Hairball Express or The Fur is Flying

Hairballs are a nuisance. Uncomfortable for our cats and messy for us to clean up. These are some products we have used successfully.

Oral solutions:
Petromalt or Laxatone: Some cats will actually lick the paste from the tube. Not ours. So we have to restrain a cat and rub into the fur about 1 inch (2.5 cm) of paste onto a front leg. Then release cat. She or he runs away with a look of ruffled dignity and begins frantically grooming the icky stuff off their fur. Both Petromalt and Laxatone promote the passage of fur out into the litter box. We have also used Lactulose (a prescription medicine available from veterinarians) which is a stool softener, although it has other medicinal functions as well.

Brushes and combs:
All of these work well. Listed in order of how much loose undercoat you get off in the least amount of grooming time, longest time to shortest. Just have your vacuum cleaner handy for use right after brushing or combing your cats. Otherwise, the loose fur will fly everywhere!

Flea combs do just what they say, comb out live or dead fleas. Our veterinarian told us that after each short run through the fur with the comb, dip the comb in a prepared bowl of slightly soapy water. The soap prevents live fleas from jumping off the water's surface tension. Then use a damp cloth to wipe off any soapy residue from your cat. BTW, the reddish cast to the water is your cat's blood that the now dead fleas ingested.

Brushes come in many styles such as wire, pins and bristles. Long hair cats usually do better with the first two types, although you can use all three on short hair cats.

Bamboo Ruffle the fur against the way it grows, then use this comb in 3 to 4 inch strokes.

Furminator I use this primarily for brushing the backs and sides of our densely furred cats. Usually I comb about half the length of the body with each stroke. Be very careful if you go near the belly, legs or tail. You could scrape their skin with this tool. It is amazing in how much fur you can get off in just 3-5 minutes.

It helps tremendously when we use both a paste and brushing for each cat. Whatever you use, do so consistently, at least once a week.