My 3 cats were forever throwing up hairballs (for more than 10 years). I was told it was normal== VOMITING HAIRBALLS IS NOT NORMAL!!!!!, but is a symptom of harmful cat food!!!! I tried hairball formula dry food, even those tubes of grease sold years ago in addition to store brand canned food. It is inconceivable to me now that I have been more educated, that petroleum products were/are sold to lubricate your cat's digestive system! Petroleum products are poison!
When they grew older, around 10 years old, one shorthair, a Maine Coon and a Siamese were throwing up almost daily and sometimes w/o any hairballs. The shorthair then died from a brain tumor. The other two continued to vomit for years. Looking back, at the time, I attributed some of it to the Chinese poisoning the cat/dog food supply with melamine (see for "Pet Food Politics" author Marion Nestle's brief overview of melamine in milk products from China as well.)
Over the past 25 years....Being that Iams had been a much healthier food back in the '80s and my late Persian cat originally did well on it, stools were firmer and didn't smell bad as when she was on leading brands, I trusted it. She passed of cardiac failure at only 10 years old, so I am lax to believe Iams was ever that good, but I don't know that healthier foods were available yet.
Throughout most of my other recent cats' lives I had fed them Iams, but they continued to throw up. So I had switched them to Science Diet wet/dry foods for a few years treating them to Wegmans canned for awhile. It wasn't until a new private pet store opened in a local mall, that I was educated on nutritious healthy food for my animals. Yes, it costs a lot more than the junk sold at the grocery store, but it can keep your pet's healthy and away from the vet and save you thousands of dollars of money and heartache in the long run. In my case, it saved my Siamese's life, and I am so pleased as she is the most wonderful perfect lap cat! It was too late for my sweet doofy comical Maine Coon; the other foods damaged his kidneys too much and he succumbed 2 years ago wasting away to kidney disease even after switching him to Hill's Prescription k/d canned and dry foods.
It was after his passing, that my Siamese cried night and day, and the throwing up continued even though the vet had put her on Hills Prescription Diet k/d for kidney, as apparently her system was damaged by the melamine poisoning as well, according to damage as analyzed on blood tests. The vet thought that because she was now throwing up w/o passing hairballs, that the crying/yowling was also due to illness. I believed, and was happily correct to know that she was simply lonely. The crying stopped when a small child appeared at my door with a bag full of kittens and I adopted a short-haired kitten to keep her company.
Fortunately for me the new pet store steered me toward VeRus canned cat foods and EVO dry food at very competitive prices with Amazon ($2.09 per 6 oz can) and often runs discounted specials. I have been feeding my now 16 year old Siamese for the past 2 years on 80% VeRus canned foods, 10% dry EVO and 10% Hills prescription k/d, however, the latter will be terminated immediately. (My vet is now recommending I switch the renal supplementation to Purina NF since it is beef based; that perhaps she has a poultry allergy as Hills is poultry/pork based). I'll give it a try, but my experience tells me to avoid major brand names. My cats have never been happier and more content and symptom-free, as on VeRus canned and EVO dry.
While I trusted the vet on the Hills Prescription k/d as a maintenance supplement for kidney health, she gets terrible gas. I didn't realize it was attributable to the Hills food, until I ran out of it and let her eat nothing but VeRus this past month. Didn't notice the gas was gone, until it returned only when I fed the k/d. Lovely,..(not!). while writing this review I just learned that Hills Prescription and Science Diet foods are both made by the same company: Hills Pet Nutrition company.
Since I provided 90% of her diet with the VeRus and EVO (always available, but she doesn't prefer dry food as much), she no longer EVER throws up hairballs or anything else. Rarely, she had been urinating elsewhere and not being able to hold it long if away from her litterbox; this has not been a problem since VeRus. She is at a very healthy weight, where she had always been on Iams/Science Diet. She had also begun jumping up on the bed again, which happens to be very high, snuggling with us at night, something which she hadn't done for years and improvement in health returned after only being on the VeRus for 2-3 months!!!
Interesting enough, the Siamese would often refuse other brands of canned food that had fish ingredients. At first, she preferred non-fish VeRus, but now that she has been on VeRus for 2 years, she eats every flavor, and I'm so pleased that there are so many varieties available. I don't believe that the same flavor food is good to eat every day for any animal species, as allergies will develop. I wish that Amazon sellers would sell a variegated case of flavors, but unfortunately until Amazon sells these cases with Prime shipping, I will continue to buy at local store which is much more economical as of this time. Canned foods are so much more healthier than dry foods, and so again, it is invaluable that VeRus has so many flavors to switch between. By the way, the VeRus can is shaped smaller in circumference than the typical can, so your current store brand can cover will not fit. Any VeRus seller can sell you resealable lids to fit these cans.
By the way, the kitten is now 2 years old and loves his EVO dry foods. Recently though, he has decided to like canned food (for a kitty, he is comically taken aback by strong smells of any sort!). Perhaps it was something of which he needed to grow out!, but now has been eating the VeRus as well. Since he has only been fed EVO/VeRus, he has never thrown up a hairball, not even once! All four of the cats prior to this kitten had thrown up hairballs when on Iams or Science Diet, always sold with a bogus claim that they are "better" made expensive cat foods, along with various types of canned foods (Friskies, Wegmans, Fancy Feast, or even other organic brands sold at Giant food stores) over the past 25 years and living at homes with or without city water (just adding that because chlorinated/fluoride laden water can and will have an effect on cats's health just as much as diet).
FYI-1: The one thing I noticed in their eating habits that is quite telltale of a sign that addictive additives are added, is when the cats cry and whine for canned food every time it runs out, even though they are openly supplied a favorite dry food. For a few years, 2005-2007, I had also fed both previous older cats w/ Wegmans Buju & Ziggie Canned Cat, which only led to them constantly crying and whining for more. When my Siamese runs out of VeRus, she will go to her cat bowl and look at me or let out a yowl if I hadn't paid notice, but not cry and yowl and whine as to drive you nuts because they are suffering withdrawal. I have learned that many pet food companies are adding sugar to addict the cats, but that you cannot find this listed on the label. Other than that, she will eat her EVO dry food. I can't say enough good things about VeRus canned foods, and only wished I had found it years sooner, as I firmly believe my other 2 cats would still be with me.
FYI-2: One additional side note that I would like to add since I'm already writing this, is that the vet has just recently added Cosequin, a Shark cartilage medical supplement, to the Siamese's diet (about 2 months ago). While it was prescribed for her arthritis, her sinuses have cleared up. She no longer snores or has noisy breathing, nor has she shown the malaise (half-covered eyelids that accompanied her sinus/bladder issues wearing her down). She has suffered sinus colds every winter starting when the weather turns cold (which it did over one month ago), which end up with her miserable, watery dripping eyes, and even noisier sinuses. So far, no winter cold. Her toenails are also so much easier to cut through; they don't pain her when I snip them.
Ask your vet for this new prescription only Cosequin, as it has been FDA-approved, tested to have the ingredients it claims, and scientifically proven in tests to help with arthritis pain and bladder lining. (Many other chondroitin sulfate supplements have been tested to not even have the chondroitin in them!). You can look it up on 1800petmeds.com, although the type my vet has prescribed is a plain gelatin capsule which I open up and mix with her canned food once each day. (The same company makes Cosemin-D for humans, which has also been tested to work, when others may not even have the ingredients, as well.) My Siamese is a very picky eater, and notoriously impossible to give pills orally; she does not notice this powder in her food, or if she does, she likes it.
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