Hairballs and Cats

As a pet afficionado probably you ought to be knowledgable of a common cat health concern that affects felines:  the hairball.  But what have you learned of a hairball's indications, triggers, and treatments?

Hairball Causes

A hairball is caused by the tough top of a feline's tongue pulling out loose hair during cleaning themselves.  This hair is then swallowed and moved into the digestive tract.  Typically, this hair would not be digested, but would get removed when the cat uses the litter box or goes outside.  In the end, cats are predators, and are capable to be capable to handle swallowing fur, like from some poor mouse it catches.   When hair hardens into a plug, the feline will likely end up with the unrewarding experience of puking it back up.  In particular cases however, this might not take place and it might end up stuck inside your pet, potentially resulting in potentially disastrous health issues.

Hairballs - A Cat Health Problem

Hairballs are irritating enough in their own right, but can also cause a few corollary issues, speedily growing unhealthy if not expelled or cured quickly.  Aside from the unsightly and irritating puking, of course, the remaining hair can induce digestion problems and constipation.  Your cat might quit eating and end up lethargic as the hairball grows in size, while the poor things are still unable to expell it.  Their guts can swell and this can clearly cause all sorts of harmful concerns that you'd hate to have to deal with.  This danger could even end up necessitating surgical intervention to remove the hairball, which is a dreadfully unwelcome cost and jeopardy to your pet, especially considering the simplicity of preventing hairballs in the first place.  Left alone, it could result in a fatal health problem.

Treatment of Hairballs

Felines naturally try to self treat by puking.  They can accomplish this by eating grass, which often makes kitties to puke due to the grass fibers irritating their stomaches.  Other possibilities to eliminate cat hairballs use petroleum or mineral oil based substances intended to coat the intestines in such a means to ease the natural removal of the hairball.  Products such as Laxatone for cats or Petromalt for cats have been created to treat hairballs in cats.  They are a semi-solid paste that you feed your felines before meals.  This slides the obstacle through the digestive process and is helpful to relieve non-hairball related constipation as well.  They are obtainable in a multitude of flavors like tuna or catnip flavoring.  A dose each day for 2 or 3 days, and your issue should be solved.

No More Hairballs!

Preventing hairball recurrence is done by a few different methods, some of them complementary.  One is a half dose of Laxatone or Petromalt two or three times per week.  Petromalt hairball remedy is highly approved by vets and owners alike. There exist also specific "hairball prevention" diets available.  A major part of hairball prevention is certainly proper grooming.  Definitely brush your short-haired cats but comb your long-haired cats on a continual basis.  They adore it and it's a great way to spend time making sure your pet continues to be happy and healthy.