Sorry to hear about your problem with your kitty. My cats never seemed to mind what kind of bowl they ate out of. Having their whiskers touching anything isn't really a problem being as you've probably seen cats in places that they couldn't possibly have gotten into without their whiskers touching.

Our kitties have their canned food served in a round pan that's for baking a cake. That exact same dish has been used since 1960! I don't know about the whisker thing but just watching them eat they do seem more comfortable with a shallow dish rather than a deep bowl.

Puking up furballs is far better than puking up food! That fur could be a contributing factor in the constipation issues if it goes further down the GI tract. Better to get it out sooner than later.

Congrats! It's a furball! :-)

Thanks proudgm and CD3.

What still amazes me is that I have to go back after he eats a little, and make the leftovers into a big pile again, or he won't eat any more! Isn't that funny??!
I was extremely happy to just find furballs.......but wasn't sure I should be. Glad to hear my glee
is justified. :)

Are his teeth and gums OK? Maybe his mouth hurts and making a mound of food is easier for him to eat?

LOL! I bet you never thought you'd be happy with furball, did you?!?!? :-)

Hi CD3,
Little things mean alot to me. lol!

Okay......the teeth thing. 2 years ago the vet said that my cat could use a teeth cleaning. I even bought the antibiotic to give him ahead of time, whenever I decided to make the appointment. Well, I got concerned because kitty has never tolerated some things very well. When he used to be an outside kitty and I would give him the flea and tick medicine, he would be obtunded for days. I started feeling like maybe this was a procedure we could do without.
So I don't know about the teeth. Would I, as a lay person, be able to look at them and know if they were in bad shape?
sometimes I feel that human and animal tests are sometimes done too often, so I try to be reasonable about that. But if kitty's teeth really are causing a problem, I want to do something about it.
The vet has since looked at his teeth and said nothing.....so ???

I'm nothing special. If I can look at teeth ANYONE can! :-)
Teeth are teeth no matter the species. They should be white ~maybe~ some yellowing but no huge chunks of tartar covering them and extending under the gums. The gums should look like a nice uniform pink colour. If right at the gum line / tooth the gums are bright red, inflammed, +/- bleeding that's not good.

Just like people, dogs and cats can have what's called a bacterial shower ... that is the bacteria in the mouth and infected gums are streaming into the general circulation. The patient can have a low grade kidney, liver, _________ (insert the body part of choice) infection. Although not as common in the kitties, people and dogs can get the bacterial endocarditis where plaques form on the heart valves and you have an ever changing heart murmur.

I suspect if your vet advised a dental two years ago ... your kitty still needs one. Sometimes if the dental disease is really bad, I give the patient a round of antibiotics for a week before the dental and for a week of two afterwards. Call the vet and just ask ... Does my kitty need a dental? His gums and teeth look like ...... Then you can decide what's best for you and your kitty.

Hope that helps. :-)

Thanks CD3. That was very helpful. :)
Kitty thanks you too!