Sunday, October 28, 2012

New stuff for the brood

Today the brood got 3 new things.


 A pink hammock for the cold weather (but nobody has used it yet).



 Trying out a new litter.



 This is particularly for Pole and Cleo because both have a major hairball problem. But Joy said wheatgrass can help, so I'm doing to plant that as well (please wish me luck!).



 Something new...so everybody loved it.



 Cleo needs it the most. She has been vomiting undigested food for a few days now. And giving her Laxatone is like....(near impossible - one person has to hold her, the other rubs the Laxatone on her mouth; even then she swings her head and some of it comes off). Furminating her is also a taboo (for her). She is the classic touch-me-not princess.


I really hope this diet helps. Good enough that she is willing to eat it!



 Rainy day....that's Cleo and Tiger (never before...ever!).
My brood never ever sits near each other so this is really rare.



 Spot Raven!
(That's her way of telling me which food she wants...but the good girl ate home-cooked for dinner today...heartily too!)

9 comments:

Connie said...

Dr Chan, your kitties are so big.....and that pink hammock look so 'not-going-to-hold-any-of-the-inside-clan' LOL

chankahyein said...

LOL! I have seen huge cats sitting in similar-sized hammocks, so I'm going to try my luck...so far, still no takers. Hoping maybe Tabs might try it ....

Connie said...

Ask Tabs to 'touch wood' 1st before testing on it...LOL!

Reena kong said...

I'm using this Feline Fresh - it clumps and controls odour quite well.

Cindy said...

One of the cheapest, and easiest, way for hair-ball is to let the cats lick oil. I used to have 7 or 8 (lost count) long haired (beautiful Sure!) cats. Lots of combing everynight. And they actually love the combing and would like up waiting for their turns. Once jumped off from my lap and the next one would jump on ..

One of the easiest is: everyday pour some oil on a flat dish/plate. The oil should be just cover the base of the plate so that the cats would just lick the oil, and will not choke on licking too much too fast. Choking on oil can be dangerous. I use sunflower oil, or what we called salad oil here. I heard cat SHOULD NOT take olive oil. Not sure if that is true.

Animals are very clever beings. My cats would just lick them whenever they feel they need the oil to ‘help remove the hair’ from their intestine. Since they lick the oil everyday, there should never have such thing as build-up of ‘hair-balls’.

Hair-balls can be very dangerous. Whisky, my big black cat, dies from it. The first time we were lucky to find it. We, me and the vets, could not figure out why Whisky had high fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, weight lost, leathargy etc. He just sat and not moved. x-rays, blood tests did not show anything. Eventually the vet suggested laporatomy (spelling). All they found was a very large hair-ball next to his oesophegus. He recovered easily once that hair-ball was removed.

Few years later when we were back to Holland, he collapsed with severe vomitting. I took him to the vet, and actually helped to diagnose. Unfortunately we just moved back to NL and I did not have good experience with which vet is good around the area. This prticular vet, after x-ray, agreed with my diagnosis, BUT did not perform the operation that afternoon as she promised. Later that evening when I visited Whisky I found that he had other problems (he was on wrong type of drip that caused heart failure). Another vet on-duty removed the drip right away. The vet performed the operation few hours later that night, but Whisky dies the next morning. A very beautifyl, healthy, and wonderful beings that die unnecessary. Not just because of hair-ball, but neglegence from the first vet as well.

The reason why I am telling the story of Whisky is, I used to give them oil on a dish to lick, everyday, after Whisky’s first episode with hair-balls . Because of our moves, I had to re-adjust my life, I kind of forgotten the routines and did not give them enough attentions. And in Whisky’s case, the built-up of hair-balls the 2nd time caused his life. He has slick, long, black hairs.

Anon said...

My vet said to give the hairball diet only twice a week if given on short-haired cats. I found that my cats did not like this brand, so I changed to Eukanuba intestinals. They liked it.

chankahyein said...

Many thanks for all the tips on the control of hairball. I've heard a case of a vet's cat who died from hairball too. It could not be detected at all by ultra sound or X-Ray. It was only after the cat's demise that the post-mortem revealed the cause of death - hairball. Scary! I find Laxatone very effective in controlling hairball for my other cats. But for Pole and Cleo, they are both touch-me-nots, so I have to find other ways. They are just far too cautious. Maybe I will try some palatable fish oil and add it into their food.

Agnes said...

Whenever I homecook for my cats/kittens and 1 dog, I'll add in coconut oil, organic tumeric powder and Bragg's apple cider vinegar to the blended paste and mix them well...no rejection at all:) If there's no homecook food, I dribble coconut oil on their food, wet or dry. Coconut oil has these properties; anti-bacteria, anti-virus and anti-fungus. Thus it takes care of excessive shedding.

mas said...

i currently used this kind of litter for my cats. the best so far. but not this brand. introduced by the vet

as for hairball, i groom their fur daily and find not much problem in terms of hairball.just for the few DLHs in my house, i do give them laxatone as well.