HAIRBALLS IN CATS
Cat owners will be familiar with hairballs. So is it a problem?
Is it just hairball? Or do I need to be worried?
Hairballs are the unsavory by-product of a normal feline habit. Cats being fastidious creatures, like to stay clean – and they do this by grooming and preening themselves daily. However, in the process of grooming, they inevitably swallow their hair.
Generally, these hairballs are vomited out by cats relatively easily. You can see them retching for a moment or two, then spitting up what looks like a damp clump. These wad of undigested hair, called a trichobezoar or hairball, are often sausageshaped, a few centimetres long and are usually slightly darker than the cat’s fur.
The colour of the ejected matter is darkened by the animal’s food and various gastric secretions, such as bile. And, it typically presents itself with a slighty disagreeable smell or odour.
Hair Raising Subject
Cats have specially adapted tongues which contain sharp barbs (that’s why their lick feels “scratchy”).
These barbs allows them to “comb” their hair to remove loose hair and dirt. But this also means that the loose hair gets stuck in the barbs, and they end up swallowing it during their routine preening process.
Hair is made out of keratin, which mean it is indigestible. In a healthy cat, the problem will generally pass through the stomach and intestines, and comes out in the faeces.
However, if the amount of hair your cat ingest is too much for it, it can form hairballs (which also explains why hairballs are more common in longhaired felines).
Unfortunately, hairballs can sometimes cause gastric irritation and vomiting. If the clump of ingested hair is large enough, it can also serve to block a cat’s intestinal tract and pose a health threat to the animal.
Plan Of Action
Most of the time, hairballs can be managed at home through one or all of the following ways:
• Brushing at least weekly, if not daily. This is especially important for longer-haired cats. Brushing them removes the loose fur, which your cat might otherwise have swallowed!
• Taking your long haired cat to the groomer for a “Lion Cut”
• Hairball-specific food, which has a higher fibre content
• Cat laxatives such as “Laxapet Gel”
If you have tried the above methods and your cat is still vomiting more than once or twice a month, please bring your cat to the vet!
What Will The Vet Do?
The vet will check if there is a reason why your cat is overgrooming and ingesting more fur that it should. Based on my experience, common causes why cats in Singapore overgroom include: Furmites, Ringworm and Psychogenic Stress (yes, cats can get anxiety too!).
Less common reasons include fleas, food allergies, gastrointestinal diseases and pain.
The vet will also rule out other more life-threatening causes of vomiting, such as kidney disease, feline asthma (which can sound like “coughing up hairballs”), Diabetes and Hyperthyroid disease.
Hairballs in cats can be easily managed at home. But if your cat has been retching for a month or more, then it’s best to bring your cat to the vet as it could mean something more serious going on!