? Hairballs increasing

Bama has never had more than the occasional hairball until three months ago after he received 10 days of Clinda-drops for a mystery infection he developed over a weekend and I had to take him to his previous vet who is open on Saturdays. He was inappetent and had fever. Besides the antibiotic, he was given Metacam. The antibiotic gave him soft stools and he threw up a couple of times a few days after starting the Clinda-drops. About a week after completing the antibiotic he became inappetent and I took him in to his regular vet. Since he stopped eating his dry food around this time, I switched him over to all wet. The hairballs continued about once every week or two but have steadily increased in frequency to about one every five days now. They are mostly liquid with a small clump of hair plus some undigested food. He has also had bouts of constipation. I've tried pumpkin, probiotics [Renew Life], homemade kefir, and vaseline. The vaseline made his stool too soft but it did help the hairball issue for about a week.

Anybody have any insight or suggestions? His vet is aware of the issue and I will be speaking with her again in a couple of days. Thanks.

 

One of my cats, Zoe, was absolutely ADDICTED to vaseline. I started using vaseline many years ago as I did not like the ingredients in hairball gel formulas (sugars). I weaned Zoe way down to just a scant smear daily. She still vomits hairballs at least weekly.

I wouldn't be too terribly concerned with hairballs as long as: she can eat, she does poop daily, there is definitely hair in the vomit. If you can not answer yes to those then I would become more concerned and seek Vet treatment. It looks like you have tried several remedies so I don't have anything more to add.

 

HERES some info about hairballs and using egg yolk to help.

 

I've noticed my cat has had more hairballs recently, too. Quite frankly, I think it's because he's slimmed down and can groom himself more easily. I've noticed he's been grooming much more than just his face and paws, so he'll usually have a little hairball maybe once a week. I do brush him daily, but I recently bought a Furminator and I was surprised at the amount of hair it can remove, even with a short-haired cat like Toby. I try to use it once a week, so hopefully it'll help with his hairballs.

 

Shaving the under belly in the summer helps. My cat is long haired so he gets them pretty bad even if I brush him. He also has IBD so he's probably worse than normal cats because his digestion isn't the best.

 

@Lillie -- How often does your cat get hairballs? This is a fairly recent occurrence for Bama so I'm wondering if he may be developing IBD. He has constipation rather than diarrhea, though.

 

It depends on whether I get him shaved for the summer or not. Last year he was in the ER with projectile vomiting and just about every time he vomited hair came up. This was even after he had an enema before his endoscopy. The vet couldn't believe he accumulated that much hair in such a short time. This year has been ok though. In the past he was bringing them up about once a week. One was so large I couldn't believe he got it out through his throat. His specialist said more than two over the summer is not considered normal. Constipation can also be a symptom of IBD which is what my previous kitty had before her diagnosis for IBD. Things inside just don't work right with IBD.