Cat Hairballs

December 29, 2008 by admin  
Filed under Uncategorized


  

Being a feline fan of course you are knowledgable of a usual issue that antagonizes cats:  the hairball.  But how much are you aware of a hairball’s signs, root causes, and cures?

What Makes A Hairball?

A hairball is created by the rough top of a feline’s tongue pulling out loose hairs during cleaning themselves.  The hair is then ingested and pulled into the digestive tract.  Usually, this hair would not be digested, but would get flushed when the feline uses the litter pan or goes outside.  In the end, kitties are predators, and are evolved to be able to accept eating fur, like from a poor mouse it catches.   As the hair hardens into a plug, the cat will surely end up with the unrewarding experience of puking it back up.  In some situations however, this might not work and it might end up stuck inside your feline, likely causing serious health problems.

Cat Health and Hairballs

Hairballs are enough of a pain in their own right, but can additionally bring on many corollary problems, quickly becoming dangerous if not expelled or cured quickly.  In addition to the obvious and irritating vomiting, of course, the lodged-in hair can cause digestion problems and constipation.  Your kitty might cease eating and act lethargic as the hairball grows in size, while they are still unable to pass it.  Their insides can swell and this can undoubtedly cause several unpleasant concerns that you’d hate to have to worry about.  This condition could even end up requiring surgery to remove the hairball, which is an awful large cost and imperilment to your pet, particularly considering the ease of preventing the problem in the first place.  Left alone, it could become a fatal health problem.

Eliminating Hairballs

Cats instinctively try to treat themselves by throwing up.  They can accomplish this by consuming grass, which most of the time causes felines to regurgitate due to the grass fibers irritating their stomaches.  Other options to cure hairballs use petroleum or mineral oil based substances meant to lubricate the intestinal tract in such a means to ease the natural removal of the hairball.  Products such as Laxatone or Petromalt have been made to prevent hairballs in cats.  They are a semi-solid substance that you feed your felines before meals.  This moves the hairball through the system and would also be helpful to relieve non-hairball caused constipation as well.  They tend to be available in a array of flavors like tuna or catnip flavoring.  A dose each day for 2 or 3 days, and your problem should be fixed.

Preventing Hairball Recurrence

Prevention of hairballs is done by several varying means, some of them complementary.  One is a half dose of Laxatone or Petromalt two or three times per week.  Cat Laxatone comes highly approved by vets and pet people alike. There are also certain “hairball prevention” diet foods available.  A large percentage of hairball prevention is to be sure proper grooming.  Always brush the short-haired cats but comb the long-haired kitties often.  They love it and it’s a super means to spend time being sure your cat continues to be happy and healthy.

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