Sweetie Pie Turner, here. My mom is MomGoth’s Mom, but I’ve adopted MA as my MomGoth, since her kitties are gone.
I’m a very well-groomed cat-person.You know how, after you’ve brushed your hair, you have to clean the discarded hairs out of your brush? Well, cats brush their hair with our tongues, and we have to “clean out our brushes” somehow, don’t we?
Sometimes that results in … er … unfortuitous eliminations upon the carpet. Or, as MomGoth rather inelegantly puts it, “Hacking up a hairball.”
In an effort to spare me the embarrassment and effort of hirsute regurgitation, MomGoth gave me some anti-hairball medicine. She had to wrestle me to the floor and smear it on my paws. OF COURSE I licked it off, although I tried to shake it off first. It was dreadful stuff, and MomGoth decided not to give it to me again. No, I did not bite her or scratch her.
She found another brand, flavored with salmon. When she offered it to me, I walked around the circumference of where she was sitting, shaking my paw to show her what I’d do if she put it on me. She put some on her finger and held it out.
I could smell it from where I stood, and came over to investigate.
Mmmm! It was delicious! In fact, I went on a hunger strike that day, hoping she and Mom would give me that for all my food, but they held firm, and I have to be content with just a little bit of this as a treat every morning.
All medicine should taste this good!
A WRITING PROMPT FOR ANIMALS: What is your favorite flavor? Do you ever get anything in that flavor? Maybe for a treat?
SPT
Dan
July 9, 2016 at 8:00amMuMu woke us up around 3:00 am with a hairball. MiMi hacks up everything. Such s delightful sound 🙁
Marian Allen
July 9, 2016 at 10:43amTry that medicine Sweetie Pie likes. So far, so good.
Joey
July 9, 2016 at 3:05pmGoodness. I give that stuff to my cats. Clara and Cletus rarely have a hairball, and when they do, it’s not too bad. My big male, Catticus, when he has one it’s this horrible scene from a feline horror movie. All the other pets gather round to see if he’ll make it through.
And of course, Catticus has to be tackled and force-fed his slimy treat from a tube, whereas the other cats think it’s delicious. Such is the way of life.
Marian Allen
July 9, 2016 at 6:26pmROTFLOL! Catticus sounds like Sweetie Pie, usually. I can’t believe my luck, that she loves this stuff!
Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt
July 9, 2016 at 3:41pmIt says ‘helps support normal shedding’ on the tube you’re showing. How does that prevent hairballs? I’m curious, not having had any experience with cats.
Marian Allen
July 9, 2016 at 6:29pmI don’t know the answer to that, Alicia. I suspect the “normal shedding” may be a side effect? What the gel is supposed to do is make the hair pass more easily through the cat’s system, so it doesn’t get caught in the stomach, with the cat needing to regurgitate it to get rid of it. Or maybe “normal shedding” means the hair sheds off instead of all having to be licked away, which would result in excess hair in the stomach = regurgitation again. Cats are not for the faint of heart. heh
A.C.Flory
July 9, 2016 at 7:32pmlol – I wish we had that stuff here. We just have Kat-a-lax, and while it works, none of my babies see it as a ‘treat’. Ah well, maybe one day. Glad to see the *cough* is better. 🙂
Marian Allen
July 10, 2016 at 8:01amHeee! Our kids called that special *cough* that cats and dogs do “quirping,” because “quirp quirp quirp” is what it sounded like to them. They even had a dog who was prone to stomach upset they nicknamed “the quirp-pup.” Very appetizing reply to your comment, innit? 😉
A.C.Flory
July 10, 2016 at 8:42amHey, I can deal with projectile quirp – I’m unsinkable. 😀 And yes, I might see if I can get it online. 🙂
Marian Allen
July 10, 2016 at 8:01amOh, and maybe you could order that stuff over the internet?
Marian Allen
July 10, 2016 at 8:01amI mean medicine, not quirp.
Jane
July 10, 2016 at 7:06amThe vet gave me this liquid medicine for one of my cats and said, “It’s flavored. They like this. Just put it on the food.”
So I felt this big dramatic Oh I just bloody well bet they will!!!
But they DID like it! It worked! I thought it smelled wretched, but YAY. Fairy tales come true; it could happen to you!
Marian Allen
July 10, 2016 at 8:03amLOL! I put some of that “narsty” medicine on Sweetie Pie’s food. She took a bite, spit it out, and jumped straight up in the air. She was, to put it mildly, not best pleased.