You’ve Been Lied To: Hairballs Aren't Normal – How to Stop Your Cat’s Vomiting

If you think hairballs are just part of life with cats, think again! Frequent hairballs can signal serious health issues like digestive problems, excessive grooming due to stress or allergies, or even conditions like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and pancreatitis.

In this episode of Muddy Paws & Hairballs, veterinarian Dr. Linda Atkins breaks down the truth about cat hairballs, why they happen, and how to prevent them.

Key Takeaways:
✔️ Healthy cats should have hairballs "seasonally", approximately four hairballs per year—weekly or monthly hairballs are a red flag.
✔️ Excessive grooming is often triggered by stress, food allergies, skin irritation, or parasites.
✔️ Digestive motility issues, like IBD, pancreatitis, or even constipation, can cause hairballs to form instead of passing through.
✔️ Brushing your cat regularly removes loose fur before they swallow it—the #1 way to prevent hairballs!
✔️ Wet cat food and fresh water improve digestive health and help move swallowed fur through the system.
✔️ Long-haired cat breeds (Persians, Maine Coons, Ragdolls) require extra grooming to prevent hairballs and matting.
✔️ Hairball-related coughing? It might not be hairballs at all—feline asthma or heart disease could be the real culprit.
✔️ Training pets early to accept brushing makes future grooming stress-free.
✔️ Thinking of adopting a cat? Know what you’re signing up for—long-haired cats need lifelong grooming commitment!

Don’t Ignore the Signs!
Frequent hairballs, vomiting, or excessive grooming are NOT normal cat behavior. If your cat is hacking up hairballs more than a few times a year, consult your veterinarian to rule out underlying health concerns.

🎧 Listen now and learn how to keep your cat’s digestion, coat, and health in top shape!

#CatHealth #Hairballs #PetPodcast #CatCare #FelineWellness #PetGrooming #HealthyPets #MaineCoon #RagdollCats #PersianCats #PetWellness #CatOwner #Hair

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Chapters

• 0:00 Hairballs Are Not Normal
• 4:15 Why Cats Get Hairballs
• 9:21 Diagnosing the Real Problem
• 18:26 Prevention and Treatment Options
• 25:32 Hairballs in Other Animals
• 28:45 Training Cats to Accept Grooming
• 31:49 Water Quality and Hydration Tips

Transcript

Amy Castro: 0:36

sound familiar. You know the sound, that wet, gagging nightmare prompting sound. That means somewhere in your house a fresh, steaming hairball has just been deposited, probably in your shoe or maybe on your new white rug. But here's the kicker your cat's hairballs are not normal. That's right. Contrary to what you've been told by the experts in your cat lover's Facebook group, something is off. Today we're diving into the colossal catastrophe of cat hairballs with a vet who's seen more feline vomit than probably all of us combined. So grab some paper towels, a trash bag and maybe a stiff drink, because we're about to deep dive into why your cat is creating those beautiful fur-based abstract art pieces all over your house, and we'll talk about how to stop it.

Amy Castro: 1:27

Welcome to Muddy Paws and Hairballs, the podcast where we don't sugarcoat the gross parts of pet parenting. I'm your host, amy Castro, and today we're talking about something that I think haunts cat parents everywhere, and that is hairballs. I don't know about you, but they're definitely haunting me right now. But we're going to get into that. So, to help us untangle this hairy situation, I have my longtime friend and feline expert and pretty much all-around animal care guru, dr Linda Atkins, from the Valley Cottage Animal Hospital, joining me to tackle this subject. Linda earned her degree in cell biology from Cornell University before going on to complete her doctorate of veterinary medicine at New York State Veterinary College. At Cornell she holds certifications in dentistry and ultrasound and her professional interests include general surgery, feline medicine, dentistry, diagnostic ultrasound and exotic animal medicine, which we talked about that a little bit on a previous episode when she was here. She's also the attending veterinarian for the Trailside Zoo at Bear Mountain, which is in Bear Mountain, new York, and she volunteers with local 4-H programs, which I think isn't that how we met Linda.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 2:35

Yes, through 4-H, 4-H Horse Club.

Amy Castro: 2:37

We were 4-H horse weirdos back in the day, back when we were probably starting at least late junior high or certainly early high school. Right, yep, back in New York, where I still am, where you still are. That's awesome. I'm heading back your way, girl, I'm heading back. Well, welcome to the show and thank you for taking the time to come back with us again.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 2:59

Thank you for inviting me all the way from New York to.

Amy Castro: 3:02

Texas, that's right. And the hairballs I got to say, you know and I'm glad that you made this point and I said this in the teaser that hairballs aren't normal, because I think, as cat parents, we sometimes convince ourselves that hair balls are just a thing, and we've heard from people that hair balls are just a thing. So I got to tell everybody a funny story and if you're watching the video, no, I have not taken a shower today and I've not put on any makeup or anything, because my life is chaos and hell right now. I'm in the middle of getting ready to move. My house is on the market. Hopefully nobody will show up while we're recording this episode, but I had a photographer out the other day and he was fantastic. I mean, the pictures that he took of my place are amazing.

Amy Castro: 3:48

So I'm scrolling through the photos that were up on the multiple listing service and I'm getting to the dog kennel building, which is where all my pets are living right now. Beautiful, it's a beautiful building and you know, beautiful shot of the bathing area and the laundry area, a nice long shot down the hallway where the runs are. And then the very last picture was a long shot coming from the other direction and that last kennel, which is an extra large one, is where I have my cat stashed temporarily while we're showing the house. And looks nice, it's all clean. The cat's sitting in the tower looking at the cameraman and I look down at the floor and there's a big, freaking hairball on the floor in the photo out on the universal multiple listing service for everybody to see. So of course I panic. I'm like texting my realtor please take that picture down. There's a big old hairball in the picture.

Amy Castro: 4:37

So that's one of the reasons why I wanted to talk about this subject today, because that's one of the reasons I wanted my animals out of this house. I literally had started getting some stuff together to stage my kitchen and I had found which I didn't even realize I had placemats, but I found two placemats. I'm like these will work. I'm going to stage this counter and, I kid you not, I hadn't had them set in on the counter for 15 minutes and suddenly there's a hairball on one of them. So we get a lot of hairballs around here and I'm I'm one of those people that thought they were kind of normal. But you know, are hairballs really normal, you know? Or is it something we should be expecting on a daily or a weekly basis, or no?

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 5:14

Generally no, they should only be seasonally. I tell my clients, so seasonally, so definitely you'll find them. And if you have four cats and it's seasonally, you're going to find 16 hairballs a year. So that's still a lot and that's a good reason to kind of add it to your podcast name. That's what brought it up. I was asking about your name and then I was like, oh, hairballs. I was like I could talk about hairballs and you said, could you really talk about hairballs for a half an hour? And I was like, yeah, yeah we can.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 5:45

So it's not technically normal for cats to throw up hairballs. It's kind of a myth. Everybody thinks, oh, I have a cat, it should vomit. And I talk to clients every day and I ask that's one of the questions we always ask does your cat vomit? And they say, yeah, it's a cat, it vomits. It vomits every day. And I'm like, oh, that's not normal. So, and there always tends to be some hair in the stomach. So most vomit does contain hair. So there's a little difference between a hair vomit and a hair ball. You can get into it too, yeah.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 6:16

But, it's not normal.

Amy Castro: 6:18

Okay, let's talk about the difference, because I see it all. I mean, I see the ones that look like like you look across the room and it's like, is that a turd? And you know it turns out it's. It's not a turd, it's a hair ball. And then you see the ones like what I'm seeing now and what I saw on that MLS photo, which was like hair but a lot of liquid, like it wasn't formed in any way. So is that kind of the difference?

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 6:43

A little bit, so that kind of brings up. Why are you seeing hairballs now? So you know hairballs. Hair usually will kind of go through the hair itself, so usually cats will groom themselves. As we know, cats are great groomers. They always look beautiful, they don't need baths and they've got these fancy tongues that have these small barbs on the back of them, on the front, but then they're backwards facing.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 7:06

So, they groom themselves and they ingest a little bit. They're grooming, they're grooming, they're ingesting a little hair and that hair should go into the stomach and then through the intestinal tract and it's digested a small amount, but not a lot, and it should kind of continue on out and be a little bit in the stool. So it's the changes in the cat that are causing them to ingest too much hair or affect the motility of the intestine that makes you see them more. So your cats are probably a little stressed. Got a lot going on. They're nervous. They're probably grooming more out of stress and now you're finding more and you've changed their whole world a little bit.

Amy Castro: 7:44

So, yeah, they're extremely unhappy right now. I will say, though, it seems to be and I don't know if this is true or not true, but I feel like. So I've got a tortoise shell cat who has a lot of brown and gold in her fur, and then I have the cat with no eyes, who does have some gray but has a lot of white, and then I've got a black and white cat, and I feel like what I'm seeing looks the same color, wise, or is that just crazy for me to assume that it's Penny, penny Pinhead, who's the black and white one? I feel like he's the one that's hocking the stuff up everywhere.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 8:19

Yeah, and that's a good way for people to tell which cat it is If you have four cats and you're not sure which cat, to kind of look at it, sometimes it's digested and you get kind of the food and stuff in there and it can be variable in color. But that's a good way to tell who it is. Or, you know, take a photo, keep track. I tell people so they could kind of get an idea of what it is. But you should really only find them about four times a year. I tried to track my cat and see and that's. I maybe find two or three and she's a short haired cat. So if you have a long haired cat that's grooming you might normally find a little bit more, just because they're ingesting more of that hair.

Amy Castro: 8:56

So, like I realize my cats are stressed, but I will say that Penny and we have talked to the veterinarian have not identified any particular cause, although he's going back again because, yes, it is a stressful time and it's possible that it has increased, but I feel like it's not increased that much and it is much more consistent than four times a year. So, other than stress, what else would cause a cat to throw up hair and maybe would be a cause of concern for us?

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 9:23

So you know I try and narrow it down to the two big ones. Either they're grooming more or there's a problem with the movement of the hair through, because it should go from tongue out the butt in a smooth fashion. It shouldn't glob up into a big ball in their stomach because naturally that wouldn't be helpful for the cat. It should be kind of continuing to move on. So the first one being they're doing something that causes them to groom more. So they're either they're itchy or they have a parasite or they have a fungus or something on the fur is making them have to kind of spend more time doing it. Other reasons they'll groom more is stress. So if they're anxious they'll groom more. Or if they're grooming another cat. So if they're grooming themselves and also grooming the three other cats because they like to do that, they're going to be ingesting more than their normal share of hair. So that's why it's abnormal to do that. Or if you don't have a little short-haired cat like yours and you have a ragdoll or a Persian or a Maine Coon, something that doesn't have what I call a natural type coat, that's much more than their body can actually ingest and groom. You know they're big fluff balls, some of these cats Crazy how much hair.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 10:40

I have a client that has Siberians and it's so much hair for them to maintain and ingest that it's just too much for them. So they're grooming too much, so they got fleas, they have friends, they have ticks or something they're trying to remove. And then the other one I think about is the ones where that's not moving properly. So something is wrong from stomach to through the intestine that it's just not moving along right. Either they have inflammatory bowel disease or they have pancreatitis or have something that's kind of altering that flow that's normally supposed to be there, or they have a food allergy. Something is making it not smooth. Then the hair gets kind of stuck in the stomach and then it just doesn't move on.

Amy Castro: 11:27

So how do we determine which it is Like I? I mean, if I took him into the veterinarian, which I actually did, and they didn't necessarily identify anything, but what's the process of trying to eliminate the causes?

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 11:39

Yeah, you make sure you have good parasite control. So you want to make sure there are no fleas, so you have a good parasite preventative. I make sure there's no other things that are on the actual coat. So we look at the fur. So that's what they're coming in for. I'm looking at the coat. I'm seeing where it's missing. Is it missing on their back? Is it missing on their belly? That's a common one where they'll stress groom and they'll groom their whole belly bald. So they're these kitties that have bald belly or they're licking on their legs or somewhere odd. So that might be a cat that's very anxious, that's over grooming.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 12:13

So we're looking for changes in the coat. So that's the more the visual one. They might do a you know, a test on the fur to see if there's a fungus or something else that might be causing them to ingest more. So that's the kind of the easier one. Or they're itchy. You know we definitely see cats with food allergies. That they'll just be. Overall. Their body is itchy so they're grooming more. That's the easier one. To diagnose. The ones where it's a movement of the intestine is a little bit trickier. So we'll ask questions about the frequency and what are you feeding? What's their diet? Is there something we can change or alter? And we always, if it's a cat, do some kind of the baseline blood work to make sure there's not something like pancreatitis that we're missing and we'll pick that up on lab tests.

Amy Castro: 12:59

Interesting. It's interesting you mentioned the naked belly because Pickles, who I feel like is my most nervous of the three cats, the one that's completely blind, seems like she's completely not nervous. I mean she's the first one out to. When we had guys in here working on the house, I mean I had to close her up because she wouldn't leave the guys alone when they were painting and it's like nobody needs your tail in the paint. Thank you very much, but she just, you know, no fear seemingly. And then Pickles is my nervous ninny, who's constantly looking at the ceiling fan that's been there her entire, you know, 12 or 14 years on this planet and looking like what the hell is that? So I always feel like she's the most nervous. And it's interesting about the naked belly because for the long, like for several years, she had almost a completely naked belly but it's grown back. So I don't know if she's just gotten less nervous or what the deal is, but yeah, that uh, I always thought that was kind of odd, that she was.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 14:16

Yeah, nervous allergy. They can be allergic. That's a big one that they're allergic to the food you're feeding. So some of that goes into the. When we get into the treatment section, one of the things we think about yeah, and do they do allergy testing on cats?

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 14:27

They can. It's a little trickier. You have to do the intradermal testing like they do on a person, where they make all those little holes on your arm and they put the allergens onto your skin. So you have to sedate the cat. You have to shave the whole side of the cat to get a big place. We don't do a lot of allergy testing in cats. We'll do a diet change and go through a systematic change of diet to see if we can make them less itchy.

Amy Castro: 14:52

So this is I know it was a gross subject, right, but do the contents of what's coming up indicate something different, Like if it's just hair versus hair and food, or is it just? Is the food coming up just a symptom of the hair not allowing the food to go anywhere either?

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 15:08

Yeah, absolutely. You know I was trying to take a good history. Have clients take a history, bring me photos. What are they seeing coming up? What is the cat actually doing? I'm surprised you haven't made this any sounds yet for the hairballs yet.

Amy Castro: 15:21

But uh, I did it. I did it right in the beginning of the teaser. You didn't hear that part. I recorded that already.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 15:27

So I always, if cats come in and say they're trying to cough up a hairball but it's not coming up, I'm like can you bring me a video what that is? Because most of the time the cat is actually coughing and that's always. My worry is that they're thinking their cat is trying to bring up a hairball and their cat has asthma because it's coughing and it has nothing to do with the hair or the intestine or the stomach nothing, it's got asthma. Or it's coughing and it has nothing to do with the hair or the intestine or the stomach nothing, it's got asthma. Or it's got heart disease. A lot of coughing cats are actually occult heart cats, that they actually have heart disease. So they'll come in and say, oh, my cat's trying to cough up a hairball and nothing's coming up. He's extending his neck, he's making that honking sound.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 16:09

He's continuing to do that, but nothing comes up. So do I give him a laxative for his hairball, like, let me see that video again, or even a recording, and they're coughing. So that's a kind of a different workup. We don't want to be down the wrong trail or something like that.

Amy Castro: 16:28

So do I save everybody time and effort if I, you know, listen to this podcast episode and I feel like my cat, like, start gathering that evidence, the pictures, the video, and bring that, versus waiting for your vet to tell you. I mean, I figure it should be relatively easy to at least gather some evidence to start off with.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 16:44

Yeah, it definitely helps bringing that video because we want to know what you're seeing at home, because when the cats come into the vet for this type of problem, they're just going to sit on the table and hide and they're not going to give you any clues. They're not going to cough up a hairball in the exam room.

Amy Castro: 17:00

So you're not going to see it. I can put on a show for you.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 17:02

No, no, no, no, no. So then we start asking those kind of more specific questions to try and diagnose if this is a grooming problem. Is it a inflammatory bowel problem? Is it a food allergy? Because oftentimes, but so many people think hairball vomiting is just normal. They do it every day or every other day, and I have currently only one cat, but I've had as many as three, and maybe I clean up a hairball from this cat seasonally. That's why I tell people so four times a year. Wow.

Amy Castro: 17:35

So let's assume we've gone through the process of having it diagnosed and obviously, like you said, if it's allergy related we can make some changes to the diet and I want to talk about that. But are you just lucky that your cats just have those seasonal hairballs and I'm just unlucky, or is it? Are there things that you're doing specifically to prevent hairballs that we could all be doing, assuming it's not some major like heart disease or something like that?

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 18:02

Obviously I can't control that in my cat. But yeah, you know, you have your as you call it, your hairball prevention playbook. So the less hair they're ingesting, the less often you're going to see hair. So if they're not a normal groomer and they just like a crazy groomer, you groom for them, so you're brushing them, so you're getting that extra hair off on a daily basis if your cat's cooperative, or a couple of times a week, because the more you take off with the brush, the less they're going to throw up because it's just you's just natural for them. If you've got one of those big Maine coon cats, you need to brush that cat because he can't ingest all that hair. It's going to come up.

Amy Castro: 18:37

Yeah, I never brush my cats. I'm terrible.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 18:39

The brush is the best thing. That's probably half my problem right there right. The brush. The brush is the best thing. A brush, the comb, even a lint brush, a firminator, all those are excellent for getting that extra hair off.

Amy Castro: 18:54

It's too bad, we can't vacuum them I don't think they would tolerate that.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 18:56

They don't like the sound, they don't even like the brush half the time. So train them with the brush, with treats, make it a game, make it fun to get that excess off. And if you've got one of these heavy coated cats that you can't brush, you know, maybe think about clipping that cat, getting the body't brush. You know, maybe think about clipping that cat getting the body hair off. You know, leave the fluffy tail, if you like, and the head, kind of poofy like a lion, cut, and then they have less to do and less work for them. So that will, that will definitely help.

Amy Castro: 19:27

Is it worthwhile to take them to a groomer? Like my cats are all short hair so it seems to me like it would be silly to take them to a groomer. Like I can just brush them and probably take care of a good bit of it. But for people with those longer haired cats I mean, do they have like an undercoat and things like that that can cause problems that maybe a groomer can manage or get out better it can.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 19:43

If it's hard for you to do and the cat is cooperative enough, the groomer can brush that out. It's going to accumulate on a daily basis, though, so there's always some coming out, so it's not like a poodle or a dog that you can clip short. This fur is like shepherd lab fur it's continually being come out.

Amy Castro: 20:02

Yeah, it's continually coming out, so you got to do the job at home, at least on a daily basis, right?

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 20:07

Yeah, keeping them really well hydrated, because one of the things that helps that hair move through is hydration. So if they're eating an all dry food diet and they're not big water drinkers and they have a lot of hair, the hair motility is not there. It just doesn't move through properly, whereas if you're doing a lot of canned food, they have a nice moist diet, the hair moves through better. So my cat's currently on all canned food diet yeah, mine too and yeah, they hydrate better. It helps it to kind of move through. So hydration is really good for them as well.

Amy Castro: 20:40

Yeah, we've been doing canned food and then I feel like I go through a ton of cans, unfortunately, but probably at least one of the cans that I give them a day. I also put a can of water and they drink that right up, you know, and they've got a fountain too that they that they like, because it's got that fresh water circulating. So I feel like they're pretty well hydrated, or as hydrated as I can possibly get them. But, yeah, the brushing I got to get on the brush, the brushing, yeah, yeah.

Amy Castro: 21:05

Cause it's not going to be fun when we're all living in an RV together and there are hairballs everywhere, I maybe have to dig out a brush and make sure that's in the RV with me.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 21:15

If they have an intestinal problem or a food allergy, changing their diet. That's where I think some of the hairball label diets may be helping, because they're changing the diet. Maybe the cat was allergic to the other food and they switched to the hairball diet and now all of a sudden they're better. So things like the hairball diets that have a little more fiber kind of help things move through. The over-the-counter type remedies can sometimes be helpful, like the laxatives and the things that are like oil-based type stuff, but they don't really make the hair move all that much faster. But if it seems to benefit the cat, I don't think it's causing any harm with those.

Amy Castro: 21:58

Got it. So are there particular food ingredients that cause allergies more than others for cats, or does? It really depend on the cat itself.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 22:05

Depends on the cat. Most of them it's the protein source, so the protein is what they're allergic to, or the allergic to the fish or the allergic to the beef. So it's really kind of trying one and seeing how your cat responds. Over a few weeks you know, two week period of time you eliminate all the fish, which is hard to do because everything has fish in it the canned diet, the treats, the dry food. So if they're allergic to fish and they're itchy so they're grooming more, then you have more hairballs. So it's, the hairball is usually kind of a sign of. Another problem is how I think of it.

Amy Castro: 22:40

Right, yeah, that sounds somewhat labor intensive though, watching the food and seeing. But if you, I guess you have to balance out the labor intensive nature of identifying what the problem is versus a lifetime of cleaning up hairballs. And you know, I would assume all that hawking up of hairballs is not comfortable if they're doing it over, you know too much.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 23:02

It's frequent. If it's, you know. If they're doing this once a week, you know. If I have clients tell me their cat is throwing up a hairball a week, that's definitely a red flag that something is wrong and that's can't be comfortable for them because it's not natural for them to have that.

Amy Castro: 23:18

So we can for them to have that. So we can. Yeah, and that's the thing is that, like you said, people think that that it is natural and so they don't think much of it, and hopefully, by listening to this episode, people will realize that it is not natural and it's something that we need to investigate for our cat's long-term health and comfort. So we've been talking about cats and obviously hairballs are a plague when it comes to cats, and we had done an episode with a rabbit rescue and talked about the danger of hairballs for rabbits. So with rabbits, they can be deadly because they can't hawk up the hairball. Is that what it is? I can't remember all the details.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 23:50

That's right. Yeah, rabbits cannot vomit, so they're like horses. Rabbits also ingest a lot of hair and we have the different types of breeds. Again, they're not all the little cottontails like you see outside that have the very short coat. They're these angoras or the lionhead or these big fluffy ones that aren't grooming a little bit of the time, and then that hair sits in the stomach and it can't move, so it gets stuck there because they can't bring it up. So that's a big problem for them.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 24:20

Yeah, so are the prevention techniques fairly similar with rabbits to cats Brushing, grooming and making sure they have a lot of hay in their diet. So the hay and the greens.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 24:32

So the greens provide those nice veggies, provide moisture to help things move through, because if we think about the cottontail outside, it's eating grass, so it's eating grass and weeds that are high moisture content but also high fiber. So you need high fiber and high moisture content for those bunnies, whereas some species the opposite end of the totem pole, you have something like a hawk or an owl that regurgitate all of the hair, and it's normal for them to eat a rabbit or a mouse. Every they bring up a hairball or what's called a pellet when you're dealing with raptors and owls, and that's all the hair and bones all comes up. So for them it's normal to bring up a hairball every day that they eat, cause that's how they get rid of it.

Amy Castro: 25:15

Yeah, cause it's coming. It's the hairballs coming from. Whatever it is that they've swallowed, it's not like they're licking their feathers?

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 25:22

Yeah, coming from whatever it is that they've swallowed, it's not like they're licking their feathers.

Amy Castro: 25:23

It's not their own. Yeah, why don't dogs get hairballs, or do they?

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 25:26

They can. Their dog hairballs are usually because they've eaten something that's not theirs, they've gotten into the garbage or they've eaten something, whereas they don't groom the way cats groom. Cats' tongues are set up with these little barbs to kind of comb the hair, whereas the dog tongue is smooth and flat. So even if they're licking or itching, they don't ingest nearly as much hair as a cat would with its tongue. So you have to look at your cat's tongue and you look at it from the side. You really see those little. It looks like a comb, yes, and you feel it too. When they lick you.

Amy Castro: 26:00

It's like sandpaper, sandpaper tongue. So let me ask you this as far as hairballs go do you have any stories or weird fun facts about hairballs? What's the biggest hairball you've personally seen? I've probably seen some like in an animal's stomach that got trapped there right In the stomach.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 26:20

Yeah, and most of those are actually rabbits. We'll see a few cats that ingest something else besides the hair. They eat a hair tie, like the little loops you put around your hair, so the cat eats that and then everything gets tangled to that. So that causes obstruction, because they've eaten this hair tie and now it's tangled up with all the other stuff and then it gets stuck. So that's a big problem. And we were doing some research before this episode and we found that there was a 400 pound tiger that had a four pound hairball. So they can get pretty big.

Amy Castro: 26:53

Nice, okay. So just to put that into perspective, because when I was a kid I used to bowl. So a kid's bowling ball is probably nine to 10 pounds, so like half the size of a bowling ball, that's a big hairball. I'm assuming that had to be surgically removed. Surgically removed, yes.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 27:13

It's very uncommon for hair balls to get stuck in cats. In 34 years of practice, I can't think of maybe more than one cat that I've ever seen that has gotten a hairball stuck in the intestine which is good. It usually moves out. It's that they're stuck with something else, like those hair ties or that Christmas tree tinsel or string. Something else has tangled up in the hair. Yeah.

Amy Castro: 27:39

So we've got to keep all that clear of our cats.

Amy Castro: 27:43

Don't let them to get access to it. So what about final thoughts or advice? I mean, you've given a lot already, but one thing that I thought about was the whole grooming thing, and you mentioned that cats don't necessarily like to be brushed Even sometimes my dogs because I don't brush my dogs either. I'm terrible. I got all these short haired animals and no wonder we have hair on everything. But anyway, I will get better about brushing. But they always look at me very suspicious when I come out with the brush, like what are you going to do with that? So one piece of advice I would say is we should start doing this with our pets early on, when they're little, so they get used to it, so you don't have that problem. That's the only thing I can think of Any other advice?

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 28:22

Yeah, training, training them with the brush, just like you. You know they like to be petted in most case cats and they like treats. A lot of cats like treats. You can use those lick mats like we do for the dogs, that you put the treat on the mat and then the cat licks at that and you're brushing them at the same time. And if you start with the kittens to get them used to the brush, it makes it a little bit easier. They've got the gloves that are a brush, if that's easier to get the excess off.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 28:48

And also think about when you do get a cat. Are you going to be able to groom this cat enough? Can you get a big, fluffy Persian? Are you going to be able to maintain that? Do you have time to do that? Or do you just get a short-coated cat? That's a lot easier to maintain and fresh water always available. Keep them hydrated. Remember those kitties. They really eat moist diets primarily. If you think of the ones in the wild, they're eating mice and things that are small and moist, and when we're giving them only these dry food diet that's the thing I talk to my clients about Sometimes it's just too dry and they can't hydrate enough and get this hair to move through.

Amy Castro: 29:27

Yeah, so several good points in there. I want to make sure we're stressing. Going back to the fresh water, one of the things that I've discovered living where we live here is that the water because it's well water it's got higher. Not only does it have higher mineral content, but it also tends to go bad or get slimy much faster than when I lived in a subdivision with chlorinated water. So something to think about, you know, is the quality of your water, but also what about keeping the bowls clean, because I think people get a big bowl. So, yeah, look, my cats or any of my pets have plenty of water and then they just leave it until it needs to have more in it, and then they take it over to the sink and then they fill it up again. What do we need to be doing with our vessels for the water?

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 30:13

Yeah, keeping them clean, rinsing them out. Every day I try and rinse the bowl out and trying different sizes and shapes. I'm always surprised what size and shape cats like. I have some cats that like to drink out of the shape of a cup and others that like the big slimy dog water bowl, which is what my cat seems to like. She likes the big bowl that the dog drinks out of, but then upstairs she just likes a very tiny, low, flat kind of vessel. Fountains are great. Some of them like the fountain, others just want to play in the fountain, so that could be a deterrent and clean and fresh. A lot of people will think about using a bottled water if they don't think their cat likes their city water.

Amy Castro: 30:52

They have cat water now. Oh, cat water, yeah yeah, they literally have bottled water. That is supposed to be the right pH or whatever balance for cats.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 31:01

Yeah, old cats. I always try and encourage flavored water, because if they're older you can add something to not every bowl of water, but one of the bowls, so it's more like a soup to encourage them to drink more.

Amy Castro: 31:13

I think that's what's going on, with me pouring the water over the canned food, because I'm always shocked because I built them up to I didn't start immediately just dumping an entire can, but it's like if I put a can of food in the bowl, I've built up to putting also a can of water and I don't mix it or turn the bowl into mush, cause I think my cats like to kind of have that biting at it, as opposed to I'm going to slurp up some slop that you've got in the bowl, cause they're very particular on how they like their stuff. But I'm always shocked that I'll go back and there might be some food left, like a little island of food, but all the water's gone. So they're drinking that flavored water. But again, I don't do it at every meal. And then they've got their fountain. They seem to really especially Pickles. She seems to really like that fountain.

Amy Castro: 31:56

So it sounds like a lot of this stuff is just experimenting, you know, finding the right balance of the right diet, the right amount of grooming, what your cat's going to like or tolerate, so that and and I think the other key point that you made is the whole maintenance. I mean, I'm really big on choosing the right fit pet for you, and if you're not going to be able to maintain that grooming for a dog or a cat and then you're going to end up in physical issues or having to go get them shaved down to the skin because they're so matted, then you really need to think about whether you're committed enough to do that daily grooming that might be required. So any other final thoughts or advice that you want to share?

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 32:36

You know, definitely work with your veterinarian, let them know what's going on, and if you're seeing more than one hairball a season, something might be up. And just ask about it. Maybe it's normal. They may have pointers that they can give you, depending upon where you live and your cat's lifestyle, that can help you to kind of figure out this mystery of the big wet blob that you're finding.

Amy Castro: 32:59

Nice thing that you step in in the morning, that you say they have those little signs for them.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 33:04

That's what I love that you have these little orange or yellow signs that you can put over the hairball so that you don't step in it. I saw that. I saw that you sent me that picture and I was like yes for your kids that don't want to clean it up.

Amy Castro: 33:24

Yeah, so well, at least it's the warning. I always find there's a very direct path from my bedroom to the back door, which is where I would let the dogs out in the morning, and it's dark, I might not have my glasses on and I'm just constantly looking for landmines on the floor. It could be anything from a dead bug to a hairball, to a turdlet that somebody dropped along the way, and that's not a daily thing, but there's nothing like stepping on a nice hairball. But at least in that point I'm happy it's a hairball and not a turd.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 33:47

It's the animal life.

Amy Castro: 33:48

Well, linda, thank you so much for being here with us today to talk about this lovely subject of hairballs. I know it was helpful for me. I got to get my brush out and make sure it's in the RV before I go. I've got a variety of brushes so I can kind of see which ones they might like or dislike along the way, and I guess I will take those hairballs a little more seriously and investigate those a little bit further. So thank you so much for sharing that information.

Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM: 34:14

I was happy to be a guest again.

Amy Castro: 34:16

I appreciate you coming back For everybody listening. Take these hairballs much more seriously, hopefully, and make sure that your cat gets the care that they need to prevent something that shouldn't be a daily occurrence and a daily menace for us and for our cats. So we will see you next week with another episode of Muddy Paws and Hairballs. Have a great week. Thanks for listening to Muddy Paws and Hairballs. Be sure to visit our website at muddypawsandhairballscom for more resources and be sure to follow this podcast on your favorite podcast app so you'll never miss a show. And hey, if you like this show, text someone right now and say I've got a podcast recommendation. You need to check the show out and tell them to listen and let you know what they think. Don't forget to tune in next week and every week for a brand new episode. And if you don't do anything else this week, give your pets a big hug from us.