I would love to be able to say that for my birthday, Tig stopped yakking up hairballs. But if I said that, it would not be true.
He did not expel one on Saturday or Sunday. He did on Monday. He did yesterday. I don’t know if he will today, but I’ve caught onto another piece of the puzzle. Hark back to the Blanket Monster story. It’s the source of his current neurosis. He’s afraid when he comes upstairs, and licks himself compulsively if he comes near the bedroom. Considering that it is impossible to come upstairs without coming near the bedroom, which is to the right of the staircase, this means that virtually every time Tig comes upstairs, he licks himself compulsively, thus eating far more fur than he would normally eat. And it’s change-your-coat time in the animal kingdom, so he’s dumping his summer coat and getting his thicker winter coat ready. The end result: Hairballs, and much cat puke while expelling them.
Saturday and Sunday, I was home many more hours. I have gotten into a habit on weekends of catching up on the sleep I don’t get on weekdays, so I tend to take an afternoon nap. I sit down on The Chair That Swallows You Whole, Tig climbs into my lap in his inimitable way (first he paws me, then he steps on various sensitive areas of my upper torso, then he finally collapses onto my torso, upside-down, and slides down to my lap and lies there, still upside down). I fall asleep. He falls asleep. We both wake up some time later, refreshed. I’m quite sure that this makes him feel far more secure than, say, being upstairs where the Blanket Monster might eat him again. He rarely licks himself compulsively when he’s downstairs, and he’s also outside much of the time. So. No cat puke this weekend, but it was back on Monday.
Now here’s the tough part: I was thinking of asking the vet for a prescription of Kitty Downers, but then I remembered that this is Tig. He fights me when all I’m trying to do now is dab a bit of fish oil on his paws to help with the hairballs. (Actually, I’ve stopped bothering, because it ain’t doing squat, and I’m tired of fighting him over it.) So. How can I get kitty downers down Tig’s throat, when he won’t let me give him medicine in any form? How, when he struggles and bites and claws if I try to hold him and give it to him? How, when he will not eat food if there is medicine mixed into it?
How the hell do I medicate him? I can’t see a way. So, since I can’t stay home seven days a week, do you folks have any suggestions on ways to calm him down? And I mean relatively realistic ways. I’ll be damned if I call that idiotic pet psychic from Animal Planet.
He’s not sleeping in his kitty condo these days, either. But that might be because he’s got a box of newspapers that he sleeps in instead. I find it convenient to clean when he yaks in it. Just remove a few layers of newspaper.
I do feel really bad for my Tig, though. It has to suck to be throwing up every day. Short of shaving him, I can’t think of a way to get him to stop.
I have been reading your site for a long time, but don’t think I have ever posted before.
First, let me say, when I saw the (more) link, my first thought was there was going to be a photo of a hairball in the extended section. LOL
Anyway, the compulsive licking is ONLY near the bedroom? The reason ask because two years ago one of my cats started compulsively licking her fur, tummy and feet mostly. Til they were nearly bald. It turned out that she had Hyper-Thyroid disease, the licking was a symptom.
Before we took her for radiation, the licking (and hairballs) were driving me crazy. She also had an allergic reaction to a medicine that was making it worse. I gave her Pet-Eze from (available at pet stores) it is a chewable “stress-reliever” and worked ok. If Tig will do chewables, talk to your vet, you may be able to get the “downers” as chewable. I will have to look and see if I still have the info, but I did find a company that would convert almost any pet medicine into a chewable form.
Nah, I wouldn’t put a photo of a hairball up. It’s bad enough I have to see them so much these days.
Anyway, yes, Tig is only licking himself when he’s feeling anxious, except when he does the normal grooming. It’s pretty easy to tell the difference, especially since he follows me upstairs at night, because he used to sleep in the bed. And now he’s afraid to.
Pet-Eze, hm? Maybe if I dipped it in tunafish. Thanks, I’ll go look. Because I realized that it would just be adding to the stress to medicate him or bring him to the vet.
You may want to investigate ways to make Tig feel comfortable in and around your bedroom so that he will stop the compulsive grooming when he’s around there. And I wouldn’t rule out pet therapists. There are people out there who understand animals very well, whether we call it intuition or whatever else.
Rahel, great minds think alike. I put a towel down in the corner on top of the stairs where he likes to sleep, or actually, where he used to sleep while I was doing my morning/evening toiletries. When I was done, he’d either follow me downstairs or leap into bed.
It did seem to calm him a bit, but he was going after that tail area something fierce. Then again, can’t expect miracles in a day.
Meryl —
You can try adding some drops of Valerian or Rescue Remedy to his moist or dry food. Lots of people who show cats do this to help calm a stressed kitty.
Leslie
I’ve used Bach’s Rescue Remedy to calm a stressed kitty. My only problem with it is it wears off too fast.
For your purposes, you might want to try hitting a pet supply store for some Feliway. Put a plug-in upstairs either in or near the bedroom.
Meryl, I just remembered: There is a condition called “stud tail” that you may want to investigate. If I remember correctly, cats with stud tail compulsively lick the base of their tails (or the base of the tail of another cat who has it). It’s got something to do with the oil glands located there, I think, though it may also have a psychological component too.