My Experienced Cat People, Help is needed.

[Andie]

Since Amanda won't start this for herself I'll do it for her. My SIL recently adopted a 2-3 year old kitty (Gracie) as her very first cat ever. I am usually her cat person to ask questions to but I am not experienced with this problem..... Hairballs.

She needs to know the best foods/tricks to prevent them.

Thanks in advance from the shy one AKA AmandaC


P.S. Here's Gracie :D
55537

[Karen]

Regular brushing is key, as the more dead hair you remove, the less kitty will ingest. Some cats are prone to them, other never get them. A good diet will also help, and there are "hairball preventative" treats and foods out there ...

[Edwina's Secretary]

Gracie looks to be an adorable short haired cat. Neither Edwina or Eddie has EVER had a hairball! As Karen said - brushing helps.

[Freedom]

Hello Gracie!

Hairballs are not normal! A proper diet will prevent them. A high quality food, grain free, is best. I will give you a few, with the links; you can use the links to find a place near you to buy them.

Dry kibble:
Earthborn Holistics: careful, only 2 of their formulas are grain free, be sure to get one of those 2
http://www.earthbornholisticpetfood.com/us/cat_formulas/

Taste of the Wild: they list the canine formulas first, and then the feline ones; just keep scrolling down
http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/products/

Canned / Wet food
Tiki Cat
http://www.petropics.com/

Weruva
http://www.weruva.com/

Fussie Cat: web site is down, facebook is here: https://www.facebook.com/FussieCat?ref=ts&fref=ts

Canned should be fed every other day.

[Amanda C]

Hey there, thanks for all the advise. She is our first cat. Although we have 4 dogs and a sugar glider. All the dogs are on a grain free food. They'd be on a raw diet if we could afford it for all of them!

The lady we got her from gave us her remaining food supply. She'd been with us for about a week and a half before she started having hairballs. Where she'd never had any with the previous owner. Could some of this be that she's catching a lot of field mice? And eating some of them? It was about the time that she stopped bringing us her trophies, and we started noticing mouse parts around the house, that she started having hairball issues.

[Andie]

Gracie has tummy issues with fish based food too so she needs more turf and less surf. Amanda said she forgot to mention that.

[Karen]

The field mice have much shorter hair than a cat does, I doubt that could contribute to her problem. They are also quite nutritious - nice and high in the taurine that a kitty needs and that they put into commercial foods just to make up for it!

[emily_the_spoiled]

The other thing to do it try adding some canned pumpkin to her diet. Think of hairballs this way ... they can only go in one end but they can come out two ends. To increase the probability they go out the back end (versus the front end), pumpkin helps "move things along" :D Usually most cats like canned pumpkin so just mix it in with her food.

[Freedom]

Yes as mentioned, mice are part of the natural diet, she should have no "side effects" from those!

[catmandu]

We find that the furminator is great for taking off fur you can almost make another Cat with the excess fur!!!
And there are is always hairball remedy Cat Food and Treats!!!:love::love::love:

[snakemama]

I finally had to start keeping Sherpa shaved. His hairball problem was out of control, and he hates being brushed but somehow he doesn't mind being shaved. Silly cat.

[jackie]

I have never had a problem with them, but have seen malt in a tube that you dab on their paw or nose.

[mrspunkysmom]

I've given mine some malt that is also peanut butter flavored.

Mine are on a grain free diet and Jane still has hairballs, but I don't brush mine. Such a bad owner, I am.

Not to be negative, as long as you are rural and the mice haven't encountered rat poison, they are good for the diet. I don't let mine eat the mice that make it in the house. Don't know if they have been poisoned.

Good luck with her hairballs.

[Amanda C]

Finally got her a small slicker brush, since I couldn't find the one I use for the dogs. We also have a furminator but its for large dogs and practically bigger than her. Also trying out some hairball gel, malt stuff. So far so good. But it's only been a couple days.

[Amanda C]

As for the mice catching she doesn't e at very many from what I can tell. If she catches one in the house, she takes it to my mom, who is disabled. If she catches them outside, once she's finished playing with them, she dumps the bodies around my jeepin the carport. Before thinking of getting a cat, we out a couple boxes of poison in our water heater closet, where we absolutely knew the dogs couldn't get to it. But we have not placed any more at least a month before actually adopting her. We love our newest addition and she definitely earns her keep being a great moue hunter!

[Catty1]

She is a beautiful kitty!

Even if she doesn't seem to eat the mice she catches, ask your vet about Revolution or Profender etc. These are gels for worms and other parasites and a small amount is put on the skin at the back of kitty's neck. For outdoor cats I think the dose is every 3 months.

I have a long-haired kitty that I give the gel to. I am supposed to give it to him every 3 days - about 1/3 tsp. Check the directions on yours.

He does NOT like being groomed - he has some very fine fur. But I do some every day.

Welcome home, Gracie! :):love:

[Amanda C]

I used to work for a vet and know the different types of stuff. Which is funny because now that I actually own my own kitty, it's like I forgot everything I've learned about cat care while working there. Lol. I do know she eats some of the mice she catches I just don't know how many. I only know of the ones she half eats. Whole or half eaten, a dead mouse is better than a live one slowly destroying my house. And she's very good at she does!

[Karen]

How nice she's a natural mouser! People think all cats are, but we know that's not always true!

[Honey-Squirrel]

Cats by nature eat grasses to help their digestion and facilitate the passage of hair through their intestinal tract.
If the kitty is "indoor only," provide a pot of nice cat grass for kitty to nibble.

[Andie]

Gracie is indoor/outdoor. She spends her nights inside and from what I understand most of her afternoons/evenings outside. Right now she has an upset tummy and on meds from the vet for diarrhea. I hope she feels better soon and thank you to everyone that helps/ helped.

[Amanda C]

As Andie said, Gracie is an indoor/outdoor kitty. She come in and goes out as she wishes. She cries at the door when she's ready to go in or out. We make sure she's inside before we go to bed because we live in a active coyote area amd don't want to risk her getting hurt.

Thank you for everyone's advice. Even though the vet linked the hairballs with her very upset tummy and diarrhea, I have found a hairball remedy that seemed to be helping before I had to take her in for the diarrhea.

She's doing good and is a happy kitty.