Double trouble! Hairballs and the other end...

[Stellastarr]

Hi everyone,

I've had a good look through loads of different cat forums but can't find any posts that give an answer so I'm all registered for my first ever forum post!

My baby girl Mishka is an 8-9 month old semi long haired rescue kitty and we have had her since she was roughly 3 months old. She gets dedicated kitten food (wet and dry), lots of variety but all high quality, low grain food.

About a a week and a half ago she had some loose stools and did that skiing thing across the carpet. She has a super fluffy tail and we ended up having to cut some lovely crusted poo out of it (hope you're not eating right now!) as no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get it clean. We could see her trying to bite out clumps of fur in addition to her rigorous licking regime.

I've been monitoring her litter box and results are varied-a few normal poos and I'm all like, yay, she's better, followed by a pancake then normal then runny yucks then normal etc. Because it seems okay for a day or so, not been to vet yet but booked for tomorrow after another unpleasant litter tray clear out this afternoon.

Issue is, in addition to the pooey bum, she has now started yacking hairballs at the rate of one a day for past three days. Before that we had only ever had one. I can't find any posts that have cats with loose stools as opposed to constipation and hairballs. But as always the internet has given me the fear when I typed in the two symptoms separately

She is still running around daft and happy for her daily grooming session including her tummy but sort of sighs in resignation when she realises it's tail time!

Eating normally and weight doesn't seem affected but as a fluffster it's hard to tell.

Question is-could the extra grooming have caused the hairballs or the hairballs caused the pooey bum?

I'm thinking we will probably be told to look at her diet, but I've not found sensitive tum or hairball food for kittens, only adult cats. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm in Scotland if that helps...

Oh and she is an indoor cat. Too young and silly to go outside so pretty much ruled out something untoward she has eaten. No christmas tree this year or other toxic plants and no human titbits that we are aware of.

Any help greatly appreciated x

[Didi]

I'm no expert but has she been wormed I know that they can cause diarrhoea the fur balls I do know a bit about Bilbo is a long haired cat and was a **** for hairballs he has been on a cat food for his coat and that with daily brushing with a furminator has all but eliminated them, however he now has to have a special diet for his urinary system so I don't know if that will bring "back the yacking "

[Stellastarr]

She was wormed at the end of October so not due another dose for a wee while yet Didi x

[Stellastarr]

And now investigating Furminators online...what a marvellous name!

[alanc]

Can sympathise about the claggy tail from runny poo! On the few occasions that Tilly (a Maine Coon with long fur) has suffered from diarrhea, cleaning her bum and tail has been quite a problem. Fortunately doesn't happen very often. Tilly used to suffer from fur balls quite often in the past (probably the root cause of her bout of Pancreatitis just over a year ago). About 14 Dreamies or Whiskas anti-hair ball treats per day, plus daily brushing and combing seems to be keeping the problem under control (as well as keeping tangles down). Tilly even seems to like being brushed and combed these days (she used to be a right little madam about it)! Although I have a Furminator, I very rarely use it as I have heard it can damage long haired cats (especially Maine Coons) fur.

[Alice]

I've two long haired Ragdolls, and when seeking advice on here last year about suitable grooming tools to sort out their tangles I was strongly urged NOT to get a Furminator. I don't recall exactly why, but it was said to be far too fierce, I think. If I can find the post I'll put a link on here.

I use various human hairbrushes on mine, and they love the rubber cat-shaped Zoomgroom brush, which gets a lot of loose fur out and gives a nice massage at the same time! They do still get occasional fur balls, but they always emerge upwards. I do cut some knots out of their fur occasionally, very carefully and with sharp scissors, but not all cats are amenable to this and if you do try this you must take great care to avoid damaging the skin.

Kitten food is a fairly new thing, and I think you could safely give Mishka adult food now. Purina One Sensitive is a good one to try and seems to be liked by all cats. Most supermarkets sell it, but if you go on to buy it regularly, as I do, it's much cheaper online from Zooplus.

[Stellastarr]

Thanks for all the advice; the Purina food seems very popular so will check with vet tomorrow if they recommend dietary changes. Was very careful whilst hair cutting and thankfully it was on the thick fur on her back legs and not near skin...luckily she is very good natured and trusting which is quite remarkable as she was feral when we got her and SSPCA were sceptical that she would ever come out her shell. Not a great fan of the cat box or the vet though!

I think I've got in a flap because our last cat never had hairballs and was shorthaired so no, um, special cleaning required so it's all a bit of a new experience. Hyperthyroid problems meant we lost him at the grand old age of 17 a year and a half ago. My lil gal has been the best medicine for me these past few months so want to make sure we catch whatever is wrong quickly x

[Janey]

Hi and welcome. If she is getting furballs so much I would definitely groom her a bit each day rather than say once a week. I am sure you’ll notice a difference.

[meriad]

To add to Alice's comment about not getting the Furminator, it's because with long(er) haired cats it actually pulls out hair from their skin as well as loose undercoat. I have 6 cats, 5 of which are either long or semi long haired and best grooming tool is a comb with rotating teeth for daily brushing: either
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ferplast-Steel ... ting+teeth
or
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ferplast-5872- ... ting+teeth

they also all love a regular brush with one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Dogs/Groomin ... =cat+brush


Then come the spring I use an undercoat rake - and it's amazing just how much you get off them. But do it outside or in the bathroom - the soft fur goes EVERYWHERE!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mikki-Grooming ... Brake&th=1

I would also move her onto the Purina One Sensitve and see how she does on that (agree with the comment to move her onto adult food - kitten food is really rich which could be causing the upset tum). And if the Purina One doesn't work then try another grain free dry food such as James Wellbeloved (http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/dry_ ... ult/354366). Another food you could try as it works for hairballs and 'only' has maize gluten listed so no wheat gluten is http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/dry_ ... ult/354427. Mine loved it, but I'm not 100% that Harry who is cereal intolerant is reacting to the maize gluten so I'm trying something else.

Excuse all the links but hopefully some of this will help

[meriad]

Oh and another invaluable item in my household are baby wipes; the water based ones. Fantastic at not only cleaning up vomit, hair balls and leather sofa's but good at cleaning mucky bottoms / trousers

[Stellastarr]

Awww, great recommendations so thanks for all the grooming advice.
We now have a combination of meds to try whenever she has an 'episode'-one lot to firm her up and the hairball stuff is a laxative so this should be fun to monitor and manage!
The vet wasn't a Furminator fan either for a long haired youngster and she did agree about trying the Purina food too.
She didn't think the two issues were connected and there doesn't seem to be any underlying problems so seems like we will just have to experiment with foods and try to reduce the hairballs. I'm a very relieved cat guardian tonight!
Thanks everyone; looks like I got expert advice here cos our vet pretty much agreed with everything you all said! And I felt soooo much better after (over)sharing here last night and reading about everyone's experiences ♥ xxxx