[M&M Ragbabies]

Hi all,

I just got my ragdoll babies a couple of weeks ago, and something a friend told me about long-haired cats is that they have a tendency to have hairball (furball?) problems and sometimes might even need to be brought to a vet. So I thought I'd take preventative steps and ask around about how to prevent such problems and which brushes would suit ragdolls.. there're so many to choose from in the pet stores and I'm very new to cat parenting. Thanks everyone!

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[daina]

I'm no expert on this subject, but you can buy hairball food - i.e. Royal Canine Hairball. Also, you can feed sardines in oil every so often which apparently helps bring up any furballs. When a furball is current, CatLax (from pet barn etc) is good.

[gazey]

If you are not showing your kittens there is an excellent brush called a furminator, which is available on line from Clipperworld Australia. 10 minutes with one of them removes an awful lot of loose hair. I use this each weekend when the kids are mouldting and it only takes about 10 minutes, per cat to do a good job. The furminator does take a lot of coat with it so if you are showing a shedding blade is better as this will not remove any undercoat. I also give them 1/2 a teaspoon of parafin oil in their food, during moulting, twice weekly to help move any digested hair through. With the two things combined you should have very little problems with hairballs. Prevention is definately better than treatment as they can become life threatening.

gazey

[burmeselover]

Feeding a hairball formula and regular brushing to get rid of loose fur are the best ways to reduce the incidence of hairballs.
If your Ragdolls are still kittens, then you won't be able to feed a hairball formula as the sole diet as they don't make kitten AND hairball formula.

[Kicol]

It would be best to ask your vet. I give my adult cat a hairball remedy twice a week, and that is keeping hairballs at bay. But I don't know in the case of kittens - your vet would be the best one to ask. I also do daily combing when she starts shedding her Winter coat.

[faerie_bel]

Willow is long-haired. I didn't get Willow as a kitten and sometimes I wish I had so that I could've gotten her used to me grooming her. She barely tolerates me doing it. This is the best way to prevent hair going down into their tummies and forming hairballs. I have started her on a hairball food - Hills Science Diet. She really loves it. I haven't seen any hairballs since she has been on it but it has only been about 3 weeks.

I have read somewhere that feeding a tin of tuna in oil can help when kitties are shedding (usually in spring) but I'm not sure where I read it or if it works. Someone here might shed some light on this? I tried it with Willow but she only likes tuna in springwater.

[Trifon]

Feeding an oily fish like sardines once/twice a week is a good preventative measure. Cat-lax can also be given as a preventative measure too, just double check if it is appropriate for kittens and the correct dosage for kittens.

In terms of feeding, I would recommend something like Royal Canin Hairball to help prevent hairball but if your kitty is still a kitten you will need to keep feeding kitten formula biscuits up to 12 months but can mix some of the hairball formula biscuits in as well.

In terms of brushing, I think the Slicker Brush would be appropriate for a ragdoll for everyday grooming. If you are not going to show your kitty, a Zoom Groom would be ideal during heavy moulting as would the Furminator.

[faerie_bel]

The Zoom Groom is tolerated by Willow the best so I recommend trying it.

[rickywh]

One of my cats makes these lonely cat meeoows in the morning sometimes. She's a very VERY old cat, not sure if that has anything to do with it or not. She also puts up hairballs a lot too!