaps helps ensure oil, too? I will have to check the labels of the various cat foods and treats designed to prevent hair balls and see if they work mostly by adding oil to the diet. > "Caliban" <caliban27@earthlink.net> wrote snip > > The Internet has reports that Vaseline petroleum jelly works just as well, > > typically suggesting one put a dollop on the cat's nose. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > if you can find the fish-flavored variety, in case that's a bigger hit w/ > him. > I see one site also > > states pats of butter work, too. See > > http://home.stny.rr.com/carmon/Vomit.htm . The mechanism appears to be > > simply lubricating the fur the kitty has swallowed so it passes more > readily > > through its "plumbing." circa Sat, 05 Jul 2003 16:34:53 GMT, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav, Caliban (caliban27@earthlink.net) said, > Hi Cathy, > > As it happens, my cat's first tube of hairball remedy was the molasses (I > think) flavored Petromalt. His second tube is Hartz's salmon flavored one. > My cat is not keen on either, but it's not a big problem. At least the drops > he shakes off his paw clean up easily from the carpet. Try plain ol' vaseline. You could even try mixing it into his food. > After this second tube runs out, I am thinking of trying the butter or maybe > giving him helpings of canned tuna fish in oil (people version) a few times > a week. Feeding tuna or its oil regularly to your cat is generally not a good idea except as an occasional treat or to stimulate inappetant cats to eat. http://sd.essortment.com/nutritioncats_rnsg.htm http://groups.yahoo.com/group/feline-hyperT/message/7506 http://www.pampered-paws.net/faqcat.htm#faq_04 http://www.vegsource.com/animal/cats/messages/18406.html The below article debates the toxicity of tuna, and I offer no statement as to whether or not I agree with it, but note the information at the end about the oil from canned tuna depleting vitamin E in cats. http://www.gorbzilla.com/files%20for%20download/all_about_tuna.PDF > He was on dried food (Iams mostly) for almost all his life, so perhaps the > fur he consumed didn't pass because of insufficient oil in his diet. Diet > variety perhaps helps ensure oil, too? I will have to check the labels of > the various cat foods and treats designed to prevent hair balls and see if > they work mostly by adding oil to the diet. They don't. Some use petrolatum (petroleum jelly) and others use vegetable fiber. Just because a substance is slippery doesn't mean it's suitable to treat hairballs. http://www.purina.com/purinaessentials/faqs.asp#q6 http://tinyurl.com/g3sr http://tinyurl.com/g3sq http://www.penmarric.ns.ca/catcare/usefulinfo/Hairballs.htm The single best thing you can do to help prevent hairballs is groom the cat regularly. The less hair the cat swallows, the less hair there is to cause irritation in his/her digestive tract. Supplementing with vegetable-fiber foods, with petrolatum or with fiber supplements is good, but simply adding fat (butter, oil) to a cat's diet does just that- adds fat. Cat diets are already pretty high-fat in comparison to what would be best for humans. In fact, since you mentioned that your cat ate mostly Iams, check out the little interactive demo here: http://tinyurl.com/g3t5 Note that what Iams uses for hairball control is cellulose and beet pulp fiber. Fatty acids (fish oils) are used to add shine to the coat. Last, note the warning about oil-based hairball remedies here: http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle/id-700.html Laura Hairball formula foods control hairballs by adding fiber to the diet -- the fiber is supposed to flush the hair out i use Laxaire on my cat -- works fairly well in conjunction with hairball formulated food > circa Sat, 05 Jul 2003 16:34:53 GMT, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav, > Caliban (caliban27@earthlink.net) said, [quoted text clipped - 67 lines] > > Laura > circa Sat, 05 Jul 2003 16:34:53 GMT, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav, > Caliban (caliban27@earthlink.net) said, [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Try plain ol' vaseline. You could even try mixing it into his food. I am holding off on vaseline for now, because these "hairball remedies" have additional nutrients. E.g. the Hartz hairball remedy has Vitamin B1. And, yes, I want to get my cat down to less and less each week but think it might come down to some regular amount, say a half-inch ribbon each week or every other week, to help his digestion. snip > > I will have to check the labels of > > the various cat foods and treats designed to prevent hair balls and see if > > they work mostly by adding oil to the diet. > > > They don't. Some use petrolatum (petroleum jelly) Petrolatum is oil. > and others use > vegetable fiber. Just because a substance is slippery doesn't mean > it's suitable to treat hairballs. I don't know that most oils that are consumable (vegetable, olive, margarine, butter) wouldn't all have the same effect for short-term treatment of hairballs. I will study more on the fiber, however. One of the sites you listed said its cat food had 4% fiber for the treatment of hairballs. I'll check other dry foods and see if they're much different. Remember, the original poster said s/he gave her cat hairball treats. Now maybe the recent vomiting wasn't hairballs, but if it was, this seems to me to confound what the best remedy (short or long-term) is. > The single best thing you can do to help prevent hairballs is groom > the cat regularly. The less hair the cat swallows, the less hair > there is to cause irritation in his/her digestive tract. > Supplementing with vegetable-fiber foods, with petrolatum or with > fiber supplements is good, but simply adding fat (butter, oil) to a > cat's diet does just that- adds fat. Why is it you think butter is worse fat-wise than petrolatum? > Cat diets are already pretty > high-fat in comparison to what would be best for humans. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > pulp fiber. Fatty acids (fish oils) are used to add shine to the > coat. Years ago when I got my cat (as a six-week-old kitten), his veterinarian emphatically stated Iams and Hill's Science was far superior to any other cat foods. I noticed her office sold the stuff. I also know many people swear by Iams, but not, it seems, based on any particular scientific results. It seems it just became popular. That is, people like to appear to "know best." In fact, I'm not sure the studies attesting to Iams superiority are all that credible. Marketers (read: greedy executives lied) may have got the better of the public for some time. Now I see Iams debated regularly here. It's lost its edge, apparently. I fed my cat strictly dry Iams for years and am now convinced this was a huge contributor to his recent troubles. So whom to believe? Several of the sites you provided are cat food manufacturer-sponsored. And I don't know what the other sites are using for their sources. At any rate, as I said, I will look into the high fiber alternatives for dealing with hairballs and continue brushing down my cat once a day, something I had not done before. (But nor did I ever have a hairball situation with a cat like this before, given my several cats in my life since I was a kid, none of whom were brushed regularly and all of whom lived healthily for years. So there's still some puzzlement here.) Thanks for your comments. circa Sat, 05 Jul 2003 23:43:48 GMT, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav, Caliban (caliban27@earthlink.net) said, > > Try plain ol' vaseline. You could even try mixing it into his food. > > I am holding off on vaseline for now, because these "hairball remedies" have > additional nutrients. E.g. the Hartz hairball remedy has Vitamin B1. First, a good cat food will provide those nutrients. Second, if you're concerned about additional nutrition and your vet feels it's warranted, there are supplements. > And, yes, I want to get my cat down to less and less each week but think it > might come down to some regular amount, say a half-inch ribbon each week or > every other week, to help his digestion. Why the imperative to get him down to less each week? It is not toxic to him. > snip > > > I will have to check the labels of [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Petrolatum is oil. Petrolatum is *mineral*-based. Not animal. Not vegetable. Mineral. There *is* a difference. > > and others use > > vegetable fiber. Just because a substance is slippery doesn't mean [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > margarine, butter) wouldn't all have the same effect for short-term > treatment of hairballs. They don't, or there wouldn't be petrolatum-based hairball remedies. There would be vegetable-oil based hairball remedies. The point of hairball remedies is that cats don't digest the fur they swallow. That fur has to come out one way or the other. Furball remedies either aid by making the fur "slide" through the digestive tract without the "lubricant" being digested, like petrolatum-based remedies, or by providing fiber that "sticks" to the fur and facilitates its passage, for lack of better scientific explanation that I'm sure others can provide. > I will study more on the fiber, however. One of the sites you listed said > its cat food had 4% fiber for the treatment of hairballs. I'll check other > dry foods and see if they're much different. Remember, the original poster > said s/he gave her cat hairball treats. Which usually contain encapsulated petrolatum, as you'll find when you read up on them. All they are is essentially Petromalt wrapped in a piece of kibble. > maybe the recent vomiting wasn't > hairballs, but if it was, this seems to me to confound what the best remedy > (short or long-term) is. Brushing is the best *prevention*. > > The single best thing you can do to help prevent hairballs is groom > > the cat regularly. The less hair the cat swallows, the less hair [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Why is it you think butter is worse fat-wise than petrolatum? I don't think it's worse "fat-wise". My point is, it is digestible. Petrolatum is not. That's why petrolatum works. Pick up a bottle of mineral oil (not baby oil) and read what it's used for in humans. One of its uses is as a laxative. Guess why. > > Cat diets are already pretty > > high-fat in comparison to what would be best for humans. [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > are all that credible. Marketers (read: greedy executives lied) may have got > the better of the public for some time. Actually, you won't find many people here who recommend Iams anymore, as their practices have changed over the years. When your vet recommended Iams, she probably did have scientific reasons for doing so. If you peruse this newsgroup a bit more, you'll find that there are some highly educated opinions on the subject, and they're not based on "marketing". I don't feel that Iams is the best diet for cats, but I'm also not a veternarian or nutritionist. I prefer Science Diet, although my cats are on prescription diets at this point due to their age and health issues. > Now I see Iams debated regularly here. It's lost its edge, apparently. I fed > my cat strictly dry Iams for years and am now convinced this was a huge > contributor to his recent troubles. I'm not sure I'd say that. Iams is not, IMO, as good as some of the other diets available, but for a grocery-store food, it's better than a lot of them. With that said, the reason that you see Iams debated here is because they have changed their methods over the past few years. I think you do a disservice to many of the people who post here by assuming that they've not actually done research before forming their opinions. The easiest way for you to understand why people recommend one diet over another is to start reading the labels on the sides of the bags, and read those labels after researching what each of those percentages listed is all about. For example, most grocery store foods contain ridiculously high levels of phosphorus. There is strong scientific evidence implicating phosphorus in chronic renal failure. Take a look at http://www.felinecrf.org if you're interested in more information as to why. > So whom to believe? Several of the sites you provided are cat food > manufacturer-sponsored. *Two* were, and I posted them for specific reasons- I posted the Purina site to show that there are hairball foods that use petrolatum, and I posted the Iams site because you mentioned feeding your cat Iams. The rest of the sites are not manufacturers' sites. > And I don't know what the other sites are using for > their sources. Several of them provided attribution at the bottom, which you can easily follow up. Also, if you look through this newsgroup, you will see that there are frequent discussions of diet and there is a regular poster named Steve Crane who, while he works for Hills, has been in the business of pet nutrition research for something like twenty-five years. Read his posts. He provides solid scientific data *and* attribution of his sources. There are others, as well, but his posts might be worth your reading as you seem to believe that nobody here posts actual empirical evidence. > At any rate, as I said, I will look into the high fiber alternatives for > dealing with hairballs and continue brushing down my cat once a day, > something I had not done before. You'll find that it makes a difference, both in the hairballs and in the healthiness of the cat's coat. > (But nor did I ever have a hairball > situation with a cat like this before, given my several cats in my life > since I was a kid, none of whom were brushed regularly and all of whom lived > healthily for years. So there's still some puzzlement here.) Read the other threads from the past day or two about cats having different fur textures. One of my cats barely sheds. Another is a walking source of kitty wool. Different cats have different fur and different sensitivity to swallowed fur. You can't judge based on cats you had before. > Thanks for your comments. You're welcome. Laura |
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