Is It Just Hairball? Or Do I Need To Be Worried?

Cat owners will be familiar with hairballs. So is it a problem?

- Dr Goh Shuling (Dr Forest) BVSc (Melbourne)(Hons) Principal Vet, Happy Vet

Hairballs are the unsavory by-product of a normal feline habit. Cats being fastidious creatures, like to stay clean – and they do this by grooming and preening themselves daily. However, in the process of grooming, they inevitably swallow their hair.

Generally, these hairballs are vomited out by cats relatively easily. You can see them retching for a moment or two, then spitting up what looks like a damp clump. These wad of undigested hair, called a trichobezoar or hairball, are often sausage-shaped, a few centimetres long and are usually slightly darker than the cat’s fur.

The colour of the ejected matter is darkened by the animal’s food and various gastric secretions, such as bile. And, it typically presents itself with a slighty disagreeable smell or odour.

Hair Raising Subject

Cats have specially adapted tongues which contain sharp barbs (that’s why their lick feels “scratchy”).