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Can anyone recommend anything to help with fur ball problems? I seem to come home to a lovely present of a fur ball every other day!! I am grooming every night at the moment to try and reduce the amount of fur they eat!! Does the RC for MCs have ingredients in it that prevent or reduce fur balls? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Don't think my carpet can take much more scrubbing!! :smile:
I haven't experienced this yet. I brush two or three times a week and Simba is on RC MC. Perhaps he is still too young for fur balls?
Mine haven't had furballs yet, maybe they're too young. At the moment they're on kitten kibble (Hills) supplemented with wet food once a day. But now considering the Maine Coon food for when they're older. What is the advantage to the MC food? What makes it different from an ordinary, good quality adult cat kibble? Sorry, this is a bit of a tangent.
Hi Claire,by brushing everday you could be making things worse as you will have more loose hair all the time & in fact making it a lot easier to ingest them,daughters cat was like that until she reduced the grooming,now she dreads brush time because most times fur balls follow in a couple of days but nothing like they used to.This is a bad time at the moment though,I average about six weeks before one leaves a gift then you know most of the others will follow on all except Merlyn who up to now has never had a fur ball{talked that one up no doubt} I tried the RC Intense Hairball when we had a bad period but it didn't really seem to make much difference even though they had it everyday for nearly three months I now give them RC Hair & Skin & the weird thing is since they have been on that they haven't been so bad & the furballs they do bring up are really well formed,They don't have much of the kibble because mine are mostly wet food fed & it goes on their menu about every third feed as I alternate between other dried foods,but.....! I used to feed the MC kibble but found a couple had upset tums after a while & Merl piled the weight on so now give them Hills Dental to give them the larger kibble to crunch on,I don't think there was anything in it to particularly to help with the furball situation.
What a super topic,no doubt you will hear of some great remedies & I will watch with interest to see if I can get a longer than 6wk period !
Some MCs groom a great deal and this time of year (when they are shedding) you may get some hairballs being coughed up. One of our two females is a big groomer and she has had several over the last couple of weeks (sometimes one every other day!). On the other hand, I don't think our two year old red male has had more than one hairball ever. You can get a paste to feed them which helps hair move through, made of castor oil and the like. We have a couple of brands we have used. Some cats love it and will lick it up, but others will not.
As for those with young cats...we have not had hairballs from the young cats (<1yr) as they just don't have the hair yet.
Harry has coughed a couple of times where I thought he was going to "produce a hairball" but the end result didn't match up to the wretching ! I have noticed he is constantly grooming himself at the moment. So yet another joy we "youngster" parents have to look forward too ;)
Louie has'nt had any fur-balls yet & Im not expecting any we hardly ever see him grooming himself, scruff bag that he is :LOL: I think the furminator helps reduce them or you can get a paste from the vet of pet shops it looks a bit like marmite our old MC loved it :nod:
The MC food has glucosomine & omega oils in it to help keep joints & there heart healthy
Howlinbob it is also shaped for MC's jaws/teeth :smile:
No fur balls here yet, but my MCs aren't quite a year yet. It is hot here (although they are only in the AC) and they are shedding. The Furminator has helped a great deal I think. They had baths yesterday, so the fur is coming out like mad, but no fur balls yet.
My MC, who died last summer at 13, had a fur ball about once a year.
Baths? Er, am I supposed to bath them??? Eek!Quote:
Originally Posted by mom2coons
We have'nt bathed Louie since he fell down the loo that time but it had been flushed & he bathed himself when he fell in the bath, good job it was'nt red hot bad luck for OH though :LOL:
I think I'd end up in hospital if I tried to bath Simba:LOL:
Falling in the bath could happen any day now in our house. They are fascinated by what goes on in the bathtub and they sit on the loo (lid down obviously) to get a better view. They have started licking the taps, and they have both tried walking along the side of the bath when I'm in it.
I think this is the only way they're going to get bathed!
While I'm on the subject, does anyone really clean their cat's teeth??? Is this possible?
Louie is outside evertime it rains so showers himself :LOL: once tried to clean our old MC's teeth never again, hooligan that he was, I think the MC food is shaped for keeping teeth clean & healthy but dont quote me on that :smile:
Eek time to start shuting the bathroom door I think, they both wander in to say hi when I'm in the bath but only go as far as putting their paws on the side of the bath.Quote:
Originally Posted by Louie-Louie
Wow! Thanks for all the input. I tried bathing Brisca and put it this way, I won't be doing it again in a hurry! Got the paste but they wont touch it!! I haven't had a fur ball for a week now (touch wood) so fingers crossed we are over the worst. I'm going to reduce my brushing too. I think I got over excited with the arrival of the furminator!!