# My Birman and his vomiting ways



## jamcgee11 (Feb 24, 2009)

Hi,

Would like a bit of advice basically we have a birman and he has always been a sicky cat from being a kitten. he is now 3. recently he has started vomiting again everywhere, i watch and he goes outside eats grass and then the next morning a few heaps of sick in the lounge. I know or i guess this coincides with the start of his malting and he is just trying to clear his throat.

What methods would you suggest to keep the fur from going down his throat and hence onto the carpet?
Can you get cats hair cut?
Regular grooming?

many thanks


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Is he definitely bringing up hairballs or is it just food?

If it's hairballs you can give him some hairball remedy or petroleum jelly (Vaseline). Hairball remedy is basically just flavored petroleum jelly and can be found in all pet stores. A 1 inch ribbon once a week usually keeps things moving. Regular brushing will help reduce the amount of fur ingested. Not sure what kind of diet you're feeding, but a high quality wet food will also help reduce the amount of shedding.

If the vomiting is just food, you may be dealing with eating too fast or some sort of food allergy. If it is just food, please give us more info on what you are currently feeding (brand and wet or dry).

I move this thread to Health & Nutrition for you...


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## jamcgee11 (Feb 24, 2009)

he brings up a mixture of both i would say. 70% of the time it is hairballs shaped like a small sausage and other times it is his food.

I feed him Iams (orange bag) dry food which is always out and 2 pouches of whiskas fish in gravy wet pouches a day. He has been to the vet a couple of times when he was younger as i was concerned but each time he said he was healthy and i walked away £30 lighter lol.

Could you recommend a good quality brush for the Birman? will certainly try the hairball remedy.

"you may be dealing with eating too fast or some sort of food allergy" he does eat quickly lol......i would have said food allergy but we have tried him on everything from his current food upto Hills


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

OK, so definitely start the hairball remedy. I'd give it daily for 3 days to get him started and then twice a week for 2 weeks, then weekly. Give it between meals as it can interfere with absorption of nutrients. A one inch ribbon is an appropriate dose.

There are lots of different brushes out there. Many people love the Furminator or Zoom Groom. I prefer to use a flea comb on my very long haired Maine ****. Barely ever brush/comb my short haired cats, they haven't needed it since they've been on good quality food for the last 3 years. Although I do brush Kobi sometimes just because he likes it. Marie73 has a Birman who loves to be brushed, she should be able to tell you what works well on Birman fur. 

Unfortunately the foods you're feeding are not good quality and dry foods are dehydrating which causes shedding. There are tons of threads around here about the health consequences of poor quality foods and dry foods. I'll give you some links below to read as well. Give a high quality, *primarily* wet food diet a trial of about 8 weeks and I'm betting you'll see a huge difference in his coat softness and the amount of shedding. About 2-3 months after I changed my cat's food, my parents came for a visit and my mother actually noticed the difference in Kobi's coat and remarked about it without me ever saying anything about it. 

The brands I would recommend are Wellness, Natural Balance, Merrick, Innova, Eagle Pack, Nature's Variety, Blue Spa to name a few. You can get Wellness and Natural Balance in Petco, Blue Spa is in Petsmart. If you go to the Mfr website there will be a store locator. 

www.catinfo.org 

Many articles here, so I gave you the index:

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library


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## jamcgee11 (Feb 24, 2009)

thank you very much for the information i will be changing his diet after reading that with immediate effect. 
Will try archie with the furball remedy and see how i go, will post back asap 

have informed people i know who have cats to get onto the forum too,


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Very cool! :lol:

Just go slow with the diet changes...mix a little new with a lot old for like 2-3 days, then increase the new and decrease the old. Keep doing that until you've completely switched. Take a couple weeks to do it. Food changes that are done too quick can cause digestive upset, usually diarrhea. You don't need to add that to the vomiting problem!


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Cinderella has hairballs about once every two weeks. She LOVES being brushed (not so much on her stomach, though). I give her the hairball remedy (when I remember).  

I do take her in to get groomed professionally 3-4 times a year, because my groomer can get enough fur off of her to make another whole cat! 

This is the brush she loves. She likes the soft side, but I also use the soft wire brush on the other side - very, very slowly and gently on her - and it gets a lot of the undercoat.

http://www.petco.com/product/100544/Fin ... ite=322172

I don't know if you have this problem, but I have a hard time keeping Cinderella's weight up, she's such a picky eater. I took her in to get groomed last weekend and she's up to 9.18 lbs.!!!!  

Could we have some more pictures, please? There are very few Birmans here.


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## jamcgee11 (Feb 24, 2009)

here is a few pics of 'Archie' taken from his pedigree name 'Archimedies' we call him archibald lincoln most of the time lol!
Am toying with the idea of getting another Birman for him just if i can resolve the vomiting issues which iam now confident i can due to the excellent advice from the site. The other cat in the first pic is 'Eske'......

good to hear another birman owner has the same issues, and the weight i know what you mean i took archie to the vet after a year because of his weight but was told told he was fine. he has always been quite slender especially when i brush him. He used to like getting bathed as a kitten i think once he actually got in the shower one time lol but as he has got older he still likes the bath when nobody is in it especially the water from the tap (still cant understand that)


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

He's GORGEOUS! :luv


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## jamcgee11 (Feb 24, 2009)

ha ha.......ye he knows it too lol!


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