My cats health.

Question
Okay--this all started TODAY. I inherited an adult cat (8 yrs) from a woman who was moving away, she's been totally fine until today. I noticed that she was drooling while she was "kneading" me this morning. So I called my mom, and she told me this was a normal thing for some cats. But then, much later--she threw up. But not the normal cat throw up (orange and chunky), instead milky. I also noticed she had been in and out of her cat box one hundred times...I don't know if she's going that often or just constipated or what. One of the times she came out and rubbed her butt on the rug, but she's long-haired so I figured that's why. Then a few minutes later (about 2 hours after her first puke) she started gagging again and puked this HUGE MASS of either hair or her own poop--at least it was shaped just like poop. I tried to look at it (without gagging) and it looked like her hair but covered in mucous. It was so BIG. So my question is--are all these things related? Does she have worms? Is her long hair making her sick? (Her previous owner did send shedding supplement that I haven't been using.) Do you think after puking that huge thing she will feel better now? Any advice, other than go see the vet immediately, would be great.

Answer
Hi Melissa.

Drooling is very normal. Cat's don't do it all that often, but it's normal.  

She could be a little constipated, just watch to see if you notice anything in the litter box.

THe big thing she puked up was a hairball.  It looks like poop usually because it's a big mass of hair - and it's usually quite hard (even though it's surrounded in stomach fluids.  The best thing I can advise you to do is to get some hairball remedy from your local pet store.  Usually the cats will just lick it off your finger, depending on the taste of it.  About a one inch long line of it will do each time you give it to her.  Once a week is good to give them the hairball stuff.  

Good luck!