i have pumped this cat *full* of greasy hairball remedies over the years (never tried straight vaseline though)--and yes, i have had to force feed such remedies since he was about 5 or 6 and developed an aversion to them (doesn't matter the brand or the flavor). for awhile, just getting petromalt near his nose would trigger his gag reflex. he has gotten particularly prone to hairballs in his old age (he's almost 15 now). i was giving him a non-petroleum remedy recommended by the mud bay staffers *every single day* for awhile (they told me to add it to his wet food every day), and still he puked 3-4 days out of 7.
*and* i have talked to every vet i've ever been to with this cat about the puking. they all say the same thing: it's hairballs. give him petromalt and brush him regularly. but this cat is *always* cleaning himself--he almost never stops, and lately he has been obsessively licking the spot where i found those tumors. (not to the point of baldness yet, just a *lot*.) no matter how much i brush him, he still ingests an awful lot of hair. perhaps this is related to the tumors in some other way, i don't know (a partial bowel obstruction, perhaps?).
i'm getting really tired of the situation, though, and i'm really...about done. i can't take much more.
honestly, if it had been a puddle of piss...and it *wasn't* due to a urinary tract infection...the cat would be ash by now. i have *no* tolerance for elimination outside of the litter box, mainly because once a cat starts to do it, except in the case of illness (and sometimes even then), it's amost impossible to train it out of him/her without the cat causing extensive damage to your home in the process. cat piss is a bitch to clean up. as a renter and a graduate student, there's just no way i can afford that.
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Re: Chelsea says...
Date: 2005-10-18 12:41 am (UTC)*and* i have talked to every vet i've ever been to with this cat about the puking. they all say the same thing: it's hairballs. give him petromalt and brush him regularly. but this cat is *always* cleaning himself--he almost never stops, and lately he has been obsessively licking the spot where i found those tumors. (not to the point of baldness yet, just a *lot*.) no matter how much i brush him, he still ingests an awful lot of hair. perhaps this is related to the tumors in some other way, i don't know (a partial bowel obstruction, perhaps?).
i'm getting really tired of the situation, though, and i'm really...about done. i can't take much more.
honestly, if it had been a puddle of piss...and it *wasn't* due to a urinary tract infection...the cat would be ash by now. i have *no* tolerance for elimination outside of the litter box, mainly because once a cat starts to do it, except in the case of illness (and sometimes even then), it's amost impossible to train it out of him/her without the cat causing extensive damage to your home in the process. cat piss is a bitch to clean up. as a renter and a graduate student, there's just no way i can afford that.