This is my cat.  The Divine Miss M.  All attitude.  All Diva.  All the time.



I knew I'd be dealing with hairballs sooner or later.  I've got hairballs and barfy cat.
I referred to an older ARFCOM thread and ordered a Furminator brush for her.
She's a sucker for hair ties and the laser pointer.  I distract her when I can.
This is the food she gets.  http://www.chewy.com/hound-gatos-beef-formula-canned-cat/dp/117606  Beef and Chicken.  

At this point I'm clueless.  I'm the crazy cat guy but I've always had shorthairs.  This is the first proper longhair cat I've owned.
What's working for you folks with long haired cats?

UPDATE:  Called the Vet.  Moved her semi-annual checkup appointment up three weeks to tomorrow.
Get it dealt with then.  Thank God for pet insurance.

Gratuitous pic of Kitty hogging up the keyboard.

In all honesty, i think the best fix for hairballs is to eliminate the problem (no, not the cat: the hair)!

Personally, i'm not a cat person but i married into one and pound for pound, he sheds much more than my labs!   I'm fortunate that we employ a groomer here at our clinic so i can be here to sedate him for his bi-annual shave down but it's the best thing for all of us.  We leave him a head to tail tip mohawk and everything else except his head gets shaved.  If anything, its humorous to look at his nasty, old man cat body!   But in all seriousness this is the best option.  I'm sure many would question my morals but i recommend it depending on the cat and the groomer.

CSchelk2 DVM


Coonta the cat

It's being discussed as an option.
I'm sitting at my desk at work.  F**king orange hair everywhere.

We send Dorky Dog to a proper groomer every three or so weeks.
The groomer shaves pussy cats fairly often.  You're not the only pet human that deals with hairballs that way.

Miss M has a bit of a temper.  I doubt she'd see the value in being shaved.
If I can't deal with the hairballs effectively then it's off to the groomer.

Sedate her you say.............Probably a better option than welding gloves and body armor.

Pic of Dorky Dog.

Took Miss M to the Vet.

General health is very good.  She weighed in at 9.5 lbs.  Vitals are normal for a spoiled redheaded Diva.

Hairballs:  Because this was the first instance, the Vet wasn't too worried.
Kitty is eating the right food and very active.
I bought a Furminator.  She won't have any of it.  Freaks out and runs away.  I got two passes in.  Enough fur to build another cat.
I'm going to try to get her to feel safe enough to let me brush her.  A minute at a time with lots of treats.
The groomer is coming on 6/6 to groom Cisco.  She has until that day to accept a daily brushing or she'll get a major haircut.

Sneezing and congestion.  
Prescribed a treat with Lysine to boost her immune system.  
Liquid Benadryl twice a day to help with sneezing and allergies.

No pics of grumpy cat.

Thanks for the advice CSchelk2

Clarence seriously dislikes being brushed but would gnaw off his own limbs for food. We distract him with treats. We don't actually give him any, just open the bag so he tries to get them. Also, talk to your vet about giving your cat a hairball treatment/remedy. We use Hartz and give him a little dollop twice a day. Cuts down on the hairballs but I don't think there's anything that will completely eliminate them. Just one of the consequences of owning a cat.

Have something similar to the Hartz.  I have to hold her then my Roomie puts it on her paws.
She hates it.  She'll growl and hiss then disappear into one of her hidey-holes
Same with her twice daily Benadryl.
Same with a brush or Furminator.
I'm trying some kibble that's supposed to help with hairballs.  She doesn't have issues with kibble.
I dislike kibble in general, however if I can get medication disguised as kibble down her then I'm OK with it.

She has a temper and a bitchy attitude towards any kind of treatment.

Focusing on the sneezing and congestion.
She's really stressed right now so I'm backing off a bit.  Benadryl twice a day for now.
Holding off of the other stuff.

Four legged redheads are almost as difficult as the two legged variety.

Clarence really did not like Laxatone, which is the vet quality stuff your vet probably recommended, but he absolutely LOVES the Hartz stuff. Might be worth a try. We can get away with brushing him for a little bit with a Furminator as long as we distract him with treats, then he will try to bite pieces off my wife. Good luck!

Any suggestions for something smelly enough to hide the taste of the Benadryl powder pulled from Benadryl capsules?
Sardines or really smelly cat food?   Pill Pockets?
The liquid and the oral syringe is a big PITA.

You can make your own pill pockets at home with generic cheese slices. Clarence gets half a pill three times a day. We wrap it in a tiny piece of cheese slice and he gobbles it up.

Puking up a hairball occasionally is part of the definition of a cat. It will happen, deal with it.

Anti-Hairball Steps ranked for effectiveness:

- Brushing or combing (LOTS of this)

- Soy Lecithin containing food.

- Other stuff like shaving, anti-hairball goop you feed them. (Vaseline works just as well, is cheaper, and won't stain like the other stuff will. All those goops try to make the hair slide right through.)


The cat probably associates the brushing with pulling and pain.  Figure out how to brush without that.  Get THIS kind of brush. Specifically; curved metal tines on flat in one direction and curved in other direction, with a handle that allows pulling along the skin. DO NOT "roll" the brush to pull away from the skin like you would with a human. Pull gently starting at the top of the head. Put a brush nearby any place the cat comes to socialize (bed, couch, computer chair).  Keep a regular comb in your pocket and GENTLY use that too. Cats can learn to like being brushed if you make it a gentle caressing type thing over "yanking fur out" thing.


Brush when you want the cat to leave your lap anyway. That way you get a little brushing in and can get up for whatever reason.


Deal with matting as it comes up.  How to remove a mat:  With scissors that has a point... slide the open scissors through and under the mat. Check for loose skin that might be bound up in it, and if none, cut.  Repeat. Eventually you will have the mat out, or it will be a patch of short hair that isn't matted. Do not cut across WITH the skin surface. Think of it like cutting a bandage or cast of an arm, you slide the cutting tool under the bandage perpendicular to the skin and cut.


Deal with the mats before doing much brushing.  A cat with fur as long as pictured is bound to have some.


Soy lecithin is a protein that helps prevent the mucus collecting the hairball together in the gut. The result is smaller hair chunks go right through instead of collecting where they cause puking. It will also change the hairball from being a small tight bound up "mouse" type ball to looser and longer that's easier to puke up. Look for "anti-hairball" on the food package, then turn it around and check ingredients. Foods that say "anti-hairball" and are not containing that protein do not work.


Spring and fall is when cats shed the most.  Get on top of the brushing early in spring (March) and then when it cools off (September usually but could vary.) If the cat spends a lot of time outside the seasonal changes will happen faster, but also much of the puking will happen outside so isn't a big deal.

I use an Evolution Shed Magic, it has claw-shaped tines that are dull so they don't scratch and even on my shorthairs I get a double handful of fur. It pulls my longhair a bit but I just grab the fur between 2 fingers and keep it from pulling at his skin. They all love being brushed to some degree, one loves it so much that she can't sit still long enough for me to get more than a few swipes in.

She rejected the Pill Pockets.  Picked the laced one out of five.

If I see the curved brush I'll try it.  Problem is, if she see's me with a brush in my hand, any brush, she's off to one of her hidey-holes.
She ran off when I picked up my hairbrush to comb my hair.

Right now I'm distracting her with the laser pointer.  If I keep her occupied she won't groom herself.
She'd rather chase the uncatchable light.

I cut mats from her all the time.  She doesn't have an issue with that.

She's an indoor cat.

The only good news is she's talking to me again.

Don't let her see the brush first. Get her on your lap while you're on the couch, with a handful of treats and the brush hidden, then show her the brush, give her a treat right away when she starts to react. Use plenty of whatever she likes for praise, but I'd leave the treats just for the brush so she starts looking forward to it. Let her go, and try again a little later when the incident is gone from her short-term memory. It won't take long for her to associate the brush, and brushing, with treats. I shamelessly bribe my cats to train them, whether it's sitting still while I take ticks off or getting the semi-ferals to let me pet them or pick them up.

I'll give it a try in a couple of days.  She's finally on purring terms with me again.
She has attitude and a long memory.  

I know my body armor is around here somewhere.