Hairball Problems In Cat

It is normal for cats to have hairballs. It is a natural habit of cats to lick their body. This makes them swallow their own fur. Some of the hair thus swallowed will come out of the body through excretion but some of it may still be left inside the stomach of the cat.

Over a period of time, these hair may collect inside the stomach of the cat to form small balls of hair called hairball. Most of the times, it is quite harmless to have hairballs in the vomit but some times it can cause complications in the stomach. For instance, it may upset the stomach of your cat. Here are a few pointers that will help in preventing hairball problems in your cat.

Prevention is the best cure. To prevent her from ingesting her hair, you can simply brush her hair yourself, daily more so when she is shedding.

If you have a short haired cats, you must use a bristle or rubber brush for her. For long haired ones, wide-toothed comb or wire slicker brush works best.

You can also feed her hairball prevention supplements and diets available in the market.

A home remedy to try is to mix 1 tsp. mineral oil or petroleum jelly per 10 lb. body weight into your cat's food and serve her this mixture. There is no advantage of feeding vegetable oil as it is not an effective treatment.

In the market, a lot of petroleum based laxative type medications are available that can be applied to the cat's paw and it will lick it off.