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Excuse me, is this your hairball?
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Photo: M. Hochberg
If you are friends with a cat you might notice how much time it devotes to grooming its coat. I suppose if I were covered in hair from head to toe, I would also spend a good part of each day making sure I was well put together.
But what of HAIRBALLS? During all this grooming hair is being IN-gested and it's not easily DI-gested. This is how hairballs form. When nature does not take its course and the hair is not eliminated with regular waste, the cat will try to cough it up, gagging and making a horrific noise.
Two ways to prevent hairballs from forming are (1) frequent brushing and (2) a special diet designed to aid digestion and decrease the chances of a hairball forming in the first place.
Iams and Science Diet have special formulas, as do more commercial brands of cat food. These contain ingredients that facilitate elimination and are intended to be fed to cats exclusively, not just when you suspect a problem.
The combination of these two solutions can greatly reduce the chance of hairballs forming. You should contact your vet if you suspect a serious hairball problem already in existence.
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