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Fall and spring means that it is time to lube the cat again. That means most family felines are losing their summer or winter coat and growing winter or summer fur, respectively. You may not notice any hair loss in some cats, because they are grooming and eating the hair! In some cats, you may not notice any thrown up hair balls, or what I call wet hair snakes. These are casts of the intestines. The hair becomes trapped there, not in the stomach. When cats do not throw up any hair, fur is still snaking its way through the pet's intestines. This causes a problem when the hair sticks or drags along the intestinal lining. Anything from mild irritation, to rip roaring inflammatory bowel disease can occur. More severe symptoms may follow. Preventing this type of problem is obviously the best idea. Giving your cat a popular hair ball medication or Vaseline once a week can reduce the chance of intestinal hair build up or clogs. Should your cat vomit any hair, the suggestion would be to give the cat medication every other day for 3-4 weeks. It takes that long to improve the condition, no matter what you may be seeing in the pet. You should give about a 1 to 1 1/2 inch strip of hair ball goo as a dose to any cat. Some cats will lick the product off your fingers, other cats will not be so cooperative. For these finicky felines, smear the product on their lips, or on the roof of their mouth, or on the forelegs. Your cat will consume the product when they clean themselves of the gooey stuff. Old husband tales do not work. Do not try to use butter, vegetable oil, mineral oil, Crisco, etc. These can make your cat fat and do nothing for the hair balls; or cause life threatening aspiration pneumonia, if the cat accidentally inhales on oily product. Most hair ball medications are made of white petroleum distillate (Vaseline), flavored with cod liver oil. The petroleum is not digestible, so it is able to sludge along the intestines picking up hair. Even though the product usually implies that it is a laxative, it does not cause blow out diarrhea. Petroleum jelly is a lubricating laxative only, but some cats may have a reaction to other flavorings or additives present. For those reactive cats, use straight petroleum jelly. So, lube the cat once a week, more if hair balls are a problem, and watch your cat closely in the fall and spring for molting resulting in hair ball production.
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