Thread: Hairballs

Whiskey has a love hate relationship with the brush. He hates the process. But he'll tolerate being brushed for the treat payout afterward. He even knows the routine of being brushed after he spent time outside. When he comes in he immediately lays down & rolls about for me to brush him so he can't get his treat. I use a slicker brush 1st and finish up with a boars hair bristle brush to soften & silken his coat. He is 2 and just coughed up his 1st hairball the other day.

Originally Posted by CatsMom

Whiskey has a love hate relationship with the brush. He hates the process. But he'll tolerate being brushed for the treat payout afterward. He even knows the routine of being brushed after he spent time outside. When he comes in he immediately lays down & rolls about for me to brush him so he can't get his treat. I use a slicker brush 1st and finish up with a boars hair bristle brush to soften & silken his coat. He is 2 and just coughed up his 1st hairball the other day.

omg that is so great! I wish I could train Neevie to do... anything! :-D

Little Pyggie has already been introduced to the brush, I think, as when he saw it coming he flopped over and purred like a ferrari for the entire process. He hasn't had the hairball problem, (yet), but he does get his whiskers caught in his mouth which make him cough and heave like a hairball until it un-bends back out of his throat. I am not entirely sure how he manages to do that! I have heard of a hairball paste that you can mix with food that apparently works, but I've not seen any in the store or used it myself.

Sidney came back from the cattery at the start of August in the middle of a massive moult - up till then the house had been hair-free for a year. He took against being groomed early on and seemed to keep himself in good condition so we let him deal with it.

However, he is now like a car driving through the desert - everywhere he goes he is followed by a plume of fluff that drifts off him with every step. He is now getting scruffed and brushed, I have tried a slicker brush and the damp tissue paper but two weeks later it is still coming out in handfulls and he is hairballing everywhere. He even managed to clog up the Dyson with white fluff!

I found what I thought was a rather large dead mouse on the hall carpet last week. We have MC-proofed the back garden so I assumed Sidney had finally managed to catch something other than a butterfly! When I picked it up I realised it was a hairball. At least 3 inches long and about an inch wide. Grim.

So, I think bald is probably better right now and I am going to try a furminator. I just got out of the shower, he brushed up against my damp shin and now I look like a werewolf. Enough. Worst case scenario: he can wear the woolly jumper that I knitted him for winter walkies.

Yeah starting to have the problem with Neevie too - also after we left her for a couple of weeks... she likes the brush though, thank God...

First of all, and I know this is obvious, but I really recommend cutting the cats claws BEFORE FURMINATING!!!!!! Not after.....

Anyway, we now have half a cat. He lost a cat-sized ball of fluff, it was okay at first but degenerated into pinning him to the floor by the scruff as he did not particularly enjoy the experience. He was quite vocal, and I bled quite a bit, but we did it.
His coat does feel a bit harsher today,but he has got his mackerel tabby markings back which was unexpected. Most importantly he did not sick up a hair-rat for the first time today in a week and he is clearly much happier about life. He is even talking to me again now!

I would not use the furminator regularly - it is pretty brutal - but, assuming he goes back to not shedding until next summer, then it is worth the hour of pain (mine) to just get rid of it all in one go at the start of the moult. I think he has lost a bit of weight with not eating as much through being so sick, so I'm glad we did it - NB he is not a show cat so it doesn't matter to us right now that he has a "normal cats tail" instead of a glorious plume. It will grow back...

I just looked at Neevie's picture - what is her bloodline? She and Sidney look really similar!

I to did not like the furminator. Kitty did not either. I just brush daily and that has really helped with the furballs.