Do You Butter Your Cats?

[Redlo Nosrep]

I couldn't resist the thread title so I can read the expected responses about preferring mayo or a nice Bearnaise instead, but I'm talking about hairball control.

Neither cat will touch Laxatone or any of those other spendy vet goops in a tube that are petroleum-based -- in fact they will work overtime to fling the offending substance off their paws every which way instead of licking it off. And orally? Ha, ha -- they just wait until I'm through trying to jam it in the sides of their little mouths and then upchuck the gunk on the carpet.

So I remembered that my Mom used to dose our pet cats with a dab of real butter a couple of times a week -- and success! After staring suspiciously at their buttered paws (I used a soft spread with canola oil for ease of application), they both sniffed it carefully and licked it up, smacking their lips with evident approval. Hopefully, there will be no more hairball surprises waiting in my slippers when I wake up.



Not my cat but I thought he looked like he was enjoying a buttered paw:

[liberal N proud]

1. Only if I toast them.

[ohnoyoudidnt]

2. No, but I'm going to now.

[KamaAina]

3. Only if I'm remaking "Last Tango In Paris" with cats.

[Curmudgeoness]

4. What a great picture!

As to buttering the cat, I can't avoid it. If I lift the lid on the butter dish, the cat is right there. He absolutely loves it. If I butter a piece of bread, I can't fight him off. You are right, it works.

And just for info, I have used Vaseline in the past with good results. I have had cats that actually liked it. And it certainly costs a lot less than the vet goops.

[HopeHoops]

5. Only before baking them.

[onecent]

6. My kitty LOVES butter..and LOVES cream cheese (softened) she loves organic

coconut oil. I had some on a plate and was actually smearing it on my dry elbows and dry shins and she was eating out of the paper plate...Coconut oil (more like a paste)
good to eat..I like it with dark chocolate. makes a mounds bar, lol

[spiderpig]

7. Hmmmmmm.....never thought about it

But our 14-year-old has been yakking up a lot lately. Always on the carpet - never on the linoleum.

Maybe I should try it.

[Redlo Nosrep]

8. Good Tips!

I'll try the Vaseline and coconut oil, too. Thanks!

[SEMOVoter]

9. Yes, but not intentionally.

[GoCubsGo]

10. Yep.

My first kitty went absolutely nuts over prepared hairball remedies. It was the malt extract she adored. (She loved days when I homebrewed, too, not surprisingly.) Her "brother" liked hairball remedy okay, too. But, my current cat won't touch the stuff. I smear it on her coat, and only then will she lick it down. Sometimes, I will smear butter or margarine on her, instead. She seems to like that a little better. BTW, when I put the hairball remedy on her, I don't put it on her paws. I smear it on her side, and thin enough that she can't shake it off. The only way to get rid of it is to lick it off.

[MrScorpio]

11. I like mine with Canola Oil Butter and Jam nt

[Throckmorton]

12. Grandmother wives tale

She would put butter on her outdoor cats paws when she would move to a new apartment, so they could find there way home when they went outside. She died over 40 years ago, so we can skip the indoor cat lecture.

[Helen Reddy]

13. Such a delicious title for your post!

How could anyone resist clicking?

Back in the day, my kittens mittens was given a product called "Four Paws" for his hair-ball challenges. Worked great and he loved it. Probably similar to your "butter".

[NV Whino]

14. A little olive oil is better

But not on the cat. Drizzle it over their food.

[Redlo Nosrep]

15. They Weren't Fooled, Unfortunately

I tried the Extra Virgin expensive stuff on their wet food once, and it only took one sniff and a disdainful look from each of them before I knew I was going to have to toss the whole mess to the chickens.

They're also onto me instantly when I try to hide a pill in their Whiskas, the little shitheads.

[hifiguy]

20. My late cat Max

got constipated once and I mooshed in some olive oil with his wet food. He gobbled it down like there was no tomorrow and was unplugged shortly thereafter.

[Bertha Venation]

16. One of ours gets butter when Mrs. V. makes toast.

He gets it because she is a pushover. He's learned the sounds of the toaster and the butter coming out and a knife being chosen from the drawer. He will wait patiently until she's done, then she puts the knife in a cat bowl for him.

Big. Fat. Push. Over.

We don't try to feed them the gel or anything else to help with hairballs. We just deal with them.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

24. Same thing happens at my house.

Toast pops up, cover comes off the butter dish, and Milo (a large, fluffy orange and white critter) magically appears, wanting to lick the butter in the butter dish or on the toast, whichever he can get to before I can plop his furry ass back on the floor.

[Bertha Venation]

27. Our Butter Cat is also a big fluffy ginger -- Moose.

And our Daddy, RIP, was a prick! He would get onto the counter and swipe the knife out of my hand. Jerk.

[zanana1]

17. No, but...

Sometimes I tell them we're having cat stew for dinner.

[AnneD]

18. Not only do I butter mine....

But I milk him too.

I give him a teaspoon of half and half when I make my coffee. He runs to the sound of my coffee maker like most cats run to the sound of a can opener.

[RedCloud]

19. Nuts! And all these years I have been giving my pussies more honey.

[argiel1234]

21. I like mine with a little salt and pepper

thats it!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

22. My cats are self-buttering.

The lid can't be off the butter dish for more than a nanosecond without sustaining a cat attack. When I was a kid my mom used to butter our cat's whiskers when she (the cat) was being a pest and getting into things. She'd stay busy licking the butter off her whiskers for at least 15 minutes.

[TwilightGardener]

23. I do not.

Nor have I ever.

[Ikonoklast]

25. This belongs in Cooking and Baking.

[Redlo Nosrep]

26. Yes, I Should Have Titled My Thread...

"Do You Serve Your Cats With Butter?"

Or maybe this should really be in the Science Section, as long as we're buttering cats here:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buttered_cat_paradox