CAT OWNERS: Let's talk Hairballs....

[liberalitch]

Carl (my notoriuosly gay neighbor.... his nickname choice.... not mine) calls them hairtubes.
We both agree that we can be awakened from a deadsleep by the "pre-tubing gags" of our cats.
Furiously we search to make sure that the cat is not in bed..... OR perched above the computer.

last night.... my SO (the commie) and i were sleeping and were disturbed by "pre-tubing gags". Spooky, who was on the dresser getting ready to issue forth a mighty tuber, was alarmed by our distress. He lept off, producing the tube in mid-air (along with a fine spray of "processed" cat food). The tube went splat ont he floor and Spooky sat in the hallway licking his paws with quite a bit of satisfaction.... like "Yea, baby! Did y'all see the size of that one?"

Share your "hairtube" stories here!

[redqueen]

1. No story to share...

only wanted to say that this is one of the reasons I am soooo not a cat person.

[liberalitch]

4. I can't decide what's worse.....

steppin' on 'em cold (old) or warm (fresh)

[redqueen]

6. oh eeeewwwwww!

:P

[liberalitch]

9. lol..... i knew that'd get ya....

[LostinVA]

16. Warm, definitely... but you know what's worse?

Coming home from work, and having one of them on your freaking pillow.

[liberalitch]

22. Yup,.... or waking up to it.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

2. My sister's cat aimed one into my favorite sneaker.

Fucker.

Anyway, we get him groomed now and it's no longer a problem. If hairballs are a problem though, you should try the Hartz Hairball Remedy from the grocery store. Our cats used to get them pretty frequently but they haven't had them since we started giving them the Hartz stuff weekly. Two of the cats actually like the stuff (it's Salmon flavored) but it's still easy to get into the two that don't like it. All you need to do is squeeze a glop of it onto their paw and they'll lick it off. Make sure you mash it into their fur a bit otherwise the ensuing paw shaking will send a glop of gloop flying across the kitchen.

[liberalitch]

5. Isn't it always strategic?

Carl got one on his hairbrush

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

7. One of my cats will knock things over for attention.

She's also generally impervious to getting yelled at. She'll just sit down, hiss and then start a stare down. What can I say? She's a bitch. She even wears a leather spiked collar.

One day she was walking along my dresser knocking things over and she came to a full pint glass of orange juice. She knocked it over and I leapt up and screamed "GET OUT!!!!!!!!" Apparently, she knew that this time she was in trouble because she bolted out out of my room and was not seen for the rest of the day. Thank God that apartment had hardwood floors and not carpeting.


I should send that photo into mycathatesyou.com

[liberalitch]

8. mycathatesyou or meankitty.com

What a great pic!

[redqueen]

10. the cats i live with do that for fun...

they don't care if you're watching or not... they love it!

[calico1]

14. I think you are right.

Its like little kids with spitting contests. :D

[calico1]

12. She looks like my Juniper:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

13. Midnight has a white spot on her chest too, but her's is really tiny. nt

[LostinVA]

17. Eldest kitty despises Middle Kitty and often pushes stuff onto him

She'll be on the table, counter, couch, etc.... and will push off keys. sunglasses, magazines, etc. onto her despised "little brother" that's literally three times her size. And yes, she does it on purpose... she checks where he is before she does it...

She's a little Bratty McCatty. I adore her.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

19. Midnight despises all kitties, but she just beats them up the normal way.

Even though she's the smallest of the cats (8lbs and the largest is 17lbs), the other three are scared of her. Most of the time she doesn't have to kick their ass and they'll just part like the Red Sea when she walks through the room. She also used to beat up the 95lb German Shepherd we had and that dog would have happily eaten a person, if given the chance.

[LostinVA]

21. The Punk is definitely the Alpha Cat...

[ChickMagic]

3. Besides hairball remedy

There's a really good grooming brush that costs about 20 bucks at Petsmart or
other places like that. It gets into the undercoat and really pulls off the
loose hair. Even our shorthair cat who doesn't puke hairballs and has never
produced hair on other brushes, has had tons of loose hair removed with this
brush. I forget the name of it but it has little metal bits on one side, a
regular brush on the other and 2 combs that pull out on either side.

[calico1]

11. I have 5 of the little darlings and have

learned to never, NEVER get up in the middle of the night without putting my slippers on. :-)

[graywarrior]

15. Interesting topic

My cat has been hairtubing more frequently since we started feeding him food that supposedly reduces hairballing. And he does it with such flair, mostly at around 2 or 3 am. Sounds like an old dude hacking up a lunger.

A few weeks ago, in the middle of a hacking episode and as he aimed for the pluch carpet, I picked him up to move him onto a hard floor, he did a nice projectile vomit while in transit, leaving a stream of steamy puke midair and finally splashing all over the furniture and floor. Took an entire roll of paper towels to get it all up.

Then the little fucker runs like the wind and sits under the bed cleaning himself for 3 hours.

Hairball pukes are frightening to me. They look sinister and evil.

[LostinVA]

18. Hahahahhaha.... why am I laughing?!

I feel your pain...

[Jokerman]

20. The "elimination" of hair balls.

If you read the package of most hair ball remedies they don't really claim to prevent them, only help the cat "eliminate" them from their system.

So you give the cat the treatment and they "eliminate" the hair from their system right onto the floor, mission accomplished.