Quote:
Originally Posted by OilersBaby
how often does this happen?
|
For hairballs, if you feed them the right type of food they may not ever throw up. Mine never have. By having a high quality food, it prevents shedding, and a poor coat.
It also depends how much your cat sheds. Our two nearly never do, as in you pick them up and hold them against a black shirt and there are only a couple hairs.
The more you brush them the less likely your cat will have loose hair when it licks itself, and as such would throw up less.
Read the ingredients and make sure that it is real meat and no bi products. Make sure when you read the ingredients it is all real, ie. Chicken, and other real meat, not corn glutenmeal, brewers rice and definitely no biproducts. Feeding both canned (say for dinner) and dry is also good, as the canned food is full of water which is especially good for male cats who can be prone to urinary problems.
Some good examples of food would be Natural Balance, Innova, Orijen, and Eagle Pack. Pretty much any independent pet store should have one of these. Try to stay away from the grocery store brands, ie. Whiskas, Friskies, etc. Its terrible for them and will make them fat and have a poor coat...which leads to more hairballs being thrown up.
In terms of behavior with declawed cats they can have psychological issues. Make sure to keep it indoors because they can't defend themselves. Also be very careful about getting another cat that hasn't been declawed because the declawed cat can get an inferiority complex. One other thing is that declawed cats may tend to bite more in play or to defend themselves as they don't have claws.
Good luck!