The Danger of Hairballs Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine
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If you’re like most cat owners, nothing gets you out of bed faster than the characteristic sound of your cat hacking up a hairball in the middle of the night! Although hairballs in cats are typically normal and harmless, too many can be a sign of a problem for your feline friend. It’s possible that the frequent hacking has nothing at all to do with hairballs. It may instead be a sign of another gastrointestinal problem or of a respiratory ailment, such as asthma, in which case emergency treatment may be necessary. You could also put a small amount of petroleum jelly on the top of your cat’s paw. They’ll lick it off, and the jelly will line the digestive tract to help the hair pass through their system.
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A visit to your veterinarian can rule out any medical causes for the hairball, such as problems with gastrointestinal motility or a potential intestinal blockage. Hairballs occur when cats ingest their own hair while grooming themselves. Although hair should normally pass through the cat’s digestive tract (where it is eventually pooped out), sometimes hair remains inside the stomach.
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Other factors can also increase your cat’s risk of vomiting up furballs. In rare cases, hair accumulation in your cat’s digestive tract may become severe enough to cause a blockage, requiring hospitalization and surgery to address the problem. This is why it is important to stay on top of your cat’s grooming and prevent hairballs whenever possible.
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Your cat will need to spend time grooming their fur to stay clean, but you can reduce the amount of grooming they do by spending ample time playing with your cat so they’re tuckered out. In most cases, the ball is relatively small and benign when the cat hacks it up. But in rare cases, the mass may become too big to pass through the digestive system and too big to throw up.
What Causes Hairballs in Cats?
She’ll awake from a peaceful nap, rise up on her paws, retch convulsively for a moment or two, and spit up what may appear at first glance to be a damp clump. A large clump of ingested hair can block a cat's intestinal tract and pose a deadly threat. Hairballs may be disgusting, but they develop as a result of your cat’s healthy and fastidious grooming routine.
These are all much more serious conditions than hairballs, so it is important to see your veterinarian if you suspect your cat may be coughing. If your cat hacks as if he or she is trying to produce a hairball but never actually brings anything up, this is a sign that your cat may be coughing and should see a veterinarian. Pet owners will often describe their cats as “trying to bring up a hairball” or having a hairball that is “stuck”. If your cat is hacking unproductively, it may not be hairballs at all! Cats can cough for many reasons, including asthma, upper respiratory infections, pneumonia, and heart disease. Many cats enjoy the taste of these flavored products and will lick them right off of your finger.
What Does a Cat Hairball Look Like?
After brushing your cat, wipe them with a fragrance-free, hypoallergenic baby wipe. A moist cloth such as these helps to remove any remaining loose fur, which helps to reduce the amount that ends up in your cat’s stomach and reduces the risk of hairballs. Jackie Brown is a senior content editor on the cats.com editorial team. Jackie is the former editor of numerous pet magazines and is a regular contributor to pet magazines and websites.
You can give your cat a wide selection of pastes and tablets to improve their hairball situation. Anti-hairball medications usually contain laxatone, a common lubricant medication that lubricates the hair in the stomach and the digestive tract. Laxatone allows your cat to pass hairballs more comfortably and allows larger amounts of hair to pass through the digestive tract easily. By stimulating food and other objects in the stomach to move through the digestive tract quicker, the foods move smaller quantities of hair through the digestive tract more frequently. This prevents the fur from building up in the stomach to the point where the cat will purge the hairball. However, sometimes cats have hairballs that they are not able to vomit up.
How Do You Know If Your Cat Has Hairballs?
Cats can’t digest hair, which normally passes through the digestive system mostly intact. However, if it doesn’t move through the digestive system, it can build up and form a massive ball in the stomach. If your cat is having regular episodes of coughing or vomiting, the best plan is to have her checked by your veterinarian. Finding the underlying cause for these symptoms (commonly with radiographs of the chest or abdomen) will help your veterinarian find the best strategy to keep your kitty as comfortable as possible. It can be difficult to distinguish between a cat that is coughing and a cat that is vomiting up a hairball.
This is quite normal -- as cats get older they become more adept groomers and therefore more proficient at removing fur from their coats with their tongues, which means more hairballs for you to clean up. Now that you know how to help your cat pass hairballs, there are a few things that you can do to minimize them and prevent them from occurring. It’s impossible to stop hairballs completely because cats swallow hair every time they groom themselves. But with these tips, you can slow their frequency and make them easier for your cat to deal with. Adding more fiber to your cat’s diet will help them have an easier time passing hair through their intestines. Talk to your vet about which fiber supplements will be best to add to your cat’s food.
These products usually contain flavored petroleum jelly, which coats the hair that accumulates in the stomach and acts as a mild laxative to help it pass harmlessly through your cat’s digestive tract. Switch your cat to a food that is made for hairball control or digestive health. These foods have ingredients in them to help the hair move from the stomach through the digestive tract, so your cat can pass it when they poop. Regularly eating these foods can keep cats from vomiting hairballs regularly. Be sure to transition your cat to a new food properly to avoid stomach issues. Some cats are, by nature, more fastidious than others in their grooming habits.
If there is a lot of liquid or food in the vomit, it may sometimes be difficult to see the wad of hair. Cats ingest hair while grooming that should pass through their stomach and intestines without a problem. Some cats may develop recurrent or frequent hairballs for one of a few reasons. Other commercial products, either over-the-counter or prescription hairball products, can also help ease the passage of hairballs.
One of the most natural and simple ways to cut down on hairballs is to brush your cat often. The more loose hair you can brush out of your cat’s coat, the less she will ingest while self-grooming. If your cat is vomiting large slimy mats of hair, these are hairballs.
In those cases, veterinary attention will be needed to remove the hairball from your cat’s digestive system. A de-shedding tool made for cats, like the FURminator, can be very helpful for cats with profuse undercoats. After brushing, a quick wipedown with a damp cloth can help to remove loosened hair before your cat grooms herself to fix your hairstyling misdeeds. It can sometimes be difficult to tell if your cat has hairballs or another health condition. Two health issues that often mimic hairballs are asthma and vomiting (for reasons other than hairballs). This is due to either an excessive intake of hair or a decreased ability of the stomach and intestines to propel material through to the colon.
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