A. The most effective is special paste for hairballs ( like remover, bezopet). It should be given as a part of profilactic in shedding seasons accoring to the label. The best food is of good brands like Royal, Hills, Eucanuba
How to Identify Common Pet Problems ?
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Hairball remedies for cats should include lubricants or laxatives like petroleum jelly, mineral oils, soybean oil, or coconut oil to help with digestion. It`s better if the remedy includes vitamins and omega oils to hydrate and moisturize the skin to keep the coat healthy and prevent shedding.
Surgery is the most common treatment, but your vet may instead opt for an endoscopy. Once the hairball is removed and your dog has recovered, the vet will likely prescribe a special diet and supplements.
Provide your cat with a small amount of canned tuna or sardines occasionally. You could also put a small amount of petroleum jelly on the top of your cat`s paw. They`ll lick it off, and the jelly will line the digestive tract to help the hair pass through their system.
Add a teaspoon of vegetable or fish oil to your cat`s meal once a week. The lubricating oil will help the hair pass through the digestive tract. Give your cat pieces of fruits and vegetables as snacks as an added source of fibre. Slippery Elm is a natural herbal remedy that can help prevent hairballs.
Does wet food help with hairballs? Yes, they do. Wet food aids in the passing of hair through the tract because it`s easy to digest, which means it passes through the body quickly, not allowing hair time to form a ball. Therefore, cats that are on a diet of just wet food will have reduced hairballs.
A teaspoon of olive oil every week or so should do the trick. Oil throughout the digestive system will help your cat eliminate hair in its stools and aid in digestion. This should cut down on stomach aches associated with hairballs. Other oils, such as mineral oil, corn oil or saffron oil can also help.
Helps Eliminate Hairballs
You can use coconut oil for dogs to help eliminate hairballs and ease a cough. The oil acts as a lubricant that will help your dog expel the hairball and soothe his throat. Also, if your dog has a cough, try giving him a small amount of coconut oil to fight bacteria and ease the discomfort.
Hairball remedies can be as simple as putting a bit of petroleum jelly on your cat`s paws to lick or adding a hairball gel to their daily diet. Oils, gels, or pastes made specifically for cats lubricate the digestive tract or may work as a laxative to allow the hairball to pass more quickly.
Hairballs are no fun to deal with for both cat and owner, but adding a bit of coconut oil to their diet can help reduce inflammation in the respiratory tract that can occur when your cat regurgitates hairballs. It also helps your cat pass more easily by adding moisture and bulk to the hairballs.
“Generally speaking, hairball remedies are given daily – similar to humans taking a supplement.” However, she noted, “if your cat has food allergies or is taking other oral medications, speak with your veterinarian prior to starting a supplement or hairball remedy to ensure it is safe to do so.”
This might be your cat`s favorite hairball remedy! Small canned fish like sardines, as well as tuna, are usually packed in oil. Give your cat a treat and sprinkle a little oil on their food. The lubrication will assist your cat to pass the hairball without discomfort.
The egg yolk lecithin emulsifies the fat binding the hair into a hairball. Again, this works on a preventative basis, not for tightly formed existing hairballs. For kitties with “more difficult” hairball problems, an egg yolk lecithin supplement may also be needed.
Melted butter – this is one of the best hairball remedies for cats since they love dairy and fat. The fat serves as a lubricator for the hairballs to pass. “A half-teaspoon of melted butter once a day for a few days (and no longer)… should do the trick.” (Home Remedies for Cats with Hairballs)
If the cat`s stomach is full of unchewed dry food, the food cannot pass out of the cat`s stomach. It then gets regurgitated. Of course, any fur that is in the cat`s stomach at that moment comes up with the food and the fur gets the blame.
Wet food is more expensive and less easy to use but can be beneficial in cats prone to lower urinary tract disease, constipation and that are overweight. Dry food can be a very efficient way to provide calories in thin cats with food volume limitations and allows for the use of food puzzles and food toy dispensers.
Another common remedy is hairball laxatives, typically petrolatum-based (think Vaseline) or oil-based, that is also meant to help a cat pass swallowed hair in their stool. We suggest the oil-based hairball laxatives, but only once a week (not daily).
Prevent hairballs from forming
Omega 3 fatty acids are helpful in maintaining your cat`s skin and coat health, reducing the amount of shedding, a key factor in the formation of hairballs.
Regular Brushing
It`s true that cats are usually good at grooming themselves, but frequent brushing can help remove loose hairs, dander, and dirt that would otherwise get swallowed and cause a hairball. Plenty of cats enjoy being brushed, but there are some who don`t enjoy the experience.
Olive oil doesn`t only benefits humans, it can help your cat or dog stay healthy, too. From healthy coats to hairball management and more, it can be a superfood for our furry friends, but too much can have a negative effect.
“Canned pumpkin is 90% water, so it is quite nutrient dilute. It adds mostly water and a little soluble fiber to pet foods.” “It`s particularly good for preventing hairballs,” adds McConnell, “and it`s also good for pets whose stools are either too loose or too hard.”
If a blockage is detected, surgery may be required in order to remove the hairball. More often, however, therapy will center on protecting the intestines through several days of clinical care that includes the use of a laxative to move the hairball through the digestive tract.
Although coconut oil is not poisonous to cats, it may not be the ideal addition to every cat`s diet. Any change in diet, supplements, or medications can affect your cat`s health. Depending on your cat, increased fat in the diet may lead to weight gain or digestive issues.
Extra virgin olive oil is non-toxic when used both orally and topically with dogs and cats (and some other pets), and it has gained some popularity as a natural remedy in the holistic pet care world thanks to its abundance of beneficial fatty acids, polyphenols, and micronutrients.
Q. My cat is excessively scrstching herself., to the point she has sores. She is strictly an indoor cat. Did have flees been treated for 2 months
ANSWER : A. For every flea you see on your pet, there are 100 more in the environment. Get your pet on a good topical or oral flea control through your vet. In flea control, you get what you pay for. Consider asking your vet for a dose of Capstar. It helps get the problem under control by killing the fleas on the pet starting in five minutes but only lasts for 24 hours.
You need to treat your home environment. If you use a pest control service, tell them you are having a flea problem and they can adjust their treatment. Use a premise spray that also contains an IGR, insect growth regulator. This keeps eggs and larvae from maturing into adults and helps break the life cycle. Also, vacuum EVERY DAY, throwing out the bag or emptying the canister every time into an outside receptacle and spraying the contents with insecticide to kill the fleas you’ve vacuumed up.
Treat your yard too, since fleas are opportunistic and will hop a ride into your home on your pant leg without you knowing it. Concentrate on areas under bushes, in the shade. Fleas are less likely to be located in open sunny areas where it gets hot.
If chemicals are a problem, you can use borax. Sprinkle it into rugs, into corners and under furniture, use a broom to work it into the fibers and let it sit for hours, days even. It won’t hurt you or your pet to have it present. Then vacuum it up, reapply as needed. Food grade diatomaceous earth can be gotten from a health food store and worked into the rugs and corners in the same way as borax. These treatments aren’t as fast and effective as chemical insecticides but they can help.
You might want to consider boarding your pet for the day at your vet, to give you the opportunity to flea bomb your house without having to worry about your pet being exposed. They can bathe your pet and give a dose of Capstar while you treat your home.
Be patient, you may have to repeat these steps multiple times 10-14 days apart to help break the flea life cycle.
Skin problems can have a variety of causes, sometimes more than one. It is important to have the problem checked by your vet to determine if there is a medical cause for your pet’s skin issues and treat accordingly.
In pets of all ages, fleas, food allergies and exposure to chemical irritants such as cleaners and soaps can be a cause. Any one of these may not be enough to trigger the breakouts, depending on how sensitive your pet is, but a combination can be enough to start the itch-scratch cycle. Finding out the cause and eliminating it is the best course of action. With flea allergies, if your pet is sensitive enough, a single bite can cause them to break out scratch enough to tear their skin.
Check for fleas with a flea comb. Look for fleas and/or tiny black granules, like coarse black pepper. This is flea feces, consisting of digested, dried blood. You may find tiny white particles, like salt, which are the flea eggs. Applying a good topical monthly flea treatment and aggressively treating your house and yard will help break the flea life cycle.
If you use plastic bowls, this is a possible cause for hair loss, though this tends to be on the chin, where their skin touches the bowl while they eat. If you suspect this to be the culprit, try changing the bowls to glass, metal or ceramic.
Food allergies are often caused by sensitivity to a protein in the food. Hill’s Science Diet offers some non-prescription options for sensitive skin as well as prescription hypoallergenic foods for more severe cases. Royal Canin carries limited protein diets that may also offer some relief. Your vet can recommend a specific diet that will help.
If there is no relief or not enough, consider getting your pet checked by a veterinary dermatologist and having allergy testing done.
