My Maine coon will be 7 yrs. old this fall. She has always had a beautiful coat and a full main. Recently I've noticed a thinning out of her main with some shedding of her coat. Is it too early for a spring shedding? -- never noticed her to lose this much fur in the winter. She seems well, eats, plays, etc. (sleeps most of the time as a rule anyway). Her diet is mainly dry food -- low fat Science Diet hairball control formula and occasionally eats the Science Diet low fat canned beef. Doesn't seem to have fleas or any unusual skin problems. Should I be concerned about her health?

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

Answers

Mine too is shedding. I see little fluffballs all over the floor. She too is on Science Diet for hairballs!!! And, she is still coughing up hairballs too!! What gives???

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

This may have absolutely nothing to do with your problem, but when we adopted our 4 1/2 year old Maine Coon his legs were completely bald! He too, was on Science Diet. I did some research and read somewhere that Science Diet contains a certain type of fish oil that some cats are allergic too, causing hair loss. We switched his cat food to Purina Cat Chow, then later to Wysongs (a better food) and the problem went away on its own.

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2001

We use Nutro Max Hairball dry food. Also we comb both our cats several times a week. We haven't seen any hairballs from either Coon. When we got our second Coon, it had such a hairball problem that it's intestine became blocked and it required a major operation. this was quite a shock after only having the cat for a couple of weeks. It's previous ower did not comb the cat or feed her special hairball preventitive food. Another benefit from this food was that both cats developed beautiful shiny coats ans seem to shed less. Good luck.

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2001

I didn't mean for this to happen, but it turned out so well that I wanted to share my experience...

Our vet gave us a trial size of the Science Diet Hairball food for our Maine Coon but recommended it to be feed in addition to the Growth formula as she was only 12 weeks old at that time. I fed her the first ones that night in bed just before turning out the lights. She ate them, but without relish, so I followed the "prescription" with a few real kitty treats, which was okay. It seemed like a *bonding* experience so I did the same the next night and the next night and ...

Now my Maine Coon will tell me with her infallible internal clock when it is bedtime as she will lay her chin down on her paws and STARE at the jar I keep her "treats" in (i.e., NOT knowing when to turn the computer off!). Or, if she's out trapising around when I'm ready to get to bed all I have to do is SHAKE the jar and she comes running. She purrs so loud it seems like the neighbors should hear her but it's the head butting that really says "Wow, Mom!"

BJ & Cabbage Kids Buffee Moon

-- Anonymous, March 11, 2001