Posted August 31, 2006 06:45 AM
Hey Donna,
If you come across any "How to Rid your Cat of Hairballs Naturally", let me know as I would definitely buy that one. Our old cat has been driving me CRAZY lately, especially since our new house has cream/white carpeting!
Your vet should carry a product - I believe it is called Laxatone. It comes in a tube and resembles a tube of toothpaste (I call it "Tuna Toothpaste). It is a Tuna flavored gel type of product that you feed your cat, you can either put it on/in food or feed it right to them - my cat loves it and will slurp it right off the end of the tube (be careful to maintain the right dose if you do it that way) or you can do it the 'sneaky/tricky' way the first time to see if your cat likes it - put a dab of it on the top of their front paw cause cats being cats - they will have to lick and clean it off.
The BEST thing that I could recommend though would be Science Diet 'Hairball' formula food.
Now don't go "OOHHHHHH too expensive". Yes, it is more expensive than that cardboard food they sell on the grocery store shelf, but the benefits balance that cost QUICKLY - 1st - they won't eat as much because the formulation is quite filling and satisfying, then the nutritional value is top rate and will enhance the coat, eyes, their whole body, then you can go to the litterbox and get one of the best benefits . . .
when cats (or dogs) are fed Science Diet they do not have anywhere near the size of bowl movements has they do when fed ordinary food as their body digests and USES almost all of food and there is almost no smell at all to their poop. At one point I had 8 housecats and being fed on science diet I didn't have near the hair loss problem, went through less food and when you came into my house . . . you couldn't tell that I had 8 cats as there was absolutely no smell from the litterboxes!
As your kitty is an old one those hairball issues are VERY important to resolve as their bowels do not work as well as they once did and they could get a blockage really easy and something like that will about kill a poor old kitty - if you do decide to switch and feed Science Diet there are "Switching Instructions" on the package for weaning them off of your present food to this new food - FOLLOW THEM CAREFULLY that is how much different (and better for your cat) that this food really is. But if nothing else . .. get the Laxatone - it works well - my cat LOVES it and it's only about $3 for a tube.
Good Luck!