Sophie is making hairball noises...

[Deleted]

So Sophie has been making these noises, I call them hairball noises because it's the exact sound and dry heaving / hacking
motion my cats and small dog make when they get hairballs.

I know pumpkin and olive oil helps prevent hairballs but I feel like she needs some hairball meds or something .I have tonic lax for my cats.... Can I give a a bit of that?

[Heather]

You can. It would offer more immediate relief. If it's vaseline based remember that it will present absorption problems for a few days
ciao

[miamiferret2]

Is it like a hack /cough or a gag? Or is it more of a softer sound like they are kind of hissing? Sometimes, they just get a hair caught in their throat and it goes away after a few hours or they next day. I was advised not give a baby any lax with petroleum in it. the ferret lax tubes also tell you not to give to ferrets under 6 months. Give her raw pureed pumpkin. 1/2 teaspoon. They sell tomlyns natural hairballs remedy for cats and kittens. You can give 1/2 teaspoon of that. It works great. When I brought Sonny home I think he had a mild respiratory infection. He used to have that cough sometimes. It went away after a week. I usually don't jump the gun and start giving lax unless it persists into the next day. I would not worry too much. However you should give pumpkin and some kind of oil to keep their pipes clean and well lubed.

[Deleted]

It was definitely a gag, she even hacked up 1 tiny little soggy Kibble. Maybe she just had eaten that and it had gone down the wrong way.
I'll avoid the petroleum based hairball meds. I'll just give some extra pumpkin, start with the olive oil tonight and keep an eye on her. I'll order that one off of the Internet too, don't think we carry it around here.

Thanks!

[fearless]

I wouldn't panic too much, I know you will anyways, hairballs are common. If you do the pumpkin once a day it should prevent you from using the lax (which should be used in this kind of situation) I've never really had trouble with hairballs thankfully. Small steps such as the pumpkin is a lifesaver =]

[Deleted]

I've stopped panicking haha. But thanks, I gave them pumpkin and a bit of extra virgin olive oil in their food mush tonight. I'll order some tomlyns and keep it in my first aid kit and only use it for bad hairballs or if the ferrets ever eat something they should not.

[miamiferret2]

Are you feeding them wet kibble or dry? If you feed kibble, i recommend you put water in it. She was probably choking on it. This is yet another reason why I hate kibble. in certain shapes it will get stuck to the roof of their mouths.

[Deleted]

If she's having issues with hairballs, I'd make pumpkin and olive oil a daily supplement.

[Deleted]

I'm feeding mushy well-moistened kibble until I can pick up some freeze-dried today and then hopefully start the switch to raw.

They tend to throw the kibble outside of their cage, so I think what may have happened is she tried to eat a piece of the floor that I hadn't yet cleaned up, and it would've been harder because it would've dried up.

I am now adding pumpkin and olive oil to their food every day. How much should I be adding?

I'm mixing in about 1/2 tsp of pumpkin and about 1/4-1/2 tsp of olive oil into each of their food dishes. I change their food a couple times a day because it starts to clump together because of the water. They don't always eat enough at a time to be getting all of that pumpkin and all of the olive oil though, so I've been mixing that amount in each time I change their food (2-3 times a day) to make sure each of them is getting a total of 1/2 tsp of pumpkin and about 1/2 tsp of olive oil per day.

Is that an okay amount?

[Deleted]

Sounds good

I feed about 1/2 -1 tsp pumpkin daily. About. The same amount of olive oil.