Cat owners should all know that cats are very clean and tidy animals, so as long as they have nothing to do, they will keep licking their fur with their tongues until their fur is clean and neat. During this process, because the cat’s tongue has many barbs, it will swallow all the cleaned hair and other dirt into its stomach. This behavior is even more serious during the shedding period in spring and autumn. Frequent, and the old hair that is easy to fall off at this time will cause the cat to swallow more cat hair! But the cat does not have the ability to digest these hairs. Some of the swallowed hairs are excreted with the stool, and the other part remains in the stomach and gradually When it reaches a certain level, the cat will spit out the hair balls in the stomach through vomiting.

However, when some cats cannot spit out the hair balls in their stomach regularly or pass them out with their stool, these hair balls will become larger and larger in the gastrointestinal tract, eventually affecting the cat's health. In addition, don’t think that short-haired cats will not have hair ball problems. As long as they are clean and accustomed to grooming their hair, they may have hair ball syndrome. Of course, compared to long-haired cats, short-haired cats are much less likely to suffer from hairballs.

So what are the main uncomfortable symptoms of cats suffering from hair ball syndrome? The first is more frequent retching (especially soon after eating). Some cats will eat plastic bags, paper towels or grass. Sometimes you will spit out some cylindrical hairballs with mucus on the surface, but sometimes nothing will be spit out; the stool is dry and hard with some hair in it. This is a common symptom of mild hairball disease.

When the condition worsens, the cat will appear to be in low spirits, lifeless, no appetite, rough and dull hair, constipated, has not defecated for many days, and has a bloated belly. If not treated in time at this time, the cat will get worse and worse as it progresses. As soon as he drinks water or eats something, he will vomit it out quickly, because the hair ball may have blocked the gastrointestinal tract and caused obstruction. Cats will soon develop dehydration and internal organ failure. At this time, surgery may be necessary, or their lives may be at risk!

Let me add a description here. A hair ball is a cylindrical or strip-shaped sticky soft and moderately hard thing. If you are interested in getting it open, you will see that it is actually a ball of hair that has been soaked in gastric juice for a long time. .

How to prevent

So how should we prevent and treat hairballs in cats in normal times? There are mainly the following methods:

First of all, you should comb your cat frequently. This is the best way, especially for medium and long-haired cats and during the shedding season. Of course, short-haired cats should also be combed regularly. You need to prepare at least two brushes, one brush and one brush. It is a stainless steel tooth comb and the other is a combing brush. Cats with medium and long hair should spend more than ten minutes combing their hair every day. Short-haired cats can be combed once every other day, so as to remove dead hair and some dirt on the cat's body and prevent and treat cats.By licking your own hair and swallowing it, you can fundamentally control the formation of hair balls. In addition, you can also check the physical condition of your cat through combing. Many minor symptoms such as skin diseases can be detected early through combing. Moreover, such an intimate behavior will make your cat better understand how much you care about him. Caring to further develop the bond between you and your cat.

Secondly, you can also plant a plate of cat grass at home, which can promote the discharge of hair balls. This is an older method, but it is still useful sometimes.

Third, feed cats regular hair removal cream or hair removal cream. Hair removal cream can help cats remove hair accumulation in their gastrointestinal tract, thus preventing the occurrence of hairball syndrome. Follow the instructions for usage or consult a veterinarian.

Fourth, feed cans containing hair removal ingredients. Some cats do not eat cat grass or hair removal cream. In this case, you can feed them canned hair removal products.