Cat's excessive shedding related to diet?

dmodonov

Hello all,

My parents have a beautiful domestic cat who has had a problem with excessive shedding for as long as I can remember. We got her when she was about 8 weeks and she's 5 years old now. She has been confined to the kitchen when inside the house for the past few years because her hairs cover everything everywhere she goes. Brushing doesn't seem to make a difference -- it's like the hair is infinite and no matter how much we try to remove it there's always just as much as before. She's very affectionate and loves to be petted and sit on our laps but nobody wants to get close to her because she will literally cover you in fur within seconds and it's impossible to get rid of it. Anyway, I was doing some research about this problem and found that some people attribute it to diet. I'm wondering if anyone on here has any experience of this problem and of solving/improving things by adjusting the cat's diet? We she free feeds Purina dry cat food and she get's a treat of a little bit of tinned tuna most days as well. She always has access to plenty of water so I don't think that's an issue. I'd really appreciate any advice -- my parents are half thinking of getting rid of her because of this problem and I really don't want them to because she's such a wonderful little lady and it seems like such a petty, human concern to banish her over. Thanks in advance for your help and comments.

ABajaninCork

It might very well be the Purina. It isn't the best of foods...

Have you spoken to a vet about this? Sounds as though there might be another underlying issue. Just in case it is the food, here's a few ideas on what to try her on next: Zooplus.

I'd also knock the tuna on the head too. Don't give it to the cat too often. It can have a funny effect on the bowels! Try her with a few sardines or a little cooked white fish.

HTH!

PurplePrincess

Maybe try a furminator brush, I got one a while ago and it really does lift the dead hair out, a few minutes a day and I can see the difference in my two, that theres not so much hair around the place.

Irish Stones

Tinned tuna shouldn't be fed to cats because its content in salt isn't healthy for their kidneys. I also know that fish can give skin reaction like dandruff and excessive shedding could be related to skin disease.
Try a different dry food and read the ingredients and see if you can find a dry food with less wheat and other cereals content.
If you think that the diet can be the source of your trouble and you think that some ingredient of her diet has something to do with that and don't know which ingredient is, you might ask your vet for an allergenic test.

Nody

Get some Applaws 400g bags if you can; it's quite reasonbly priced at the larger bags as well and the quality is top notch.

Pumpkinseeds

+1 for the Furminator and Applaws dry food. My cats are in great condition since I put them on Applaws. I took them off Felix and they have Animonda Carny wet food as well. They loved Feringa at first but then refused to eat it anymore once I'd stocked up on it:rolleyes: I do give them fish once a week but when it's tuna I get the tesco tuna tinned in spring water and I sometimes get them tinned wild red salmon when its on offer we eat salmon once a week so they get about half a raw salmon darne between them.

Blooming chaps eat better than we do:D I've also found that if you run a damp rubber glove like a marigold one over furniture it lifts a lot of fur off, much better than hoovering and it's great for getting in to nooks and crannies and cushions.

Nody

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

+1 for the Furminator and Applaws dry food. My cats are in great condition since I put them on Applaws. I took them off Felix and they have Animonda Carny wet food as well. They loved Feringa at first but then refused to eat it anymore once I'd stocked up on it:rolleyes: I do give them fish once a week but when it's tuna I get the tesco tuna tinned in spring water and I sometimes get them tinned wild red salmon when its on offer we eat salmon once a week so they get about half a raw salmon darne between them.

Have the same now with Bozita (which they ate happily for 2 months) but I hope they'll come around to it again :P

That's another reason why I got usually 4 to 6 food brands going at any time to rotate around on.

mymo

I swap brands sometimes too, bozita is never refused in my house, I always have 2 or 3 flavours though. I buy whats on offer, grain free usually.
Good diet does help.
Despite my best efforts one of mine sheds a lot too, loads at the moment and he's ginger so it shows up on everything. His hair is very thick and stands out from his body, not long, but longer than the other cat. Our long haired cat is also shedding at the moment, losing the kitten coat, and brushing really does help, we often wonder how Jake(ginger) has any hair left the amount he sheds.
Slicker brush helps with shorter haired cats, or furminators meant to be very good, haven't tried it personally, oh and a roll of tape or one of those rubber clothes brushes by the door.

Anyone's else's cats refuse the applaws? Mine would only eat the kitten one we got for Youngest, not the adult one.

Pumpkinseeds

Felix wolfs down the chicken Applaws and Toby seems to love it too. Jazzy tolerates the chicken one if nothing else is on offer but seems to prefer the chicken and salmon Applaws. Maybe its something to do with the size or shape of the kibble.

SillyMangoX

mymo wrote: »

Anyone's else's cats refuse the applaws? Mine would only eat the kitten one we got for Youngest, not the adult one.

Can't comment in general as we usually feed whiskas wet, but when we bought the tins of applaws after finding them in a petshop Peach refused to eat the chicken flavour, wolfed down the fish, and everyone loved the kitten one!