Jake at top of steps: Listen Cupcake, it wasn’t me. It was probably the young twerp. Check her for hairball breath! Now I need my sleep.
The Chinese may think it’s the year of the horse but for us it’s the year of the hairball!
It happened again this morning. Squish, squish. I stepped in a freaking hairball.
I have had cats a long time and I don’t remember a winter like this. No, not the snow. Well, yes the snow but not in this post. It’s the hairballs.
We haven’t had this many hairballs ever!
The cat food, which is formulated to prevent hairballs, seems like a rental. In the course of a week there are several hairballs with food stuck in them.
Morgan on chair: Wasn’t me. I’m too cute!
So who is the perpetrator (or the perp as the CSI folks would say)? They all are suspects. I have four puking cats although I suspect Mollie and Hazel did the deed today.
Where do they barf?
Anywhere they are. They prefer carpets or fabric because it’s harder to clean.
Hazel: Look at my belly! Do I look like I’ve ever barfed anything I ate? Come to think of it, is it time for a meal? Maybe a little snack?
Of course, carpets aren’t the only thing. Someone barfed on the bedspread last weekend. Fortunately it’s washable. All my stuff is washable. That’s what you buy when you have pets.
Today there were two barfs. The first one, which I stepped in, was on a large multi-color oriental carpet.
Of course you couldn’t see it. That’s why we buy multi-color oriental carpets for the dining room. Well, that and wine spills and maybe salsa – you get the idea. You see we have these crazy friends. You never know what will end up on the carpet. Of course we tell our friends it’s because of the cats.
The second was on the stairs carpet, also multi-colored but I heard the sound.
It starts like a small gagging. It gets louder and longer. Then there is an explosion. Poof! Half-digested kibble is all over the carpet along with wet stinky cat food and the signature cigar-looking hairball.
I found it before I stepped in it.
Mollie: Really? You think I would barf a hairball and make you clean it up? Look at this face!
There is an art to stepping in it too. It’s never with flat soled shoes. It’s always some heavy tread clog or sneaker so there are ridges to scrap. Yuck!
The worst is stepping in one with your bare feet. It squishes up between the toes. After you get past the yuk factor, it’s easier than cleaning the shoe treads. I stick my feet in the shower and I’m good to go.
So why is this year worse than other years? I have no idea. My cats are house cats so not going outside isn’t it. Perhaps they are bored.
Or perhaps this is a conspiracy…..
Views and Mews by Coffee Kat 
They look too innocent to do anything like you’re describing.
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That’s what they want you to think. They are diabolical.
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They have clearly formed a union and are trying to shake you down. Hazel is no doubt the organizer looking like the female cat version of the Godfather in that photo. Keep an eye on her…she looks suspicious.
I must say I love these photos, especially the eyes on the step…too funny!
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Well, it’s working. I would give them anything to stop.
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This would be a little hard for me to take…but when you love these little creatures it’s amazing what we will handle! I hope you get some answers as to why it’s different this year. I’d love to know!
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I think this will be a mystery of life. I only hope it goes back to normal.
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You poor thing. None of the 3 cats who have owned us have been prone to hairballs. If they sounded like they might have one, we gave them Kitty Malt squeezed it onto our fingers to get things moving again.
We pretended it was a treat for them, “Look! What we’ve got. Oh, boy.” Jazz and Cayenne would dutifully lap it up. Tigger is a harder sell. We have to give him and actual treat buried in the petromalt.
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Mollie is the most hairball prone cat and she doesn’t eat treats or anything but her dry cat food. I have to try some different things. Hazel will eat anything that isn’t nailed down but she didn’t like the paw thing either. Maybe on a finger???
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Maybe I shouldn’t say this…it might backfire on me…Teddy has never hacked up a hairball. First cat I have ever had that doesn’t have a regular hairball hacking schedule.
Try putting the Petromalt on you finger and let them lick it off. Worked when Dolly and Henry were around. They didn’t like it on their paws.
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Fingers crossed for Teddy! I don’t think Morgan has had a hairball yet. She has a thinner coat or maybe it’s because she’s still fairly young.
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Youth may have something to do with it. I never had heartburn when I was young. 🙂
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I don’t think it’s a conspiracy. My house cats are doing the same thing…many more hairballs than usual despite hairball formula food, treats, and Laxatone. Can’t be the cold weather either, because we are out here in California where there is a drought going on. Boomer actually managed to expel one on the kitchen tile yesterday….I was so thrilled I didn’t have to clean the carpet!
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I know what you mean. I actually cheer is one is on a hard surface!
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Poor kitties. Poor you. No one could be happy about this development. As if this winter isn’t goofy enough already!
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🙂
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A funny funny post about the design, development and deployment of a hairball! Maybe being pet-less has its advantages!
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This is the only one I can think of. Don’t you need a doggie weekend?
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Laxatone…works pretty well and most cats like it. There are many names for the product, but all work the same. Available at vet offices and pet stores. Mostly it helps the hairball go through the system instead of up and out. And brushing helps too. Free advice from the pet sitter. 🙂
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I tried Petromalt. You put about an inch on their paw and they lick it off, right? Nope, they fling it around so it’s on the curtains and furniture. Is Laxatone easier to administer?
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Laxatone and Petromalt are basically the same thing. There are also a variety of flavors. You could try mixing it in their food. Or maybe they just want to continue to aggravate you with hairballs!!
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I will look again. The one I had smelled like molasses. I would have liked it myself. I don’t think they enjoy the act of tossing a hairball but they do like to admire it afterward. Maybe I need a dog who would eat them.
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One of our dog loves to eat the hairballs…you can borrow Butterscotch if you like!
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You are so lucky!
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Hope I won’t eat my words…but…Gibby, our Ragdoll, for some reason hasn’t barfed any hairballs for many weeks now! For a long time she barfed them regularly but now they’re rarely splatted out. I don’t know why and I’m not gonna’ ask her either…we’re happy to have a reprieve! Seems to me every time I stepped on one…yuck…I was barefoot and squished it between my toes.
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After a while you get immune to the “yuck” factor in having pets. It may disgust some people but I’m used to it. Maybe it’s like diaper changing.
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So it’s not just our house that has had a sudden upsurge of upchucks. At first we thought it was the new brand of kibble yet changing that has had no slow-down of the slimy projectiles. Sadly at our house the preferred place of regurgitation is on the carpets – the lighter the carpet the deeper the stain – oh joy…
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It has been bad for the couple of months and I’ve no idea why. Yes, they do like lighter carpets. I think they enjoy seeing their stains.
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They do don’t they, it’s like their honor role with their “badges of barf”, lol. One of mine has decided now to up the ante as my son has forgotten to put the cover on the pool table so has now taken to pulling himself around the sides of the table, ugh… never a dull moment, lol! 😉
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We used to have a rug in the garage in front of the washing machine. Blackie horked up hairballs on it so many times I finally had to throw it out. It was falling apart from so many washings. All that cement and it always had to happen on the little rug…
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I had a non-washable carpet remnant that we kept cleaning up. Then we just chucked it and bought a washable one. Of course you have to replace those every so often. Cats are hard on carpets!
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Funny you post this. My cats rarely barf but I’ve had 3 within the past two weeks. Thankfully on the bathroom tile!!
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How did you get them to barf on tile? My cats would run to the nearest carpet!
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Do you brush them frequently? This is what I do in order to decrease the hairballs. Love your funny post!!
gmg
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Oh yes, they get brushed. Hazel the short hair has a heavy undercoat. I get enough out of her to make blankets for the poor.
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Our current batch of cats usually have the good sense to barf on the floor rather than the carpet, but I did recently step right into a hair ball while wearing socks. Yuck yuck yuck. BTW, I love how your smart ass cats call you Cupcake. Trying to decipher what mine call me behind my back…
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Only Jake calls me Cupcake. He thinks he’s a hot stud but his package got removed early. It’s from the Stephanie Plum books. I had to cut off his library card.
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Perhaps they think you’re spending too much time on the computer and they’re trying to get your attention. The cat I had while in college, barfed all of the time…oh that sound was so horrible.
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I am retired! They get way more attention than they ever did before. It’s a conspiracy for sure!
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No sound quite like the sound of a cat beginning the first stages of horking up a hairball! Our cats always made sure they horked them up on carpeting. I think they need the traction to get maximum projectile barfing.
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Hork? Love that word. My cats are master horkers.
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