Cat Question

So, today during stretching in cheelreading practice I was talking to my coach about dog food. And then she brought up her cat food.. her cat has bad hairballs.

What causes hairballs?

What gets rid of them?

Right now her cat is on a Walmart brand cat food. They've tried hairball formulas, but nothing is working..

[RD]

When cats groom themselves and swallow hair, it usually will pass through the intestinal tract and wind up in the litter box . . . Sometimes the cat swallows too much hair and it clumps up in the stomach.

I have heard that there are hairball remedies out there, but know nothing about them. Google may be your friend here. I've never had to research it because my cats don't get hairballs often (I brush them quite often and they don't have that much hair)

I'm not sure if food has anything to do with it or not, but getting the cat off walmart brand food is a good idea, regardless.

[Georgygirl]

Have they tried brushing their cat? That'll help take out some of the hair the cat would swallow while grooming themselves. That and a hairball control cat food should take care of it. If they're feeding low quality food, that's going to affect their cats coat too though.

Okay.. so, I'm going to tell them to brush their cat.. and to give it some fiber supplement. Probably Metamucil Psyllium capsule thingies or something like that.

[Buddy'sParents]

Brushing their cat will help.

Royal Canin makes a hairball remedy food that our customers used to rave about.

Also, there is OTC hairball treatment stuff that we used to give our himilayan/siamese cat and it worked well for her (even brushing never seemed to help all that much with her). I can't remember the name, but it can be found at any petstore I would assume. Comes in a tube or tablets...

[skyeboxer]

Tessa,

Brushing and good quality food will definitely help. If it doesn't solve the problem you might find something here: http://www.holisticat.com/hairball_arch2.html

[ToscasMom]

Cat Lady here. Tell her to buy a tube of Laxitone at the pet store. Tell her to follow the instructions because too much laxitone will mean the "lax" part will kick in. It breaks up hairballs. She can give some to the cat a few times a week. Tell her also to be glad the cat hacks them up. A hairball can cause a blockage. Cats are fastidious groomers, so the hair has to go someplace, better they bezoar it.

It's my two cents that foods touted as hairball remedies aren't worth the powder to blow them up with. And please suggest that she ditch the walmart food and buy something that is actually good for her cat, such as Eagle Pack.

[mrose_s]

how often do they brush their cat?
i don't brush panda (not in 9 yers) but i thin i might strat just because he'd enjoy it.
but he's never had a problem with hair balls

I imagine they don't brush their cat at all. But, hopefully they'll do it a bit now after I tell her that it will help.

They won't feed an expensive food. It is "just a cat" afterall.

[RD]

A high quality food could mean a healthier coat, less shedding and therefore less hairballs. Bummer they won't consider that, I hope their cat never gets a blockage from those hairballs.