Cat, stuck hairball, can I help him out?

[bigandclever]

Derek, the hairy pillock, has got what I believe is a stuck hairball. Ordinarily I wouldn’t be too concerned, he throws one up every few weeks, but this has been a couple of days with a lot of dry heaving and no results.

I can’t get him to the vet until tomorrow night at the earliest so is there anything I can do to ease his discomfort as he’s clearly not very happy?

Right now he’s started ignoring his regular wet food, had a poke at some tuna with a bit of olive oil added, but will quite happily guzzle Dreamies and Webbox sticks.

[Simpo Two]

How old is Derek?

[bigandclever]

He’s 11ish.

[Simpo Two]

I wondered if 'dry heaving' might be a thyroid issue - that's what my cat (12) started doing in the middle of every night, but with the right medication she's OK now. So might be worth a trip to the vet for a checkover.

[Ronstein]

Definately get the Thyroid hormone level checked. We gave ours coconut oil tp lick twice a day for a few months (until she got bored with it). Now we give her a sliver of butter every day. Basically, anything that lubricates the system will help.

[E63eeeeee...]

There are specific anti-hairball cat biscuits, worked on ours, might be worth a try.

[bigandclever]

The hairy little pain in the arse has had a full inspection and, apparently, there’s nothing wrong with him so he’s got some Metacam anti-inflammatory juice to soothe his sore throat. He’s currently asleep on the sofa and snoring like a good’un.

[Simpo Two]

Have you got a flea comb? I give my cat a regular brushing and it's amazing how much fluff you get out. So perhaps that would reduce any furball problem?

[Stan the Bat]

My wife brushes ours everyday, I notice plenty of fur in the nearest bin.

[bigandclever]

Well, this is crap. The patient is now on a drip and having an overnight stay at the vets with ‘decreased neutrophils’ .. a count of somewhere just about 0

[Simpo Two]

bigandclever said:

Well, this is crap. The patient is now on a drip and having an overnight stay at the vets with ‘decreased neutrophils’ .. a count of somewhere just about 0

Erk, sorry to hear that. So the full inspection on Tuesday didn't include a blood test?

[bigandclever]

No, blood tests weren’t considered necessary. Didn’t help that he showed absolutely no symptoms of anything awry on the first visit. This morning he’d clearly gone downhill over night so took him straight in. He’s managed to drop 700g from 5kg on Tuesday so that’s not great.

[moorx]

Oh no, sorry to hear this. At least he is in the best place being looked after. Will keep everything crossed.