? Hairballs?

[StormysMom]

Hi there!

Ever since switching to the wet food only diet our sugar kitty seems to be having a LOT of hair balls. Is this something normally seen with this diet switch? Anyone else have this experience? Our civvy kitties seem to be fine as far as I can tell.

 

[Yong & Maury GA]

I have not heard of increased hairballs with the wet food diet switch but we are starting the shedding season . The warm week we had that prompted the foliage to bloom early may have also prompted our kitties to start shedding sooner but held off when the cold came back. You can try putting a little smear of petroleum jelly on her paw. I wrote this for someone else a couple weeks ago:

Once a day, smear a 1/4 teaspoon on her paw and see if she licks it away .

Another alternative is to increase fiber but with sugar kitties the best option for that is pumpkin (not raw pumpkin). I believe you can use 100% canned pumpkin without additives, fillers, spices, or sugar. I found this article: http://www.cathealth.com/nutrition/is-pumpkin-good-for-cats
Don't want to give a lot because it is a natural laxative so you will want to monitor stool firmness.

 

[StormysMom]

That's smart! It didn't even occur to me that she may be shedding more. Genius!

 

[Larry and Kitties]

Could be due to the typically lower fiber content of canned compared to dry.

 

[Lillie]

Leo had a terrible time last night with hair balls. Usually he hacks up one but last night there was one huge long hair ball and later several more smaller ones. I've never seen so many in one cat. He was also switched to all canned food and I was wondering the same thing about the switch to canned. I know he may need more fiber but his stools sometimes are a little mushy due to his IBD so I'm not sure what to give him at this point. Are there fiber supplements just for cats other than pumpkin? Pumpkin has given him too loose of a stool consistency.