A Hairy Dilemma!

Cat hairballs are usually harmless - but not always.

Your sweet Persian cat, Mildred, is napping peacefully on your new persian rug.

Suddenly, she bolts up, wide awake and clearly uncomfortable. She crouches, extends her neck, and for a few seconds, retches, hacks and gags in distress. Then, to her relief (and your dismay), she spits up something scary looking - right on that valuable Persian rug.

What Mildred has disgorged is a trichobezoar - a damp wad of undigested hair, moistened by bile and other digestive fluids - that's more commonly referred to as a hairball. Despite that term, hairballs are rarely globular in shape. Rather, they are most often slender and cylindrical, having just journeyed through the narrow food tube of your cat's esophagus. Most hair balls are about an inch long, but we at Companion Veterinary and Mobile Center have seen some that are up to 5 inches long and an inch think.

How Hairballs Develop

Hairballs are the unsavory by-product of a good, clean habit. As your cat grooms herself, she swallows a lot of the dead hair that has come loose. This is because tiny backward-slanted projections on the surface of her rough tongue propel the indigestible hair down her throat and into her stomach. While most of this hair eventually passes, some of it remains in the stomach and gradually accumulates into a wet clump - the hairball.

Kittens and young cats are less apt to develop hairballs than older cats that and some cats are, by nature, more fastidious than others in their grooming habits. Long-haired breeds - such as Persians and Maine Coons - are at significantly greater risk than short-haired breeds.

Appropriate Concern

It's not uncommon for a long hair cat to vomit a hairball once every week or two, and that's nothing to worry about. However, if your cat is lethargic and refuses to eat for more than a day or so, or has had repeated episodes of unproductive retching, you should consult your veterinarian without delay.

It's possible that a hairball, instead of being regurgitated, has passed from her stomach into her intestine and is creating a potentially life-threatening blockage somewhere within the digestive tract. Or it's possible that the frequent hacking has nothing at all to do with hairballs. It may instead be a sign that the animal is suffering from a serious respiratory ailment, such as asthma, in which case emergency treatment would be necessary.

Diagnosis of intestinal blockage is based on physical examination, bloodwork, radiography and a history of the animal's pattern of hairball regurgitation. If a blockage is detected, surgery may be the only way to remove the hairball. Sometimes treatment will center on protecting the intestine through several days of clinical care that includes IV fluids and the use of laxatives to help move the hairball through the digestive tract.

Reducing the Risk

To minimize and possibly prevent the development of hairballs and their complications, we at Companion Veterinary Mobile Center recommend the following:

- Get your cat accustomed to a daily brushing and combing.

- If the animal won't allow it, take her to the veterinarian or a reputable groomer for a haircut once or twice a year. This is especially effective in long-haired breeds.

-Try a brand of food specifically for hairballs, we can make recommendations for you at your next appointment.

- Feed her a hairball remedy - usually a mild petroleum-based laxative - once or twice a week.

In addition, be sure to keep the floors of your home free of thread, paper clips, twist-wraps, and other materials that, if ingested, can become dangerous hairball ingredients, be extra careful with bows and ribbons now that holiday time is approaching!

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call us at 941-787-9224!