It is normal for cats to have hairballs. It is a natural habit of cats to lick their body. This makes them swallow their own fur. Some of the hair thus swallowed will come out of the body through excretion but some of it may still be left inside the stomach of the cat.
Over a period of time, this hair may collect inside the stomach of the cat to form small balls of hair called hairballs.
Most of the time, it is quite harmless to have hairballs in the vomit but sometimes it can cause complications in the stomach. For instance, it may upset the stomach of your cat. Here are a few pointers that will help in preventing hairball problems in your cat.
Prevention is the best cure. To prevent her from ingesting her hair, you can simply brush her hair yourself, daily more so when she is shedding. You should also remove the pet hair from your home frequently, and get a robot vacuum or handheld vacuum designed specifically for the purpose to save time.
If you have a short-haired cat, you must use a bristle or rubber cat brush for her. For long-haired ones, a wide-toothed comb or wire slicker brush works best.
You can also feed her hairball prevention supplements and diets available on the market.
A home remedy to try is to mix 1 tsp. mineral oil or petroleum jelly per 10 lb. body weight into your cat’s food and serve her this mixture. There is no advantage of feeding vegetable oil as it is not an effective treatment.
In the market, a lot of petroleum-based laxative-type medications are available that can be applied to the cat’s paw and it will lick it off.