Hairball Remedy Reviews and Advice

CAT LAX Dear Gracie's parent first I would speak to your vet.If it's a hairball I recommend CAT LAX (vet can provide) Just recently my vet told me to try yogurt for my cats diarrhea and the puke is less. (mine love vanilla flavor) catnip is very good for a cats digestive system. Good luck gracie and I hope your feeling better soon.

Z/D I have a cat who was trowing up sometimes 2-3 times a day. turns out she's got a food allergy. so we order special low-allergen food from the vet called Z/D. Now we only get the once a month hairball.

dry biscuits I'm in Australia and I've found some good dry biscuits with an 'anti hairball' formula that seem to work quite well.

Crisco All Vegetable Shortening If it is hairballs, most remedies at the store are hard to get more than one cat to like, but something that I found that is cheap and most cats willingly eat is Crisco All Vegetable Shortening. I had a cat that threw up a lot, but the problem was not hairballs (that was part of it) but the main problem was tapeworms. Once I gave her the droncit pill, the throwing up ended for good. Before that she threw up sometime 2-3 times a day.

hyperthroid condition I have a cat named Gracie too and puking can happen if a cat (usually older) has a hyperthroid condition. A blood test can determine it.

Harts malt flavored hairball remedy Contrary to another visitor's experience my cat loves the Harts malt flavored hairball remedy. I have a hard time pulling it away from her. As long as she gets a dose regularly, no puke!

brushing This isn't really a story--just advise on the prevention of hairballs (the main cause of cats yakking up) Brush them daily with one of those fine metal bristled grooming brushes. It is easy to remove the accumulated hair from the brush by using an ordinary comb. It is AMAZING how much hair a cat-- particularly short-haired cats, has. If they can't swallow the hair while they groom themselves, they won't be puking it up!

Hill's Science Diet I had to pay fo find out that two of my three cats were having serious problems seeming to be directly connected with Hills science diet hairball control formula... I have always fed my cats science diet, but I am very sorry to have fed the hairball control formula for the past year and a half with negative results...one cat exhibited severe 'flea allergy' symptoms...and the other has been barfing for months...and it took me this long to figure out what was happening to them..

I have always sworn by Hill's Science Diet, one of my cats liived well for over 24 years...but upon visiting my vet. I changed feed to the Hill's hypo-allergenic formula and less than 24 hours later there is MAJOR improvement with both cats... I am not looking to lead a revolution here....just wanted other cat owners to know that there may be problems which might not be reaching the general public...

half now, half later
My cats have been bulimic for sometime. (By the way I found it helpful to feed them half their serving of food first, then 20 or 30 min. later feed the other half. Then they don't eat so fast and it doesn't come back up as often. Not that I'd want to put your lovely website out of business.) The other day I found a puddle of yellow stickiness on my living room carpet, complete with hairball. I got the wet paper towels and cleaned it up. Afterward, the place where the puke had been was completely clean, the cat puke had lifted the stain from my carpet. Think there's any way I could bottle this stuff?

Pancreatitis
Here's a little bit of advice about pukey cats: If you and your vet have ruled out any other reasons for their getting sick, you may want to check on whether or not the cat has pancreatitis. Peanut was misdiagnosed for a long time, and she got a lot worse before she was diagnosed properly. If we had known that such a condition existed, we probably could've saved her a lot of misery--and saved ourselves a LOT of carpet scrubbing!
Catnip
My cat Gracie has puked a couple of times a week for years (usually in my bed or on top of the fridge), but recently the frequency has increased to a couple of times a day. I started giving her a pinch of catnip in the evening after she eats dinner, and she hasn't puked in a week!!! I have made no other change to her food or routine. Nothing else--including hairball remedy and daily brushing--has worked. I hope others try this and report back their results.

Pumpkin
As the proud owner of 7 pukin' cats I'd like to pass on a 'natural' food to help eliminate hairballs. As an animal technician, I have tried everything! We simply mix equal amounts of canned pumpkin puree - yep - the pie stuff - with wet food, and give it twice a week. I use one cane of wet food for the 7 cats... Have tried the pumpkin plain but they ignored it. Have been doing this for 2 months and get about 1 puke a week instead of a couple a day. And I have 3 long hair cats.. Don't know why it works but it does!

BeechNut strained baby food
I, too, have a puker. Tootsie is 15 1/2, still going strong (and still puking). Lately I have tried to ease things on her stomach (being a senior and all). I have been giving her one teaspoonful or so of BeechNut strained baby food, the chicken in chicken broth. It is a wonderful treat for her and she knows I ONLY do it just for her because she is sooo special!!!! (It also does a marvelous job of hiding the finely pulverized pills she needs to take every day.) But every once in a while the BeechNut decides to stage a revival (or a reheaval).

Doctor Fosters and Smith
Try Doctor Fosters and Smith hairball remedy - I can get all my kitties to lick it now and then, 3 will do a dance of joy when the jar (I get jumbo sized package - 5 pukers here) is displayed and fight over who gets 1st and last licks. Meow Mix has always made my babes puke, so I stick to other brands. Alley Cat was a good one, until the population reached 6 kitties, then I had to switch to brands that have 16 lb + size food bags. I also only let them have 1 tablespoon wet food at a time, once or twice weekly. Never salmon flavored. Once in a while they get real salmon, when I get it on sale and get sick of it myself. Some of the reason behind the low amount of wet food is puke-prevention, some is frugal tendencies, and some is fat cat avoidance.

Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise also helps fur balls, but is fattening. Ditto for butter. A lady I worked with gave her babies olive oil - she found a few fish bits floating in the oil helped the kitties decide to lap it up (she gave her 2 about 1 tablesppon a week, in 3 or 4 doses). My mum uses vasoline for the fur spitter at her house. I have a hard enough time keeping my kitties out of non-food products, I just can't get myself to encourage my bunch to lick vasoline.