Since cats spend so much time licking and cleaning themselves, they swallow a lot of hair. Hairballs, or "fur balls" are quantities of hair that accumulate in the cat's stomach or small intestine. Normally, most of the hair that is swallowed is expelled through the cat's digestive system in their stool. Problems occur when hair that doesn't get excreted gathers in the cat's stomach or intestine and forms a dense ball or mat which cannot be passed. The ball is then vomited.
Cats create two types of hairballs. One forms in the back of the throat and the other in the stomach at the start of the small intestines.
The signs of hairballs in cats, then, are related to the digestive system and include vomiting, loss of appetite or constipation. Hairballs are actually one of the most common reason that cats vomit. The "hacking" you may notice when your cat is bringing up a hairball may be gagging or retching, as the cat tries to vomit the hairball. Hairballs do not cause respiratory symptoms.
While it is normal for a cat to have them occasionally, large numbers of hairballs are dangerous. Hairballs can block the intestinal tract, making it impossible for the cat to either vomit or eliminate. Twenty-five percent of all impactions (when something is "stuck" in the digestive tract) diagnosed by veterinarians are due to hairballs. There have been cases where hairballs the size of baseballs were removed from the stomachs of cats.
Signs of a major hairball problem and possible impaction are retching, inability to defecate, diarrhea, loss of appetite or a swollen abdomen. See your veterinarian immediately if you suspect your cat is impacted.
Products on the market that can help cats with a hairball problem are usually composed of non-digestible oil-type ingredients and are flavored so a cat will accept them readily. They work by lubricating the cat's digestive tract to help the hair pass more easily.
Taffy would get hairballs alot & Bella as a kitten would get them occassionally. Bella started to project those squishy, chunky, slimy, hair-filled deposit that one finds as you walk half asleep, aimlessy through your home at 5am, at about 1 year old.
Taffy on the other hand, had an extreme problem with hairballs since we adopted her in January of 2000. But Taffy had gone from having hairballs 5 days a week, to having them only about twice a month! This of course was so much healthier for her and better on the color of our creme colored carpet! :)
I would like to share with you the solutions I have found to cut back on the amount Taffy had to have hairballs. Hopefully these ideas may help your kitty too:
1) I of course purchased a 'malt' product to help prevent and or eliminate the hairballs. The one I found that Taffy would accept is
8 in 1 pet products KITTYMALT
Now Bella will just lick the malt right off of my finger-she loves it! Taffy on the other hand wouldn't. I had to smear it on the front of her leg, then she would have to lick it off of herself. I had tried a couple other 'malt' products and those Taffy would not even lick off of her own leg! So those must have tasted awful!
I usually give the malt about 2 times a week, more or less depending on the amount of hairballs being coughed up.
When I originally started Taffy on the 'malt', her hairballs were cut back from 5 times a week to about 2-3 times a week.
I purchase KittyMalt at my local PetsMart store
2) My next step was to start feeding the kitties a more 'healthy' form a food. I looked on the internet for healthy cat foods and researched products until I found one that appealed to me. This product is "Innova". It is made from 100% human-grade food ingredients. No fillers or additives. No artificial flavors or colors. Preserved only with natural Vitamin C and Vitamin E. Innova contains only fresh, natural, whole ingredients from each of the five food groups - providing a balanced, nutritious and healthful diet for your cat. Innova is a food for all the stages of your cat's life.
After a few months of eating Innova, I noticed Taffy's hairballs were cut back from 2-3 times a week to approximately once a week.
Innova is a bit difficult to find so click on product name below to go to their website and find where you can purchase Innova for your kitty!
INNOVA
3) I recently have been reading about how 'elevating' your pets food helps in the digestion of their foods - which then in turn will also help with the digestion & elimination of hairballs.
The elevation of food and water bowls puts less strain on kitty's front end. Elevating the bowls allows kitty to consume his meal in a comfortable eating position.
When you elevate kitty's food dish, kitty is sitting upright so food moves more easily through the esophagus.
After reading these facts, my Jim decided to make the kitties their own tables! He made their tables out of pine, I then 'sponged' and decoupaged them with pics I cut out from magazines. After Taffy had been eating at her table in the upright sitting position, her hairballs had been cutback from once a week to only about twice a month! Isn't that fantastic!!?
Elevated feeders help pets by providing health and comfort benefits. Specially designed to provide food and water at just the right height, they lessen strain on the neck, joints and leg muscles, and minimize digestion and bloat problems
Tricks & products that I have found to clean up those HairBall spots:
Baking Soda - yep, good 'ol baking soda! Pour a bunch of this over a hairball and let sit for 24 hours or more. The baking soda soaks up all the liquid and acid of the hairball and the baking soda will turn like a 'rock'. You can then lift it up and throw away, I then dust bust any remaining soda residue.
To then remove any remaining discoloration on carpet, I have found these following 2 products to be the best:
Spot Shot - Go to my 'Products' page to find out more about this great stain and spot remover!
Club Soda - yep, another common household item good for more than just drinking! Drench hairball stain with club soda, then place a white towel over and soak up soda. Stand on towel if you must to get up as much of the soda as possible. Save any 'scrubbing' of the stain until you soak up as much of the club soda as you can.
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