Hairballs are
caused by a cat swallowing hair when it grooms itself. Most of the hair is passed through the
intestinal tract. However, some of the
hair stays in the stomach and aggregates into a hairball. Young kittens don’t typically have hairball
issues for two reasons. First, they
don’t lose much hair when they groom, and therefore, they don’t swallow much
hair. Second, their digestive tract is
more active and moves the hair through more easily. As cats age, they tend to shed more hair;
thus causing them to swallow more hair.
Also, they are unable to pass the hair through their digestive tract as
efficiently. As a consequence, the hair
sits in the stomach and aggregates into a hairball. The hairball irritates the stomach causing
the cat to retch. Typically, the cat is
able to successfully rid itself of the hairball by vomiting it up.
Hairballs are a
normal part of a cat’s life. They don’t
usually cause many problems, other than to the owner who has to clean up the
mess. However, on rare occasions, a
hairball will sit in a cat’s stomach so long that it hardens. This can cause blockage and can become
life-threatening. Again, this is a rare
occurrence, but one to be aware of.
So, what can you
do about hairballs? There are some
hairball remedy products available. These
products work by binding up the hair and increasing the digestive tract
activity to aid in passing the hairball.
They work well and I recommend using them for geriatric cats who have
reoccurring issues with hairballs.
No comments:
Post a Comment