As your local Hatfield cat sitter, I’ve seen my fair share of kitty hairballs. Many kitty clients caution me that we might be cleaning up several hairballs during their vacation. Hairballs are a yucky situation that many of us cat lovers must deal with on a weekly -or sometimes daily basis!
If you’ve ever heard a cat coughing up a hairball it sounds like a painful, unpleasant experience! Cats that groom themselves often swallow a lot of their own hair. Some of that hair will pass through their digestive system, but some will stay in their stomach. The kitty will then vomit up that hair in their stomach into a little cigar-shaped clump.
As a cat lover, I would like to prevent this from happening very often because it certainly doesn’t look fun for my cat. I would also like to curb the hairballs due to the number I accidentally step on first thing in the morning – aack!!
Over the years I’ve tried several remedies with little to no success. Many treat or food brands claim to be “hairball preventative” but I saw no results. A lot of the food brands that have a “hairball formula” are very low quality, full of grains, corn, etc!
Here are the top 2 things I’ve found to minimize hairballs:
1.Hairball gel / paste! This stuff comes in several flavors and resembles a brown toothpaste that your cat licks. Some cats will lick it right off your finger, or you can put some on their paw. My cats love it so much, I just squirt a strip in their dinner bowl. Several brands make hairball gel and they probably all work similarly. My cats love: Tomlyn’s Laxatone Hairball Remedy.
2. Lots of Brushing! I know this remedy sounds pretty obvious but the more you brush your cat, the less hair they’ll have to swallow. I find that a good slicker brush does the trick. Brushing your cat daily or every other day (even for just a few minutes) will go a long way to preventing the dreaded hairball!
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