Conference misery::feline_v1

    Karen,
    
    I can't offer any advice on the hairballs, but check out today's
    edition of Garfield....
    
    Edd

    Hi, Karen.. Pookie is a longed haired puddytat..and to prevent
    hairballs, I put a half of an eyedrpper of mineral oil in her water
    once a week.. and you can put a lilttle vaseline on her paws she
    will lick  itoff(about once a week).. there is also petromalt
    in the pet store..this should take care of it...
    regards
    Kate ..Pookies Mom

    There are two traditional ways for cats and their owners to get
    rid of hairballs.
    
    1) Lubrication.  This is via mineral oil (_not_ animal or vegetable
    oil: these can be digested) or petroleum jelly [this latter is sold
    with malt flavoring as Petromalt or other names like that].  For
    jelly, spread some on the roof of kitty's mouth, if you can.
    
    2) Regurgitation.  This is a reason cats eat grass: they can't digest
    the grass, but it induces vomiting.
    
    Periodic combing mimimizes the formation of hairballs.  
    
    Before you administer oil or jelly, consult your vet.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    Then there's always 'Laxatone', the hairball remedy I got at the
    vet. 1/2" on dinner once or twice a week works wonders without making
    a mess.
    
    Maggie has long orange fur and a dainty constitution.  She used
    to throw up frequently.
    
    Milo has short grey fur and an iron constitution.  Eats carpet scraps,
    feathers, and whatever he can extract from the couch and never throws
    up -- hence without the Laxatone he would be in considerable lower
    bowel distress.
    
      Annie

We've used "Femalt" for years.  You can buy it at most pet supply shops.
All of our kitties lick it right off the end of the tube, so there's no problem 
in getting them to ingest it.

As you thought, it both lubricates and helps dissolve the hair mats making it 
easier for the pet to pass it rather than induce vomiting.

Some ways to decrease the amount of ingested hair is to comb more often and 
vacuum the pet's favorite spots.

    Re: Laxatone.  Holly loves this stuff, thinks it's a special treat,
    and will lick it off my finger.  Sweetie I have to sneak up on and
    quickly dab it on his paw.  "Ah, Mom, how gross," he says, and grooms
    it off.  Brushing is a nice love feast, once they get used to it.
    

    I use Petromalt for Colby, he licks it right up. 
    
    Carrington is another story...he won't eat it, so following the
    suggestion of the vet, I dabbed some on his paw so he would
    -presumably- lick it off. Instead, he took off like a rocket-kitty
    and zoomed all over the house at 100 miles an hour! There was Petromalt
    everywhere, even on the ceiling...I'll have to try Laxatone next.
    
    Chris
    (Dynasty kitties' mother)

    RE:   .8
    
    Your description of Carrington and the Petromalt reminds me of one
    of the funniest FELINE notes I have ever read.  If you're up for
    a giggle, try base note #101.  
    
    Marion
    

    My 9 year old Siamese, Mao, coughs frequently.  He has been checked
    (also frequently) and is ok - just trying to get some hairballs
    up.  I have been using Vaseline - will try some of the others BUT
    - the cough does disturb me - even makes him hoarse.  Any comments?

    Our 11 year old siamese coughs alot also. We've taken her to the
    vet and he said that she didn't have hair balls, but he wasn't quite
    sure what it was. She has had this cough for about a year and a
    half now. My opinion is that it might be some kind of allergy but
    I don't know for sure. I must say that it is very depressing to
    see her coughing though.
    
    							Geoff

    Re: .11
    
    How often does she cough?  Holly had some sort of coughing/throwing
    up problem a year or two ago, that progressively got worse.  The
    vet couldn't find anything wrong, he thought originally it was perhaps
    a big hairball, I treated the house for fleas so she wouldn't groom
    excessively and ingest more hair, he put her on antibiotics, sort
    of in desperation, then when it has getting really alarming, he
    tried a cortisone (?) shot and some sort of steroid pills.  The
    shot worked like a miracle;  she seemed to be better within a few
    hours.  She took the pills for awhile (a few weeks?) in a decreasing
    dosage, and everything has been fine since.  We still have no idea
    what was wrong -- hairball then reaction to flea stuff?  allergy
    to something transient? ??  She did throw up a huge hairball, but
    things still went down hill after that until the steroid stuff.
    The point of all this rambling is to suggest that perhaps a temporary
    dose of steroids might help?
    

    re: .12
    	Thanks for that reply. I'm going to call our vet and relate
    this story to him and see what he thinks. That is if you don't mind.
    
    					Thanks again
    
    					Geoff

    Re: .13
    sure, call, why would I mind.

    Thanks. I just talked to my mom and she said that Eskimo is going
    to the vet next week for shots and stuff and that she was going
    to ask the vet about this. She also said that my uncle, who is the
    head vet at the Philadelphia zoo, had suggested this but that they
    like to try everything else first because the steroids are not the
    best thing in the world for kitties or other animals. I guess that
    the treatment used to mean that they had to stay on the steroids
    permanently. It was good to hear that the dosage of steroids decreased
    and the problem didn't come back. My uncle also said that he had
    just seen a report written by a european vet who states that alot
    of cats are allergic to thier people. Anyway, thanks alot:-)
    
    						Geoff

    Please let us know how Eskimo makes out.
    

    A "rocket-kitty" - that's cute!  That certainly describes my Siamese,
    Chablis, when she gets the furball stuff on her paws!
    
    A word of caution on hairball remedies.  Their job is to coat and
    lubricate the alimentary tract to allow for easy passage of the fur.  
    Because part of that tract is the small intestine, for a few hours 
    afterwards, the small intestine is unable to absorb nutrients from food 
    due to the coating.  Never include laxatone or vaseline or anything
    like that with their food and never give it within 2 hours of eating.  
    It just slips through undigested and your cat's health goes downhill.