Are cats supposed to cough up hairballs?

[HeXploiT]

What I mean is if a cat doesn't ever cough up hairballs could that be a bad sign? My cat has never,, as far as I have seen, coughed up a hairball. He is 3 years old. For a few days now he has been dry-heaving and wheezing when he does this. He's thrown up once but no hair. He might be sick but I'm starting to wonder if he may have a hairball that's too big to cough up or pass through the intestines.

Any way to confirm this short of an x-ray?
How often should a short haired cat cough up hairballs?
How common is it for cats to get hairballs that are too big to cough up?

 

[BoT]

there is cat grass you can buy. they love it

 

[MJinZ]

Do you see him licking himself all the time?

If he doesn't cough up hairballs if he does this, that seems strange.

 

[HeXploiT]

We have a grassy yard and he has been eating that the past couple of days.

Yes he's constantly cleaning himself.
He keeps himself quite magnificent(he would say).

 

[Gooberlx2]

We have a grassy yard and he has been eating that the past couple of days.

Yes he's constantly cleaning himself.
He keeps himself quite magnificent(he would say).

If he's not used to eating the grass, that could be it as well.

Is he long-haired? Short-hair cats can often get away with shitting out their hair instead. One of my cats never has hairballs. Throws up sometimes because because he literally inhales his food too quickly, but he's never had a hairball.

 

[rcpratt]

Do you see him licking himself all the time?

If he doesn't cough up hairballs if he does this, that seems strange.

It's a cat, I'm sure it cleans itself.

My cat does and has somewhat longer hair and he's only coughed up two hairballs in two years. Not big ones, either.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I have two cats. The longer-haired one coughs up a hairball once every couple weeks. The short-haired one never has.

 

[HeXploiT]

Mine is short haired. pretty sure he eating the grass because he's trying to throw up.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Mine is short haired. pretty sure he eating the grass because he's trying to throw up.

Never know. Another of my cats just likes to eat grass. Stupid fucker throws up everytime too, and always in the worst places (like my shoes ).

Anyway, if your cat's appetite changes - like he stops eating, or starts excessively drinking water, for example - that would be a pretty clear sign of the need for vet assistance.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

buy some Laxanip

 

[kalrith]

I give my long-haired cat Cat Lax.

She actually had a MAJOR problem that we're pretty sure was a hairball. She didn't eat or drink for about 2 weeks, and I had to give her an IV, force feed her, and give her medications twice a day for those 2 weeks. She finally started eating again after that, but she developed liver disease from not eating for so long. AFAIK, all of that would've been prevented if I had given her Cat Lax (or some variation of that) twice a week.

 

[sourceninja]

The habit of eating grass triggers the natural process of regurgitation of indigestible foods including its own fur balls which would otherwise obstruct the system. This can appear to us humans as if the cat is being violently ill but this is not the case and in fact is very beneficial to the cat.

 

[MJinZ]

I give my long-haired cat Cat Lax.

She actually had a MAJOR problem that we're pretty sure was a hairball. She didn't eat or drink for about 2 weeks, and I had to give her an IV, force feed her, and give her medications twice a day for those 2 weeks. She finally started eating again after that, but she developed liver disease from not eating for so long. AFAIK, all of that would've been prevented if I had given her Cat Lax (or some variation of that) twice a week.

Oh man, if I don't see a pet not eat for like 2 days I'd bring them to the vet

 

[HumblePie]

Could just be an allergy if your cat recently developed the throwing up part. When my cat had a litter of kittens, I had the pleasure of giving away a few of the kittens. One of them to a lady that works with my mom. She and her husband are rich and a little by dotty on the cat. They are a bit neurotic as people too. Anyhow, once I gave them one of the cats, I told them what I feed him with and the litter I used. Instead they went out and bought all this really expensive shit for him. He starts throwing up. They took him to the vet. The vet thinking it was something else, or perhaps thinks the owners had more cents then sense, decided to do a full work up on the kitten and some invasive surgery to see if anything was blocking his intestinal tract. Turns out it was simple allergies.

My mother told me the story of what was going on and halfway before she finished I thought it was allergies. That vet they used was either greedy or stupid or both.

 

[Drako]

We have a couple of long haired cats, and we feed them this. It has helped keep the hairball puking down.

http://www.iams.com/iams/premium-pet-food/hairball-care.jsp

 

[kalrith]

Oh man, if I don't see a pet not eat for like 2 days I'd bring them to the vet

That's what I did. The vet gave me the IV, some medicine, some food, and a food syringe. It took about 10 days of IVs, force-feeding, and medication twice per day before she started eating and drinking on her own again.

 

[kalrith]

OP, I just now noticed that your cat goes outside. The afore-mentioned Cat Lax is basically to give indoor cats what they would naturally get by going outside. I wouldn't worry about it in your case as long as the cat's eating doesn't slow.

 

[HeXploiT]

I suppose allergies are a possibility but I've always been a little skeptical that someone or something can just get a new allergy out of the blue.

Some people brought up food. He's been eating and he'll stop and dry-heave/wheeze for a minute and them resume eating. This is one of the things that made me think he's not sick.

 

[Drako]

I suppose allergies are a possibility but I've always been a little skeptical that someone or something can just get a new allergy out of the blue.

Some people brought up food. He's been eating and he'll stop and dry-heave/wheeze for a minute and them resume eating. This is one of the things that made me think he's not sick.

Maybe you should take him to the vet.

 

[lxskllr]

My first cat didn't start puking hairballs until she was about 12; none at all. The 2 cats I have now are hairball factories, and I'm constantly finding them around the house :^D

 

[HeXploiT]

Maybe you should take him to the vet.

I'll wait a couple of days and see what happens.

 

[RedRooster]

My first cat didn't start puking hairballs until she was about 12; none at all. The 2 cats I have now are hairball factories, and I'm constantly finding them around the house :^D

Isn't that a great sound to wake up to in the night?
Just a perk of the ownership job, I guess. hehe

 

[AstroManLuca]

We have a couple of long haired cats, and we feed them this. It has helped keep the hairball puking down.

http://www.iams.com/iams/premium-pet-food/hairball-care.jsp

Similar thing with me. My cats get Authority Hairball Control. The long-haired one pukes up a lot less hair, her coat is shinier, and she sheds less too!

 

[lord_emperor]

Hair is un-digestible so if the cat swallows its hair while cleaning, it will cough it up eventually.

If the cat does not swallow its hair, there's no hairball to be coughed up.

Simple.