Dealing With Cat Hairballs
If you own a cat, you've probably seen cat hairballs from time to time, or witnessed your cat trying to relieve itself of one. After the first hairball incident, when you didn't know if the cat was in the process or dying or not, cat hairballs tended to become rather commonplace, maybe a bit too commonplace for some. Cats have a tendency to leave hairballs where you least expect them. You really don't want them deposited in some out of the way place, to be found a few weeks later, but you don't want to be stepping on one when you get out of bed in the morning either.
We often get a chance to watch a cat building a hairball. It's called grooming. They lick and lick and lick, and you can imagine a hairball growing to a monstrous size in the cat's stomach, yet feel powerless to do much about it.
A house cat tends to create more hairballs than does a cat living outdoors or in the wild. Both indoor and outdoor cats may groom themselves about the same amount, but an outdoor cat tends to both grow and shed excess fur naturally as temperatures change, while the indoor cat, used to a fairly constant temperature, doesn't shed fur quite as easily and ends up swallowing some while grooming.
Eat Grass - In the normal course of events, cat hair balls end up where you would prefer they do, in the kitty litter box. Most hairballs pass right through the cat's digestive system, giving neither the cat, or you, any problems. Sometimes however, the hairball gets too big. The cat seems to realize when this is the case and will attempt to get rid of it by retching or vomiting it up. If the cat has access to the outdoors it will sometimes eat grass to get rid of the hairball. Eating grass has the same effect on the cat as sticking a finger down the throat has on humans. Cats are pretty smart that way. If it's an indoor cat, it may just hold back on eating until it gets sick and vomits the hairball up.
Groom, Food, And Lubricants - How do you prevent cat hairballs from forming in the first place? You can't prevent them completely. The cat is going to groom itself, you really can't stop that, and it's going to swallow some of its fur, and you can't stop that either. There are a couple of things you can do though. One is to frequently groom the cat. Let the grooming brush take the excess fur away instead of allowing the cat to do it with its tongue. The other way is to feed the cat food formulated to assist in making loose hairs pass through the digestive system before they have a chance to collect together and form a hairball. Grooming is by far the best of these two approaches, especially if the cat is choosy about what it eats, and most cats tend to be that way. Frequent grooming is good for the cat, and they usually enjoy it.
A third method is to feed the cat a special hairball remedy. A hairball remedy won't necessarily prevent hairballs from forming, but acts to lubricate those that do, allowing them to pass more easily, as well as eliminating the need for the cat to vomit. Hairballs seldom cause a cat harm. Their attempts to cough or vomit one up usually scares the owner without harming the cat in any way. One problem that can arise however is if a hairball becomes lodged in the digestive tract causing obstruction and impaction. This can rapidly become a serious situation, possibly requiring surgery to remedy, and the cat should be taken to the veterinarian as soon as possible.