Cats and hairballs!
We had been slightly worried about Rumba, our large British Blue / Persian cross as she had been vomiting rather frequently and, well lets just say that her usual well formed output from the rear end had stopped.
I suspected a hair ball as she was acting normally, purring rather loudly and seemed to have her usual healthy appetite but was vomiting 5 to 10 minutes after eating.
She has a very thick, soft coat and is not over keen on being groomed and is moulting like crazy, therefore it was quite possible that she has ingested too much hair. A quick search on Google found lots of information on the subject and it seems that many cats will naturally vomit once or twice a week to get rid of hairballs. But Rumba was vomiting several times a day.
Further searching suggests that what sometimes happens is a hairball can get stuck at the outlet of the stomach. After eating, the food can't progress down the intestine from the stomach and so the cat vomits. The cat feels OK and often then decides it feels hungry again so eats more food and the process repeats.
I went searching for the tube of hairball remedy that I remembered buying some time ago but it would seem that most of the hairball medications on the market are not remedies at all but are for the prevention hairballs. They are basically a lubricant that aids the movement of the hairball through the gut so probably wouldn't help remove a hairball that had already formed.
Joanna was getting slightly worried by this stage and wanted to rush off the the vet, but we have had loads of vet bills recently and I wondered what the vet would say that was different to all the veterinary advice I'd read on the Internet so decided to wait another day. After all Rumba seemed perfectly happy and was not distressed in any way.
We thought Rumba also hadn't defecated for a couple of days, it's possible she had been in the garden but that would be unusual, so I gave her a dose of Lactulose (2ml) Thursday evening and another Friday morning. The vet had previously prescribed it for Dolly so we know it wouldn't do any harm but it's easier said than done! I use a small syringe and try to avoid the sharp teeth. Most of it went in but I had a rather surprised looking cat. Poor thing, I think she thought I was trying to poison her.
Her appetite remained good, she stopped vomiting and much to our relief used the litter tray last night. The output was slightly sloppy but good volume! Is there any nice way to talk about this?
This morning, like normal she seems very happy, she is trying to help edit this post and if anything her appetite seems even better than normal.
I think we can safely say that's another crisis over.
I suspected a hair ball as she was acting normally, purring rather loudly and seemed to have her usual healthy appetite but was vomiting 5 to 10 minutes after eating.
She has a very thick, soft coat and is not over keen on being groomed and is moulting like crazy, therefore it was quite possible that she has ingested too much hair. A quick search on Google found lots of information on the subject and it seems that many cats will naturally vomit once or twice a week to get rid of hairballs. But Rumba was vomiting several times a day.
Further searching suggests that what sometimes happens is a hairball can get stuck at the outlet of the stomach. After eating, the food can't progress down the intestine from the stomach and so the cat vomits. The cat feels OK and often then decides it feels hungry again so eats more food and the process repeats.
I went searching for the tube of hairball remedy that I remembered buying some time ago but it would seem that most of the hairball medications on the market are not remedies at all but are for the prevention hairballs. They are basically a lubricant that aids the movement of the hairball through the gut so probably wouldn't help remove a hairball that had already formed.
Joanna was getting slightly worried by this stage and wanted to rush off the the vet, but we have had loads of vet bills recently and I wondered what the vet would say that was different to all the veterinary advice I'd read on the Internet so decided to wait another day. After all Rumba seemed perfectly happy and was not distressed in any way.
We thought Rumba also hadn't defecated for a couple of days, it's possible she had been in the garden but that would be unusual, so I gave her a dose of Lactulose (2ml) Thursday evening and another Friday morning. The vet had previously prescribed it for Dolly so we know it wouldn't do any harm but it's easier said than done! I use a small syringe and try to avoid the sharp teeth. Most of it went in but I had a rather surprised looking cat. Poor thing, I think she thought I was trying to poison her.
Her appetite remained good, she stopped vomiting and much to our relief used the litter tray last night. The output was slightly sloppy but good volume! Is there any nice way to talk about this?
This morning, like normal she seems very happy, she is trying to help edit this post and if anything her appetite seems even better than normal.
I think we can safely say that's another crisis over.
Labels: Rumba
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