Hairballs are something that cat owners often see in the midst of their day. You can be walking along and see a tumbling ball of something. You soon realize it’s from your cat. Hairballs are a true nuisance for cat owners. As a cat owner it’s quickly realized that if you love your cat it is something you have to learn to deal with and realize that it is part of your cat’s shedding process. Shedding is natural for cats and especially if you have an indoor pet cat.
As an indoor cat owner you know full well the hassles of shedding. It results in the hairballs all around your carpet or floor. You will never fully be able to be rid of the hairballs completely, but you can certainly take steps to minimize hair balls and try to prevent them as much as possible.
The simplest and best remedy to take with your shedding cat is simply to brush their hair daily. This may seem small but only five minutes of brushing your cat’s hair daily can truly result in a huge reduction in the amount of hairballs that your cat produces. You can brush the loose hair from your cat’s coat before it can even make a hairball. If you have a short haired cat, you can brush your furry friend’s coat with with a bristle brush or even a special rubber brush that are sold in pet care sections of stores. If you have a long haired cat, you will want to brush their coat with a wire comb or something similar. Make sure you go through their coats and get rid of any of their loose hairs and it will also help create a slick and shiny top coat.
The next step you can take to prevent hairballs or minimize them, is to feed your cat a diet that is high in vegetable fiber. You can also administer hairball prevention items that are for sale in any pet care section of your local store or you can also get these from your vet. These two steps will help you reduce the amount of hairballs that your purring pal is letting go of in your home. Take to make sure you follow the recommended allowances on the amount of fiber you are allowed to give your cat in their foot and the amount of hairball prevention you use.
An alternative method you can use is to put one tablespoon of petroleum jelly or mineral oil into your cat’s food per 10 pounds of body weight. Most cats weigh about 8 to 10 pounds this is why one tablespoon is typically recommended. This method is excellent for our budget busting cat owners who are conscientious of how much they are spending. Please make sure to weigh your cat just to be sure of their weight before doing this though. Guesses are typically not right and just to be safe. You can never be too cautious in taking proper care of your pet.
These are all useful ways to help prevent hairballs in your cat or to minimize the amount of hairballs. Our furry friends will always shed, but to make our jobs easier as pet owners, we must find ways to make it liveable. It helps our pet as well as us to make sure they have their hair brushed daily and taken care of well and have proper diets and in this process we get the added benefit of cutting down of hairballs.
3 Responses to “Preventing hairballs”
good question, i was wondering the same thing – would olive oil work?
Can I use olive oil for hairballs??
It may sound like your cat is throwing up, and it is. But it is only throwing up a hairball. Nothing that would hurt it. About the Science Diet food for your cat: Foods such as Science Diet, although more expensive than the average, are often better for your cat. They are low-bulk, which means that cats will digest more of the food, thus eating and eliminating less. They contain little or no dyes, which can be important if your cat vomits regularly (easier to clean up); probably also good from a diet viewpoint. These foods are also beneficial for the cats coats and many readers have attested to their cat’s silky fur and good health on these diets.