March 18, 2025 • 34 mins
Think hairballs are just a normal part of life with cats? Think again.
If your cat is coughing up hairballs weekly or even monthly, it’s not just gross—it’s a red flag. Frequent hairballs can point to stress, food allergies, digestive issues, or even chronic illness.
In this episode, I talk with veterinarian Dr. Linda Atkins about what really causes hairballs, when to be concerned, and how to help your cat stay healthy from the inside out.
BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU’LL DISCOVER:
- Why healthy cats should only have hairballs a few times per year
- How stress, poor grooming, and hidden medical conditions can lead to excessive hairballs
- What you can do today to reduce hairballs and protect your cat’s health
Frequent vomiting, coughing, or excessive grooming aren’t quirks—they’re symptoms. Tune in and find out how to prevent hairballs the right way, support your cat’s digestion, and recognize when it’s time to see your vet.
LEARN MORE ABOUT DR. LINDA ATKINS:
www.valleycottageanimalhospital.com
Love the show? Please share it with another pet parent who wants less chaos and more clarity. Please leave a 5-star review to help others find real-life, judgment-free advice.
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©Ⓟ 2025 by Amy Castro.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amy Castro (00:06):
sound familiar.
You know the sound, that wet,gagging nightmare prompting
sound.
That means somewhere in yourhouse a fresh, steaming hairball
has just been deposited,probably in your shoe or maybe
on your new white rug.
But here's the kicker yourcat's hairballs are not normal.
That's right.
Contrary to what you've beentold by the experts in your cat
(00:28):
lover's Facebook group,something is off.
Today we're diving into thecolossal catastrophe of cat
hairballs with a vet who's seenmore feline vomit than probably
all of us combined.
So grab some paper towels, atrash bag and maybe a stiff
drink, because we're about todeep dive into why your cat is
creating those beautifulfur-based abstract art pieces
(00:50):
all over your house, and we'lltalk about how to stop it.
Welcome to Muddy Paws andHairballs, the podcast where we
don't sugarcoat the gross partsof pet parenting.
I'm your host, amy Castro, andtoday we're talking about
something that I think hauntscat parents everywhere, and that
is hairballs.
I don't know about you, butthey're definitely haunting me
(01:11):
right now.
But we're going to get intothat.
So, to help us untangle thishairy situation, I have my
longtime friend and felineexpert and pretty much
all-around animal care guru, drLinda Atkins, from the Valley
Cottage Animal Hospital, joiningme to tackle this subject.
Linda earned her degree in cellbiology from Cornell University
before going on to complete herdoctorate of veterinary
(01:34):
medicine at New York StateVeterinary College.
At Cornell she holdscertifications in dentistry and
ultrasound and her professionalinterests include general
surgery, feline medicine,dentistry, diagnostic ultrasound
and exotic animal medicine,which we talked about that a
little bit on a previous episodewhen she was here.
She's also the attendingveterinarian for the Trailside
(01:56):
Zoo at Bear Mountain, which isin Bear Mountain, new York, and
she volunteers with local 4-Hprograms, which I think isn't
that how we met Linda.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (02:04):
Yes, through 4-H, 4-H Horse Club.
Amy Castro (02:06):
We were 4-H horse weirdos back in the day, back
when we were probably startingat 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 andthank you for taking the time to
come back with us again.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (02:28):
Thank you for inviting me all the way
from New York to.
Amy Castro (02:31):
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 thisin the teaser that hairballs
aren't normal, because I think,as cat parents, we sometimes
convince ourselves that hairballs are just a thing, and
we've heard from people thathair balls are just a thing.
So I got to tell everybody afunny story and if you're
watching the video, no, I havenot taken a shower today and
(02:54):
I've not put on any makeup oranything, because my life is
chaos and hell right now.
I'm in the middle of gettingready to move.
My house is on the market.
Hopefully nobody will show upwhile we're recording this
episode, but I had aphotographer out the other day
and he was fantastic.
I mean, the pictures that hetook of my place are amazing.
(03:17):
So I'm scrolling through thephotos that were up on the
multiple listing service and I'mgetting to the dog kennel
building, which is where all mypets are living right now.
Beautiful, it's a beautifulbuilding and you know, beautiful
shot of the bathing area andthe laundry area, a nice long
shot down the hallway where theruns are.
And then the very last picturewas a long shot coming from the
other direction and that lastkennel, which is an extra large
(03:40):
one, is where I have my catstashed temporarily while we're
showing the house.
And looks nice, it's all clean.
The cat's sitting in the towerlooking at the cameraman and I
look down at the floor andthere's a big, freaking hairball
on the floor in the photo outon the universal multiple
listing service for everybody tosee.
(04:00):
So of course I panic.
I'm like texting my realtorplease take that picture down.
There's a big old hairball inthe picture.
So that's one of the reasons whyI wanted to talk about this
subject today, because that'sone of the reasons I wanted my
animals out of this house.
I literally had started gettingsome stuff together to stage my
kitchen and I had found which Ididn't even realize I had
placemats, but I found twoplacemats.
(04:22):
I'm like these will work.
I'm going to stage this counterand, I kid you not, I hadn't
had them set in on the counterfor 15 minutes and suddenly
there's a hairball on one ofthem.
So we get a lot of hairballsaround here and I'm I'm one of
those people that thought theywere kind of normal.
But you know, are hairballsreally normal, you know?
Or is it something we should beexpecting on a daily or a
weekly basis, or no?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (04:43):
Generally no, they should only be
seasonally.
I tell my clients, soseasonally, so definitely you'll
find them.
And if you have four cats andit's seasonally, you're going to
find 16 hairballs a year.
So that's still a lot andthat's a good reason to kind of
add it to your podcast name.
That's what brought it up.
I was asking about your nameand then I was like, oh,
(05:04):
hairballs.
I was like I could talk abouthairballs and you said, could
you really talk about hairballsfor a half an hour?
And I was like, yeah, yeah wecan.
So it's not technically normalfor cats to throw up hairballs.
It's kind of a myth.
Everybody thinks, oh, I have acat, it should vomit.
(05:25):
And I talk to clients every dayand I ask that's one of the
questions we always ask doesyour cat vomit?
And they say, yeah, it's a cat,it vomits.
It vomits every day.
And I'm like, oh, that's notnormal.
So, and there always tends tobe some hair in the stomach.
So most vomit does contain hair.
So there's a little differencebetween a hair vomit and a hair
ball.
You can get into it too, yeah.
But, it's not normal.
Amy Castro (05:47):
Okay, let's talk about the difference, because I
see it all.
I mean, I see the ones thatlook like like you look across
the room and it's like, is thata turd?
And you know it turns out it's.
It's not a turd, it's a hairball.
And then you see the ones likewhat I'm seeing now and what I
(06:07):
saw on that MLS photo, which waslike hair but a lot of liquid,
like it wasn't formed in any way.
So is that kind of thedifference?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (06:12):
A little bit, so that kind of brings up.
Why are you seeing hairballsnow?
So you know hairballs.
Hair usually will kind of gothrough the hair itself, so
usually cats will groomthemselves.
As we know, cats are greatgroomers.
They always look beautiful,they don't need baths and
they've got these fancy tonguesthat have these small barbs on
the back of them, on the front,but then they're backwards
(06:34):
facing.
So, they groom themselves andthey ingest a little bit.
They're grooming, they'regrooming, they're ingesting a
little hair and that hair shouldgo into the stomach and then
through the intestinal tract andit's digested a small amount,
but not a lot, and it shouldkind of continue on out and be a
little bit in the stool.
So it's the changes in the catthat are causing them to ingest
(06:56):
too much hair or affect themotility of the intestine that
makes you see them more.
So your cats are probably alittle stressed.
Got a lot going on.
They're nervous.
They're probably grooming moreout of stress and now you're
finding more and you've changedtheir whole world a little bit.
Amy Castro (07:13):
So, yeah, they're extremely unhappy right now.
I will say, though, it seems tobe and I don't know if this is
true or not true, but I feellike.
So I've got a tortoise shellcat who has a lot of brown and
gold in her fur, and then I havethe cat with no eyes, who does
have some gray but has a lot ofwhite, and then I've got a black
(07:34):
and white cat, and I feel likewhat I'm seeing looks the same
color, wise, or is that justcrazy for me to assume that it's
Penny, penny Pinhead, who's theblack and white one?
I feel like he's the one that'shocking the stuff up everywhere
.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (07:48):
Yeah, and that's a good way for people to
tell which cat it is If youhave four cats and you're not
sure which cat, to kind of lookat it, sometimes it's digested
and you get kind of the food andstuff in there and it can be
variable in color.
But that's a good way to tellwho it is.
Or, you know, take a photo,keep track.
I tell people so they couldkind of get an idea of what it
is.
But you should really only findthem about four times a year.
(08:11):
I tried to track my cat and seeand that's.
I maybe find two or three andshe's a short haired cat.
So if you have a long hairedcat that's grooming you might
normally find a little bit more,just because they're ingesting
more of that hair.
Amy Castro (08:25):
So, like I realize my cats are stressed, but I will
say that Penny and we havetalked to the veterinarian have
not identified any particularcause, although he's going back
again because, yes, it is astressful time and it's possible
that it has increased, but Ifeel like it's not increased
that much and it is much moreconsistent than four times a
year.
So, other than stress, whatelse would cause a cat to throw
(08:49):
up hair and maybe would be acause of concern for us?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (08:53):
So you know I try and narrow it down to
the two big ones.
Either they're grooming more orthere's a problem with the
movement of the hair through,because it should go from tongue
out the butt in a smoothfashion.
It shouldn't glob up into a bigball in their stomach because
naturally that wouldn't behelpful for the cat.
It should be kind of continuingto move on.
(09:14):
So the first one being they'redoing something that causes them
to groom more.
So they're either they're itchyor they have a parasite or they
have a fungus or something onthe fur is making them have to
kind of spend more time doing it.
Other reasons they'll groommore is stress.
So if they're anxious they'llgroom more.
(09:34):
Or if they're grooming anothercat.
So if they're groomingthemselves and also grooming the
three other cats because theylike to do that, they're going
to be ingesting more than theirnormal share of hair.
So that's why it's abnormal todo that.
Or if you don't have a littleshort-haired cat like yours and
you have a ragdoll or a Persianor a Maine Coon, something that
(09:57):
doesn't have what I call anatural type coat, that's much
more than their body canactually ingest and groom.
You know they're big fluffballs, some of these cats Crazy
how much hair.
I have a client that hasSiberians and it's so much hair
for them to maintain and ingestthat it's just too much for them
(10:20):
.
So they're grooming too much,so they got fleas, they have
friends, they have ticks orsomething they're trying to
remove.
And then the other one I thinkabout is the ones where that's
not moving properly.
So something is wrong fromstomach to through the intestine
that it's just not moving alongright.
Either they have inflammatorybowel disease or they have
(10:41):
pancreatitis or have somethingthat's kind of altering that
flow that's normally supposed tobe there, or they have a food
allergy.
Something is making it notsmooth.
Then the hair gets kind ofstuck in the stomach and then it
just doesn't move on.
Amy Castro (10:56):
So how do we determine which it is Like I?
I mean, if I took him into theveterinarian, which I actually
did, and they didn't necessarilyidentify anything, but what's
the process of trying toeliminate the causes?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (11:08):
Yeah, you make sure you have good
parasite control.
So you want to make sure thereare no fleas, so you have a good
parasite preventative.
I make sure there's no otherthings that are on the actual
coat.
So we look at the fur.
So that's what they're comingin 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 wherethey'll stress groom and they'll
(11:31):
groom their whole belly bald.
So they're these kitties thathave bald belly or they're
licking on their legs orsomewhere odd.
So that might be a cat that'svery anxious, that's over
grooming.
So we're looking for changes inthe coat.
So that's the more the visualone.
They might do a you know, atest on the fur to see if
there's a fungus or somethingelse that might be causing them
(11:52):
to ingest more.
So that's the kind of theeasier one.
Or they're itchy.
You know we definitely see catswith food allergies.
That they'll just be.
Overall.
Their body is itchy so they'regrooming more.
That's the easier one.
To diagnose.
The ones where it's a movementof the intestine is a little bit
trickier.
So we'll ask questions aboutthe frequency and what are you
(12:14):
feeding?
What's their diet?
Is there something we canchange or alter?
And we always, if it's a cat,do some kind of the baseline
blood work to make sure there'snot something like pancreatitis
that we're missing and we'llpick that up on lab tests.
Amy Castro (12:29):
Interesting.
It's interesting you mentionedthe naked belly because Pickles,
who I feel like is my mostnervous of the three cats, the
one that's completely blind,seems like she's completely not
nervous.
I mean she's the first one outto.
When we had guys in hereworking on the house, I mean I
had to close her up because shewouldn't leave the guys alone
when they were painting and it'slike nobody needs your tail in
(12:49):
the paint.
Thank you very much, but shejust, you know, no fear
seemingly.
And then Pickles is my nervousninny, who's constantly looking
at the ceiling fan that's beenthere her entire, you know, 12
or 14 years on this planet andlooking like what the hell is
that?
So I always feel like she's themost nervous.
And it's interesting about thenaked belly because for the long
(13:09):
, like for several years, shehad almost a completely naked
belly but it's grown back.
So I don't know if she's justgotten less nervous or what the
deal is, but yeah, that uh, Ialways thought that was kind of
odd, that she was.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (13:28):
Yeah, nervous allergy.
They can be allergic.
That's a big one that they'reallergic to the food you're
feeding.
So some of that goes into the.
When we get into the treatmentsection, one of the things we
think about yeah, and do they doallergy testing on cats?
They can.
It's a little trickier.
You have to do the intradermaltesting like they do on a person
, where they make all thoselittle holes on your arm and
(13:48):
they put the allergens onto yourskin.
So you have to sedate the cat.
You have to shave the wholeside of the cat to get a big
place.
We don't do a lot of allergytesting in cats.
We'll do a diet change and gothrough a systematic change of
diet to see if we can make themless itchy.
Amy Castro (14:04):
So this is I know it was a gross subject, right, but
do the contents of what'scoming up indicate something
different, Like if it's justhair versus hair and food, or is
it just?
Is the food coming up just asymptom of the hair not allowing
the food to go anywhere either?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (14:20):
Yeah, absolutely.
You know I was trying to take agood 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 madethis any sounds yet for the
hairballs yet.
Amy Castro (14:33):
But uh, I did it.
I did it right in the beginningof the teaser.
You didn't hear that part.
I recorded that already.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (14:40):
So I always, if cats come in and say
they're trying to cough up ahairball but it's not coming up,
I'm like can you bring me avideo what that is?
Because most of the time thecat is actually coughing and
that's always.
My worry is that they'rethinking their cat is trying to
bring up a hairball and theircat has asthma because it's
coughing and it has nothing todo with the hair or the
(15:00):
intestine or the stomach nothing, it's got asthma.
Or it's coughing and it hasnothing to do with the hair or
the intestine or the stomachnothing, it's got asthma.
Or it's got heart disease.
A lot of coughing cats areactually occult heart cats, that
they actually have heartdisease.
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'smaking that honking sound.
(15:21):
He's continuing to do that, butnothing comes up.
So do I give him a laxative forhis hairball, like, let me see
that video again, or even arecording, and they're coughing.
So that's a kind of a differentworkup.
We don't want to be down thewrong trail or something like
that.
Amy Castro (15:40):
So do I save everybody time and effort if I,
you know, listen to this podcastepisode and I feel like my cat,
like, start gathering thatevidence, the pictures, the
video, and bring that, versuswaiting for your vet to tell you
.
I mean, I figure it should berelatively easy to at least
gather some evidence to startoff with.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (15:57):
Yeah, it definitely helps bringing that
video because we want to knowwhat you're seeing at home,
because when the cats come intothe vet for this type of problem
, they're just going to sit onthe table and hide and they're
not going to give you any clues.
They're not going to cough up ahairball in the exam room.
Amy Castro (16:12):
So you're not going to see it.
I can put on a show for you.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (16:14):
No, no, no, no, no.
So then we start asking thosekind of more specific questions
to try and diagnose if this is agrooming problem.
Is it a inflammatory bowelproblem?
Is it a food allergy?
Because oftentimes, but so manypeople think hairball vomiting
is just normal.
They do it every day or everyother day, and I have currently
(16:37):
only one cat, but I've had asmany as three, and maybe I clean
up a hairball from this catseasonally.
That's why I tell people sofour times a year.
Wow.
Amy Castro (16:47):
So let's assume we've gone through the process
of having it diagnosed andobviously, like you said, if
it's allergy related we can makesome changes to the diet and I
want to talk about that.
But are you just lucky thatyour cats just have those
seasonal hairballs and I'm justunlucky, or is it?
Are there things that you'redoing specifically to prevent
hairballs that we could all bedoing, assuming it's not some
(17:13):
major like heart disease orsomething like that?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (17:14):
Obviously I can't control that in my cat.
But yeah, you know, you haveyour as you call it, your
hairball prevention playbook.
So the less hair they'reingesting, the less often you're
going to see hair.
So if they're not a normalgroomer and they just like a
crazy groomer, you groom forthem, so you're brushing them,
so you're getting that extrahair off on a daily basis if
your cat's cooperative, or acouple of times a week, because
(17:37):
the more you take off with thebrush, the less they're going to
throw up because it's justyou's just natural for them.
If you've got one of those bigMaine coon cats, you need to
brush that cat because he can'tingest all that hair.
It's going to come up.
Amy Castro (17:49):
Yeah, I never brush my cats.
I'm terrible.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (17:52):
The brush is the best thing.
That's probably half my problemright there right.
The brush.
The brush is the best thing.
A brush, the comb, even a lintbrush, a firminator, all those
are excellent for getting thatextra hair off.
Amy Castro (18:07):
It's too bad, we can't vacuum them I don't think
they would tolerate that.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (18:08):
They don't like the sound, they don't
even like the brush half thetime.
So train them with the brush,with treats, make it a game,
make it fun to get that excessoff.
And if you've got one of theseheavy coated cats that you can't
brush, you know, maybe thinkabout clipping that cat, getting
the body't brush.
You know, maybe think aboutclipping 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
(18:31):
and less work for them.
So that will, that willdefinitely help.
Amy Castro (18:39):
Is it worthwhile to take them to a groomer?
Like my cats are all short hairso it seems to me like it would
be silly to take them to agroomer.
Like I can just brush them andprobably take care of a good bit
of it.
But for people with thoselonger haired cats I mean, do
they have like an undercoat andthings like that that can cause
problems that maybe a groomercan manage or get out better it
can.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (18:55):
If it's hard for you to do and the cat
is cooperative enough, thegroomer can brush that out.
It's going to accumulate on adaily basis, though, so there's
always some coming out, so it'snot like a poodle or a dog that
you can clip short.
This fur is like shepherd labfur it's continually being come
out.
Amy Castro (19:14):
Yeah, it's continually coming out, so you
got to do the job at home, atleast on a daily basis, right?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (19:19):
Yeah, keeping them really well
hydrated, because one of thethings that helps that hair move
through is hydration.
So if they're eating an all dryfood diet and they're not big
water drinkers and they have alot of hair, the hair motility
is not there.
It just doesn't move throughproperly, whereas if you're
doing a lot of canned food, theyhave a nice moist diet, the
(19:39):
hair moves through better.
So my cat's currently on allcanned food diet yeah, mine too
and yeah, they hydrate better.
It helps it to kind of movethrough.
So hydration is really good forthem as well.
Amy Castro (19:52):
Yeah, we've been doing canned food and then I
feel like I go through a ton ofcans, unfortunately, but
probably at least one of thecans that I give them a day.
I also put a can of water andthey drink that right up, you
know, and they've got a fountaintoo that they that they like,
because it's got that freshwater circulating.
So I feel like they're prettywell hydrated, or as hydrated as
I can possibly get them.
(20:13):
But, yeah, the brushing I gotto get on the brush, the
brushing, yeah, yeah.
Cause it's not going to be funwhen we're all living in an RV
together and there are hairballseverywhere, I maybe have to dig
out a brush and make surethat's in the RV with me.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (20:27):
If they have an intestinal problem or a
food allergy, changing theirdiet.
That's where I think some ofthe hairball label diets may be
helping, because they'rechanging the diet.
Maybe the cat was allergic tothe other food and they switched
to the hairball diet and nowall of a sudden they're better.
So things like the hairballdiets that have a little more
fiber kind of help things movethrough.
(20:49):
The over-the-counter typeremedies can sometimes be
helpful, like the laxatives andthe things that are like
oil-based type stuff, but theydon't really make the hair move
all that much faster.
But if it seems to benefit thecat, I don't think it's causing
any harm with those.
Amy Castro (21:10):
Got it.
So are there particular foodingredients that cause allergies
more than others for cats, ordoes?
It really depend on the catitself.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (21:18):
Depends on the cat.
Most of them it's the proteinsource, so the protein is what
they're allergic to, or theallergic to the fish or the
allergic to the beef.
So it's really kind of tryingone and seeing how your cat
responds.
Over a few weeks you know, twoweek period of time you
eliminate all the fish, which ishard to do because everything
has fish in it the canned diet,the treats, the dry food.
(21:40):
So if they're allergic to fishand they're itchy so they're
grooming more, then you havemore hairballs.
So it's, the hairball isusually kind of a sign of.
Another problem is how I thinkof it.
Amy Castro (21:53):
Right, yeah, that sounds somewhat labor intensive
though, watching the food andseeing.
But if you, I guess you have tobalance out the labor intensive
nature of identifying what theproblem is versus a lifetime of
cleaning up hairballs.
And you know, I would assumeall that hawking up of hairballs
is not comfortable if they'redoing it over, you know too much
(22:15):
.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (22:15):
It's frequent.
If it's, you know.
If they're doing this once aweek, you know.
If I have clients tell me theircat is throwing up a hairball a
week, that's definitely a redflag that something is wrong and
that's can't be comfortable forthem because it's not natural
for them to have that.
Amy Castro (22:31):
So we can for them to have that.
So we can.
Yeah, and that's the thing isthat, like you said, people
think that that it is naturaland so they don't think much of
it, and hopefully, by listeningto this episode, people will
realize that it is not naturaland it's something that we need
to investigate for our cat'slong-term health and comfort.
So we've been talking aboutcats and obviously hairballs are
a plague when it comes to cats,and we had done an episode with
(22:53):
a rabbit rescue and talkedabout the danger of hairballs
for rabbits.
So with rabbits, they can bedeadly because they can't hawk
up the hairball.
Is that what it is?
I can't remember all thedetails.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (23:03):
That's right.
Yeah, rabbits cannot vomit, sothey're like horses.
Rabbits also ingest a lot ofhair and we have the different
types of breeds.
Again, they're not all thelittle cottontails like you see
outside that have the very shortcoat.
They're these angoras or thelionhead or these big fluffy
ones that aren't grooming alittle bit of the time, and then
(23:24):
that hair sits in the stomachand it can't move, so it gets
stuck there because they can'tbring it up.
So that's a big problem forthem.
Yeah, so are the preventiontechniques 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.
(23:44):
So the greens provide those niceveggies, provide moisture to
help things move through,because if we think about the
cottontail outside, it's eatinggrass, so it's eating grass and
weeds that are high moisturecontent but also high fiber.
So you need high fiber and highmoisture content for those
bunnies, whereas some speciesthe opposite end of the totem
(24:04):
pole, you have something like ahawk or an owl that regurgitate
all of the hair, and it's normalfor them to eat a rabbit or a
mouse.
Every they bring up a hairballor what's called a pellet when
you're dealing with raptors andowls, and that's all the hair
and bones all comes up.
So for them it's normal tobring up a hairball every day
(24:26):
that they eat, cause that's howthey get rid of it.
Amy Castro (24:27):
Yeah, cause it's coming.
It's the hairballs coming from.
Whatever it is that they'veswallowed, it's not like they're
licking their feathers?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (24:34):
Yeah, coming from whatever it is that
they've swallowed, it's not likethey're licking their feathers.
Amy Castro (24:35):
It's not their own.
Yeah, why don't dogs gethairballs, or do they?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (24:39):
They can.
Their dog hairballs are usuallybecause they've eaten something
that's not theirs, they'vegotten into the garbage or
they've eaten something, whereasthey don't groom the way cats
groom.
Cats' tongues are set up withthese little barbs to kind of
comb the hair, whereas the dogtongue is smooth and flat.
So even if they're licking oritching, they don't ingest
(25:00):
nearly as much hair as a catwould with its tongue.
So you have to look at yourcat's tongue and you look at it
from the side.
You really see those little.
It looks like a comb, yes, andyou feel it too.
When they lick you.
Amy Castro (25:12):
It's like sandpaper, sandpaper tongue.
So let me ask you this as faras hairballs go do you have any
stories or weird fun facts abouthairballs?
What's the biggest hairballyou've personally seen?
I've probably seen some like inan animal's stomach that got
trapped there right In thestomach.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (25:32):
Yeah, and most of those are actually
rabbits.
We'll see a few cats thatingest something else besides
the hair.
They eat a hair tie, like thelittle loops you put around your
hair, so the cat eats that andthen everything gets tangled to
that.
So that causes obstruction,because they've eaten this hair
tie and now it's tangled up withall the other stuff and then it
(25:55):
gets stuck.
So that's a big problem.
And we were doing some researchbefore this episode and we
found that there was a 400 poundtiger that had a four pound
hairball.
So they can get pretty big.
Amy Castro (26:06):
Nice, okay.
So just to put that intoperspective, because when I was
a kid I used to bowl.
So a kid's bowling ball isprobably nine to 10 pounds, so
like half the size of a bowlingball, that's a big hairball.
I'm assuming that had to besurgically removed.
Surgically removed, yes.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (26:26):
It's very uncommon for hair balls to get
stuck in cats.
In 34 years of practice, Ican't think of maybe more than
one cat that I've ever seen thathas gotten a hairball stuck in
the intestine which is good.
It usually moves out.
It's that they're stuck withsomething else, like those hair
ties or that Christmas treetinsel or string.
(26:48):
Something else has tangled upin the hair.
Yeah.
Amy Castro (26:52):
So we've got to keep all that clear of our cats.
Don't let them to get access toit.
So what about final thoughts oradvice?
I mean, you've given a lotalready, but one thing that I
thought about was the wholegrooming thing, and you
mentioned that cats don'tnecessarily like to be brushed
Even sometimes my dogs because Idon't brush my dogs either.
I'm terrible.
(27:12):
I got all these short hairedanimals and no wonder we have
hair on everything.
But anyway, I will get betterabout brushing.
But they always look at me verysuspicious when I come out with
the brush, like what are yougoing to do with that?
So one piece of advice I wouldsay 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 havethat problem.
That's the only thing I canthink of Any other advice?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (27:34):
Yeah, training, training them with the
brush, just like you.
You know they like to be pettedin most case cats and they like
treats.
A lot of cats like treats.
You can use those lick matslike we do for the dogs, that
you put the treat on the mat andthen the cat licks at that and
you're brushing them at the sametime.
And if you start with thekittens to get them used to the
brush, it makes it a little biteasier.
(27:55):
They've got the gloves that area brush, if that's easier to
get the excess off.
And also think about when you doget a cat.
Are you going to be able togroom this cat enough?
Can you get a big, fluffyPersian?
Are you going to be able tomaintain that?
Do you have time to do that?
Or do you just get ashort-coated cat?
That's a lot easier to maintainand fresh water always
(28:17):
available.
Keep them hydrated.
Remember those kitties.
They really eat moist dietsprimarily.
If you think of the ones in thewild, they're eating mice and
things that are small and moist,and when we're giving them only
these dry food diet that's thething I talk to my clients about
Sometimes it's just too dry andthey can't hydrate enough and
(28:38):
get this hair to move through.
Amy Castro (28:40):
Yeah, so several good points in there.
I want to make sure we'restressing.
Going back to the fresh water,one of the things that I've
discovered living where we livehere is that the water because
it's well water it's got higher.
Not only does it have highermineral content, but it also
tends to go bad or get slimymuch faster than when I lived in
(29:02):
a subdivision with chlorinatedwater.
So something to think about,you know, is the quality of your
water, but also what aboutkeeping the bowls clean, because
I think people get a big bowl.
So, yeah, look, my cats or anyof my pets have plenty of water
and then they just leave ituntil it needs to have more in
it, and then they take it overto the sink and then they fill
it up again.
What do we need to be doingwith our vessels for the water?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (29:25):
Yeah, keeping them clean, rinsing them
out.
Every day I try and rinse thebowl out and trying different
sizes and shapes.
I'm always surprised what sizeand shape cats like.
I have some cats that like todrink out of the shape of a cup
and others that like the bigslimy dog water bowl, which is
what my cat seems to like.
She likes the big bowl that thedog drinks out of, but then
(29:46):
upstairs she just likes a verytiny, 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 adeterrent and clean and fresh.
A lot of people will thinkabout using a bottled water if
they don't think their cat likestheir city water.
Amy Castro (30:05):
They have cat water now.
Oh, cat water, yeah yeah, theyliterally have bottled water.
That is supposed to be theright pH or whatever balance for
cats.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (30:14):
Yeah, old cats.
I always try and encourageflavored water, because if
they're older you can addsomething to not every bowl of
water, but one of the bowls, soit's more like a soup to
encourage them to drink more.
Amy Castro (30:26):
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 Ididn't start immediately just
dumping an entire can, but it'slike if I put a can of food in
the bowl, I've built up toputting also a can of water and
I don't mix it or turn the bowlinto mush, cause I think my cats
like to kind of have thatbiting at it, as opposed to I'm
going to slurp up some slop thatyou've got in the bowl, cause
(30:49):
they're very particular on howthey like their stuff.
But I'm always shocked thatI'll go back and there might be
some food left, like a littleisland of food, but all the
water's gone.
So they're drinking thatflavored water.
But again, I don't do it atevery meal.
And then they've got theirfountain.
They seem to really especiallyPickles.
She seems to really like thatfountain.
So it sounds like a lot of thisstuff is just experimenting, you
(31:11):
know, finding the right balanceof the right diet, the right
amount of grooming, what yourcat's going to like or tolerate,
so that and and I think theother key point that you made is
the whole maintenance.
I mean, I'm really big onchoosing the right fit pet for
you, and if you're not going tobe able to maintain that
grooming for a dog or a cat andthen you're going to end up in
(31:33):
physical issues or having to goget them shaved down to the skin
because they're so matted, thenyou really need to think about
whether you're committed enoughto do that daily grooming that
might be required.
So any other final thoughts oradvice that you want to share?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (31:48):
You know, definitely work with your
veterinarian, let them knowwhat's going on, and if you're
seeing more than one hairball aseason, something might be up.
And just ask about it.
Maybe it's normal.
They may have pointers thatthey can give you, depending
upon where you live and yourcat's lifestyle, that can help
you to kind of figure out thismystery of the big wet blob that
(32:10):
you're finding.
Amy Castro (32:12):
Nice thing that you step in in the morning, that you
say they have those littlesigns for them.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (32:16):
That's what I love that you have these
little orange or yellow signsthat you can put over the
hairball so that you don't stepin it.
I saw that.
I saw that you sent me thatpicture and I was like yes for
your kids that don't want toclean it up.
Amy Castro (32:36):
Yeah, so well, at least it's the warning.
I always find there's a verydirect path from my bedroom to
the back door, which is where Iwould let the dogs out in the
morning, and it's dark, I mightnot have my glasses on and I'm
just constantly looking forlandmines on the floor.
It could be anything from adead bug to a hairball, to a
turdlet that somebody droppedalong the way, and that's not a
daily thing, but there's nothinglike stepping on a nice
hairball.
But at least in that point I'mhappy it's a hairball and not a
(32:58):
turd.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (32:59):
It's the animal life.
Amy Castro (33:00):
Well, linda, thank you so much for being here with
us today to talk about thislovely subject of hairballs.
I know it was helpful for me.
I got to get my brush out andmake sure it's in the RV before
I go.
I've got a variety of brushesso I can kind of see which ones
they might like or dislike alongthe way, and I guess I will
take those hairballs a littlemore seriously and investigate
(33:21):
those a little bit further.
So thank you so much forsharing that information.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (33:26):
I was happy to be a guest again.
Amy Castro (33:28):
I appreciate you coming back For everybody
listening.
Take these hairballs much moreseriously, hopefully, and make
sure that your cat gets the carethat they need to prevent
something that shouldn't be adaily occurrence and a daily
menace for us and for our cats.
So we will see you next weekwith another episode of Muddy
Paws and Hairballs.
(33:49):
Have a great week.
Thanks for listening to MuddyPaws and Hairballs.
Be sure to visit our website atmuddypawsandhairballscom for
more resources and be sure tofollow this podcast on your
favorite podcast app so you'llnever miss a show.
And hey, if you like this show,text someone right now and say
I've got a podcastrecommendation.
You need to check the show outand tell them to listen and let
(34:11):
you know what they think.
Don't forget to tune in nextweek and every week for a brand
new episode.
And if you don't do anythingelse this week, give your pets a
big hug from us.
sound familiar.
You know the sound, that wet,gagging nightmare prompting
sound.
That means somewhere in yourhouse a fresh, steaming hairball
has just been deposited,probably in your shoe or maybe
on your new white rug.
But here's the kicker yourcat's hairballs are not normal.
That's right.
Contrary to what you've beentold by the experts in your cat
(00:28):
lover's Facebook group,something is off.
Today we're diving into thecolossal catastrophe of cat
hairballs with a vet who's seenmore feline vomit than probably
all of us combined.
So grab some paper towels, atrash bag and maybe a stiff
drink, because we're about todeep dive into why your cat is
creating those beautifulfur-based abstract art pieces
(00:50):
all over your house, and we'lltalk about how to stop it.
Welcome to Muddy Paws andHairballs, the podcast where we
don't sugarcoat the gross partsof pet parenting.
I'm your host, amy Castro, andtoday we're talking about
something that I think hauntscat parents everywhere, and that
is hairballs.
I don't know about you, butthey're definitely haunting me
(01:11):
right now.
But we're going to get intothat.
So, to help us untangle thishairy situation, I have my
longtime friend and felineexpert and pretty much
all-around animal care guru, drLinda Atkins, from the Valley
Cottage Animal Hospital, joiningme to tackle this subject.
Linda earned her degree in cellbiology from Cornell University
before going on to complete herdoctorate of veterinary
(01:34):
medicine at New York StateVeterinary College.
At Cornell she holdscertifications in dentistry and
ultrasound and her professionalinterests include general
surgery, feline medicine,dentistry, diagnostic ultrasound
and exotic animal medicine,which we talked about that a
little bit on a previous episodewhen she was here.
She's also the attendingveterinarian for the Trailside
(01:56):
Zoo at Bear Mountain, which isin Bear Mountain, new York, and
she volunteers with local 4-Hprograms, which I think isn't
that how we met Linda.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (02:04):
Yes, through 4-H, 4-H Horse Club.
Amy Castro (02:06):
We were 4-H horse weirdos back in the day, back
when we were probably startingat 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 andthank you for taking the time to
come back with us again.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (02:28):
Thank you for inviting me all the way
from New York to.
Amy Castro (02:31):
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 thisin the teaser that hairballs
aren't normal, because I think,as cat parents, we sometimes
convince ourselves that hairballs are just a thing, and
we've heard from people thathair balls are just a thing.
So I got to tell everybody afunny story and if you're
watching the video, no, I havenot taken a shower today and
(02:54):
I've not put on any makeup oranything, because my life is
chaos and hell right now.
I'm in the middle of gettingready to move.
My house is on the market.
Hopefully nobody will show upwhile we're recording this
episode, but I had aphotographer out the other day
and he was fantastic.
I mean, the pictures that hetook of my place are amazing.
(03:17):
So I'm scrolling through thephotos that were up on the
multiple listing service and I'mgetting to the dog kennel
building, which is where all mypets are living right now.
Beautiful, it's a beautifulbuilding and you know, beautiful
shot of the bathing area andthe laundry area, a nice long
shot down the hallway where theruns are.
And then the very last picturewas a long shot coming from the
other direction and that lastkennel, which is an extra large
(03:40):
one, is where I have my catstashed temporarily while we're
showing the house.
And looks nice, it's all clean.
The cat's sitting in the towerlooking at the cameraman and I
look down at the floor andthere's a big, freaking hairball
on the floor in the photo outon the universal multiple
listing service for everybody tosee.
(04:00):
So of course I panic.
I'm like texting my realtorplease take that picture down.
There's a big old hairball inthe picture.
So that's one of the reasons whyI wanted to talk about this
subject today, because that'sone of the reasons I wanted my
animals out of this house.
I literally had started gettingsome stuff together to stage my
kitchen and I had found which Ididn't even realize I had
placemats, but I found twoplacemats.
(04:22):
I'm like these will work.
I'm going to stage this counterand, I kid you not, I hadn't
had them set in on the counterfor 15 minutes and suddenly
there's a hairball on one ofthem.
So we get a lot of hairballsaround here and I'm I'm one of
those people that thought theywere kind of normal.
But you know, are hairballsreally normal, you know?
Or is it something we should beexpecting on a daily or a
weekly basis, or no?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (04:43):
Generally no, they should only be
seasonally.
I tell my clients, soseasonally, so definitely you'll
find them.
And if you have four cats andit's seasonally, you're going to
find 16 hairballs a year.
So that's still a lot andthat's a good reason to kind of
add it to your podcast name.
That's what brought it up.
I was asking about your nameand then I was like, oh,
(05:04):
hairballs.
I was like I could talk abouthairballs and you said, could
you really talk about hairballsfor a half an hour?
And I was like, yeah, yeah wecan.
So it's not technically normalfor cats to throw up hairballs.
It's kind of a myth.
Everybody thinks, oh, I have acat, it should vomit.
(05:25):
And I talk to clients every dayand I ask that's one of the
questions we always ask doesyour cat vomit?
And they say, yeah, it's a cat,it vomits.
It vomits every day.
And I'm like, oh, that's notnormal.
So, and there always tends tobe some hair in the stomach.
So most vomit does contain hair.
So there's a little differencebetween a hair vomit and a hair
ball.
You can get into it too, yeah.
But, it's not normal.
Amy Castro (05:47):
Okay, let's talk about the difference, because I
see it all.
I mean, I see the ones thatlook like like you look across
the room and it's like, is thata turd?
And you know it turns out it's.
It's not a turd, it's a hairball.
And then you see the ones likewhat I'm seeing now and what I
(06:07):
saw on that MLS photo, which waslike hair but a lot of liquid,
like it wasn't formed in any way.
So is that kind of thedifference?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (06:12):
A little bit, so that kind of brings up.
Why are you seeing hairballsnow?
So you know hairballs.
Hair usually will kind of gothrough the hair itself, so
usually cats will groomthemselves.
As we know, cats are greatgroomers.
They always look beautiful,they don't need baths and
they've got these fancy tonguesthat have these small barbs on
the back of them, on the front,but then they're backwards
(06:34):
facing.
So, they groom themselves andthey ingest a little bit.
They're grooming, they'regrooming, they're ingesting a
little hair and that hair shouldgo into the stomach and then
through the intestinal tract andit's digested a small amount,
but not a lot, and it shouldkind of continue on out and be a
little bit in the stool.
So it's the changes in the catthat are causing them to ingest
(06:56):
too much hair or affect themotility of the intestine that
makes you see them more.
So your cats are probably alittle stressed.
Got a lot going on.
They're nervous.
They're probably grooming moreout of stress and now you're
finding more and you've changedtheir whole world a little bit.
Amy Castro (07:13):
So, yeah, they're extremely unhappy right now.
I will say, though, it seems tobe and I don't know if this is
true or not true, but I feellike.
So I've got a tortoise shellcat who has a lot of brown and
gold in her fur, and then I havethe cat with no eyes, who does
have some gray but has a lot ofwhite, and then I've got a black
(07:34):
and white cat, and I feel likewhat I'm seeing looks the same
color, wise, or is that justcrazy for me to assume that it's
Penny, penny Pinhead, who's theblack and white one?
I feel like he's the one that'shocking the stuff up everywhere
.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (07:48):
Yeah, and that's a good way for people to
tell which cat it is If youhave four cats and you're not
sure which cat, to kind of lookat it, sometimes it's digested
and you get kind of the food andstuff in there and it can be
variable in color.
But that's a good way to tellwho it is.
Or, you know, take a photo,keep track.
I tell people so they couldkind of get an idea of what it
is.
But you should really only findthem about four times a year.
(08:11):
I tried to track my cat and seeand that's.
I maybe find two or three andshe's a short haired cat.
So if you have a long hairedcat that's grooming you might
normally find a little bit more,just because they're ingesting
more of that hair.
Amy Castro (08:25):
So, like I realize my cats are stressed, but I will
say that Penny and we havetalked to the veterinarian have
not identified any particularcause, although he's going back
again because, yes, it is astressful time and it's possible
that it has increased, but Ifeel like it's not increased
that much and it is much moreconsistent than four times a
year.
So, other than stress, whatelse would cause a cat to throw
(08:49):
up hair and maybe would be acause of concern for us?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (08:53):
So you know I try and narrow it down to
the two big ones.
Either they're grooming more orthere's a problem with the
movement of the hair through,because it should go from tongue
out the butt in a smoothfashion.
It shouldn't glob up into a bigball in their stomach because
naturally that wouldn't behelpful for the cat.
It should be kind of continuingto move on.
(09:14):
So the first one being they'redoing something that causes them
to groom more.
So they're either they're itchyor they have a parasite or they
have a fungus or something onthe fur is making them have to
kind of spend more time doing it.
Other reasons they'll groommore is stress.
So if they're anxious they'llgroom more.
(09:34):
Or if they're grooming anothercat.
So if they're groomingthemselves and also grooming the
three other cats because theylike to do that, they're going
to be ingesting more than theirnormal share of hair.
So that's why it's abnormal todo that.
Or if you don't have a littleshort-haired cat like yours and
you have a ragdoll or a Persianor a Maine Coon, something that
(09:57):
doesn't have what I call anatural type coat, that's much
more than their body canactually ingest and groom.
You know they're big fluffballs, some of these cats Crazy
how much hair.
I have a client that hasSiberians and it's so much hair
for them to maintain and ingestthat it's just too much for them
(10:20):
.
So they're grooming too much,so they got fleas, they have
friends, they have ticks orsomething they're trying to
remove.
And then the other one I thinkabout is the ones where that's
not moving properly.
So something is wrong fromstomach to through the intestine
that it's just not moving alongright.
Either they have inflammatorybowel disease or they have
(10:41):
pancreatitis or have somethingthat's kind of altering that
flow that's normally supposed tobe there, or they have a food
allergy.
Something is making it notsmooth.
Then the hair gets kind ofstuck in the stomach and then it
just doesn't move on.
Amy Castro (10:56):
So how do we determine which it is Like I?
I mean, if I took him into theveterinarian, which I actually
did, and they didn't necessarilyidentify anything, but what's
the process of trying toeliminate the causes?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (11:08):
Yeah, you make sure you have good
parasite control.
So you want to make sure thereare no fleas, so you have a good
parasite preventative.
I make sure there's no otherthings that are on the actual
coat.
So we look at the fur.
So that's what they're comingin 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 wherethey'll stress groom and they'll
(11:31):
groom their whole belly bald.
So they're these kitties thathave bald belly or they're
licking on their legs orsomewhere odd.
So that might be a cat that'svery anxious, that's over
grooming.
So we're looking for changes inthe coat.
So that's the more the visualone.
They might do a you know, atest on the fur to see if
there's a fungus or somethingelse that might be causing them
(11:52):
to ingest more.
So that's the kind of theeasier one.
Or they're itchy.
You know we definitely see catswith food allergies.
That they'll just be.
Overall.
Their body is itchy so they'regrooming more.
That's the easier one.
To diagnose.
The ones where it's a movementof the intestine is a little bit
trickier.
So we'll ask questions aboutthe frequency and what are you
(12:14):
feeding?
What's their diet?
Is there something we canchange or alter?
And we always, if it's a cat,do some kind of the baseline
blood work to make sure there'snot something like pancreatitis
that we're missing and we'llpick that up on lab tests.
Amy Castro (12:29):
Interesting.
It's interesting you mentionedthe naked belly because Pickles,
who I feel like is my mostnervous of the three cats, the
one that's completely blind,seems like she's completely not
nervous.
I mean she's the first one outto.
When we had guys in hereworking on the house, I mean I
had to close her up because shewouldn't leave the guys alone
when they were painting and it'slike nobody needs your tail in
(12:49):
the paint.
Thank you very much, but shejust, you know, no fear
seemingly.
And then Pickles is my nervousninny, who's constantly looking
at the ceiling fan that's beenthere her entire, you know, 12
or 14 years on this planet andlooking like what the hell is
that?
So I always feel like she's themost nervous.
And it's interesting about thenaked belly because for the long
(13:09):
, like for several years, shehad almost a completely naked
belly but it's grown back.
So I don't know if she's justgotten less nervous or what the
deal is, but yeah, that uh, Ialways thought that was kind of
odd, that she was.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (13:28):
Yeah, nervous allergy.
They can be allergic.
That's a big one that they'reallergic to the food you're
feeding.
So some of that goes into the.
When we get into the treatmentsection, one of the things we
think about yeah, and do they doallergy testing on cats?
They can.
It's a little trickier.
You have to do the intradermaltesting like they do on a person
, where they make all thoselittle holes on your arm and
(13:48):
they put the allergens onto yourskin.
So you have to sedate the cat.
You have to shave the wholeside of the cat to get a big
place.
We don't do a lot of allergytesting in cats.
We'll do a diet change and gothrough a systematic change of
diet to see if we can make themless itchy.
Amy Castro (14:04):
So this is I know it was a gross subject, right, but
do the contents of what'scoming up indicate something
different, Like if it's justhair versus hair and food, or is
it just?
Is the food coming up just asymptom of the hair not allowing
the food to go anywhere either?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (14:20):
Yeah, absolutely.
You know I was trying to take agood 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 madethis any sounds yet for the
hairballs yet.
Amy Castro (14:33):
But uh, I did it.
I did it right in the beginningof the teaser.
You didn't hear that part.
I recorded that already.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (14:40):
So I always, if cats come in and say
they're trying to cough up ahairball but it's not coming up,
I'm like can you bring me avideo what that is?
Because most of the time thecat is actually coughing and
that's always.
My worry is that they'rethinking their cat is trying to
bring up a hairball and theircat has asthma because it's
coughing and it has nothing todo with the hair or the
(15:00):
intestine or the stomach nothing, it's got asthma.
Or it's coughing and it hasnothing to do with the hair or
the intestine or the stomachnothing, it's got asthma.
Or it's got heart disease.
A lot of coughing cats areactually occult heart cats, that
they actually have heartdisease.
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'smaking that honking sound.
(15:21):
He's continuing to do that, butnothing comes up.
So do I give him a laxative forhis hairball, like, let me see
that video again, or even arecording, and they're coughing.
So that's a kind of a differentworkup.
We don't want to be down thewrong trail or something like
that.
Amy Castro (15:40):
So do I save everybody time and effort if I,
you know, listen to this podcastepisode and I feel like my cat,
like, start gathering thatevidence, the pictures, the
video, and bring that, versuswaiting for your vet to tell you
.
I mean, I figure it should berelatively easy to at least
gather some evidence to startoff with.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (15:57):
Yeah, it definitely helps bringing that
video because we want to knowwhat you're seeing at home,
because when the cats come intothe vet for this type of problem
, they're just going to sit onthe table and hide and they're
not going to give you any clues.
They're not going to cough up ahairball in the exam room.
Amy Castro (16:12):
So you're not going to see it.
I can put on a show for you.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (16:14):
No, no, no, no, no.
So then we start asking thosekind of more specific questions
to try and diagnose if this is agrooming problem.
Is it a inflammatory bowelproblem?
Is it a food allergy?
Because oftentimes, but so manypeople think hairball vomiting
is just normal.
They do it every day or everyother day, and I have currently
(16:37):
only one cat, but I've had asmany as three, and maybe I clean
up a hairball from this catseasonally.
That's why I tell people sofour times a year.
Wow.
Amy Castro (16:47):
So let's assume we've gone through the process
of having it diagnosed andobviously, like you said, if
it's allergy related we can makesome changes to the diet and I
want to talk about that.
But are you just lucky thatyour cats just have those
seasonal hairballs and I'm justunlucky, or is it?
Are there things that you'redoing specifically to prevent
hairballs that we could all bedoing, assuming it's not some
(17:13):
major like heart disease orsomething like that?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (17:14):
Obviously I can't control that in my cat.
But yeah, you know, you haveyour as you call it, your
hairball prevention playbook.
So the less hair they'reingesting, the less often you're
going to see hair.
So if they're not a normalgroomer and they just like a
crazy groomer, you groom forthem, so you're brushing them,
so you're getting that extrahair off on a daily basis if
your cat's cooperative, or acouple of times a week, because
(17:37):
the more you take off with thebrush, the less they're going to
throw up because it's justyou's just natural for them.
If you've got one of those bigMaine coon cats, you need to
brush that cat because he can'tingest all that hair.
It's going to come up.
Amy Castro (17:49):
Yeah, I never brush my cats.
I'm terrible.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (17:52):
The brush is the best thing.
That's probably half my problemright there right.
The brush.
The brush is the best thing.
A brush, the comb, even a lintbrush, a firminator, all those
are excellent for getting thatextra hair off.
Amy Castro (18:07):
It's too bad, we can't vacuum them I don't think
they would tolerate that.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (18:08):
They don't like the sound, they don't
even like the brush half thetime.
So train them with the brush,with treats, make it a game,
make it fun to get that excessoff.
And if you've got one of theseheavy coated cats that you can't
brush, you know, maybe thinkabout clipping that cat, getting
the body't brush.
You know, maybe think aboutclipping 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
(18:31):
and less work for them.
So that will, that willdefinitely help.
Amy Castro (18:39):
Is it worthwhile to take them to a groomer?
Like my cats are all short hairso it seems to me like it would
be silly to take them to agroomer.
Like I can just brush them andprobably take care of a good bit
of it.
But for people with thoselonger haired cats I mean, do
they have like an undercoat andthings like that that can cause
problems that maybe a groomercan manage or get out better it
can.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (18:55):
If it's hard for you to do and the cat
is cooperative enough, thegroomer can brush that out.
It's going to accumulate on adaily basis, though, so there's
always some coming out, so it'snot like a poodle or a dog that
you can clip short.
This fur is like shepherd labfur it's continually being come
out.
Amy Castro (19:14):
Yeah, it's continually coming out, so you
got to do the job at home, atleast on a daily basis, right?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (19:19):
Yeah, keeping them really well
hydrated, because one of thethings that helps that hair move
through is hydration.
So if they're eating an all dryfood diet and they're not big
water drinkers and they have alot of hair, the hair motility
is not there.
It just doesn't move throughproperly, whereas if you're
doing a lot of canned food, theyhave a nice moist diet, the
(19:39):
hair moves through better.
So my cat's currently on allcanned food diet yeah, mine too
and yeah, they hydrate better.
It helps it to kind of movethrough.
So hydration is really good forthem as well.
Amy Castro (19:52):
Yeah, we've been doing canned food and then I
feel like I go through a ton ofcans, unfortunately, but
probably at least one of thecans that I give them a day.
I also put a can of water andthey drink that right up, you
know, and they've got a fountaintoo that they that they like,
because it's got that freshwater circulating.
So I feel like they're prettywell hydrated, or as hydrated as
I can possibly get them.
(20:13):
But, yeah, the brushing I gotto get on the brush, the
brushing, yeah, yeah.
Cause it's not going to be funwhen we're all living in an RV
together and there are hairballseverywhere, I maybe have to dig
out a brush and make surethat's in the RV with me.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (20:27):
If they have an intestinal problem or a
food allergy, changing theirdiet.
That's where I think some ofthe hairball label diets may be
helping, because they'rechanging the diet.
Maybe the cat was allergic tothe other food and they switched
to the hairball diet and nowall of a sudden they're better.
So things like the hairballdiets that have a little more
fiber kind of help things movethrough.
(20:49):
The over-the-counter typeremedies can sometimes be
helpful, like the laxatives andthe things that are like
oil-based type stuff, but theydon't really make the hair move
all that much faster.
But if it seems to benefit thecat, I don't think it's causing
any harm with those.
Amy Castro (21:10):
Got it.
So are there particular foodingredients that cause allergies
more than others for cats, ordoes?
It really depend on the catitself.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (21:18):
Depends on the cat.
Most of them it's the proteinsource, so the protein is what
they're allergic to, or theallergic to the fish or the
allergic to the beef.
So it's really kind of tryingone and seeing how your cat
responds.
Over a few weeks you know, twoweek period of time you
eliminate all the fish, which ishard to do because everything
has fish in it the canned diet,the treats, the dry food.
(21:40):
So if they're allergic to fishand they're itchy so they're
grooming more, then you havemore hairballs.
So it's, the hairball isusually kind of a sign of.
Another problem is how I thinkof it.
Amy Castro (21:53):
Right, yeah, that sounds somewhat labor intensive
though, watching the food andseeing.
But if you, I guess you have tobalance out the labor intensive
nature of identifying what theproblem is versus a lifetime of
cleaning up hairballs.
And you know, I would assumeall that hawking up of hairballs
is not comfortable if they'redoing it over, you know too much
(22:15):
.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (22:15):
It's frequent.
If it's, you know.
If they're doing this once aweek, you know.
If I have clients tell me theircat is throwing up a hairball a
week, that's definitely a redflag that something is wrong and
that's can't be comfortable forthem because it's not natural
for them to have that.
Amy Castro (22:31):
So we can for them to have that.
So we can.
Yeah, and that's the thing isthat, like you said, people
think that that it is naturaland so they don't think much of
it, and hopefully, by listeningto this episode, people will
realize that it is not naturaland it's something that we need
to investigate for our cat'slong-term health and comfort.
So we've been talking aboutcats and obviously hairballs are
a plague when it comes to cats,and we had done an episode with
(22:53):
a rabbit rescue and talkedabout the danger of hairballs
for rabbits.
So with rabbits, they can bedeadly because they can't hawk
up the hairball.
Is that what it is?
I can't remember all thedetails.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (23:03):
That's right.
Yeah, rabbits cannot vomit, sothey're like horses.
Rabbits also ingest a lot ofhair and we have the different
types of breeds.
Again, they're not all thelittle cottontails like you see
outside that have the very shortcoat.
They're these angoras or thelionhead or these big fluffy
ones that aren't grooming alittle bit of the time, and then
(23:24):
that hair sits in the stomachand it can't move, so it gets
stuck there because they can'tbring it up.
So that's a big problem forthem.
Yeah, so are the preventiontechniques 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.
(23:44):
So the greens provide those niceveggies, provide moisture to
help things move through,because if we think about the
cottontail outside, it's eatinggrass, so it's eating grass and
weeds that are high moisturecontent but also high fiber.
So you need high fiber and highmoisture content for those
bunnies, whereas some speciesthe opposite end of the totem
(24:04):
pole, you have something like ahawk or an owl that regurgitate
all of the hair, and it's normalfor them to eat a rabbit or a
mouse.
Every they bring up a hairballor what's called a pellet when
you're dealing with raptors andowls, and that's all the hair
and bones all comes up.
So for them it's normal tobring up a hairball every day
(24:26):
that they eat, cause that's howthey get rid of it.
Amy Castro (24:27):
Yeah, cause it's coming.
It's the hairballs coming from.
Whatever it is that they'veswallowed, it's not like they're
licking their feathers?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (24:34):
Yeah, coming from whatever it is that
they've swallowed, it's not likethey're licking their feathers.
Amy Castro (24:35):
It's not their own.
Yeah, why don't dogs gethairballs, or do they?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (24:39):
They can.
Their dog hairballs are usuallybecause they've eaten something
that's not theirs, they'vegotten into the garbage or
they've eaten something, whereasthey don't groom the way cats
groom.
Cats' tongues are set up withthese little barbs to kind of
comb the hair, whereas the dogtongue is smooth and flat.
So even if they're licking oritching, they don't ingest
(25:00):
nearly as much hair as a catwould with its tongue.
So you have to look at yourcat's tongue and you look at it
from the side.
You really see those little.
It looks like a comb, yes, andyou feel it too.
When they lick you.
Amy Castro (25:12):
It's like sandpaper, sandpaper tongue.
So let me ask you this as faras hairballs go do you have any
stories or weird fun facts abouthairballs?
What's the biggest hairballyou've personally seen?
I've probably seen some like inan animal's stomach that got
trapped there right In thestomach.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (25:32):
Yeah, and most of those are actually
rabbits.
We'll see a few cats thatingest something else besides
the hair.
They eat a hair tie, like thelittle loops you put around your
hair, so the cat eats that andthen everything gets tangled to
that.
So that causes obstruction,because they've eaten this hair
tie and now it's tangled up withall the other stuff and then it
(25:55):
gets stuck.
So that's a big problem.
And we were doing some researchbefore this episode and we
found that there was a 400 poundtiger that had a four pound
hairball.
So they can get pretty big.
Amy Castro (26:06):
Nice, okay.
So just to put that intoperspective, because when I was
a kid I used to bowl.
So a kid's bowling ball isprobably nine to 10 pounds, so
like half the size of a bowlingball, that's a big hairball.
I'm assuming that had to besurgically removed.
Surgically removed, yes.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (26:26):
It's very uncommon for hair balls to get
stuck in cats.
In 34 years of practice, Ican't think of maybe more than
one cat that I've ever seen thathas gotten a hairball stuck in
the intestine which is good.
It usually moves out.
It's that they're stuck withsomething else, like those hair
ties or that Christmas treetinsel or string.
(26:48):
Something else has tangled upin the hair.
Yeah.
Amy Castro (26:52):
So we've got to keep all that clear of our cats.
Don't let them to get access toit.
So what about final thoughts oradvice?
I mean, you've given a lotalready, but one thing that I
thought about was the wholegrooming thing, and you
mentioned that cats don'tnecessarily like to be brushed
Even sometimes my dogs because Idon't brush my dogs either.
I'm terrible.
(27:12):
I got all these short hairedanimals and no wonder we have
hair on everything.
But anyway, I will get betterabout brushing.
But they always look at me verysuspicious when I come out with
the brush, like what are yougoing to do with that?
So one piece of advice I wouldsay 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 havethat problem.
That's the only thing I canthink of Any other advice?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (27:34):
Yeah, training, training them with the
brush, just like you.
You know they like to be pettedin most case cats and they like
treats.
A lot of cats like treats.
You can use those lick matslike we do for the dogs, that
you put the treat on the mat andthen the cat licks at that and
you're brushing them at the sametime.
And if you start with thekittens to get them used to the
brush, it makes it a little biteasier.
(27:55):
They've got the gloves that area brush, if that's easier to
get the excess off.
And also think about when you doget a cat.
Are you going to be able togroom this cat enough?
Can you get a big, fluffyPersian?
Are you going to be able tomaintain that?
Do you have time to do that?
Or do you just get ashort-coated cat?
That's a lot easier to maintainand fresh water always
(28:17):
available.
Keep them hydrated.
Remember those kitties.
They really eat moist dietsprimarily.
If you think of the ones in thewild, they're eating mice and
things that are small and moist,and when we're giving them only
these dry food diet that's thething I talk to my clients about
Sometimes it's just too dry andthey can't hydrate enough and
(28:38):
get this hair to move through.
Amy Castro (28:40):
Yeah, so several good points in there.
I want to make sure we'restressing.
Going back to the fresh water,one of the things that I've
discovered living where we livehere is that the water because
it's well water it's got higher.
Not only does it have highermineral content, but it also
tends to go bad or get slimymuch faster than when I lived in
(29:02):
a subdivision with chlorinatedwater.
So something to think about,you know, is the quality of your
water, but also what aboutkeeping the bowls clean, because
I think people get a big bowl.
So, yeah, look, my cats or anyof my pets have plenty of water
and then they just leave ituntil it needs to have more in
it, and then they take it overto the sink and then they fill
it up again.
What do we need to be doingwith our vessels for the water?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (29:25):
Yeah, keeping them clean, rinsing them
out.
Every day I try and rinse thebowl out and trying different
sizes and shapes.
I'm always surprised what sizeand shape cats like.
I have some cats that like todrink out of the shape of a cup
and others that like the bigslimy dog water bowl, which is
what my cat seems to like.
She likes the big bowl that thedog drinks out of, but then
(29:46):
upstairs she just likes a verytiny, 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 adeterrent and clean and fresh.
A lot of people will thinkabout using a bottled water if
they don't think their cat likestheir city water.
Amy Castro (30:05):
They have cat water now.
Oh, cat water, yeah yeah, theyliterally have bottled water.
That is supposed to be theright pH or whatever balance for
cats.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (30:14):
Yeah, old cats.
I always try and encourageflavored water, because if
they're older you can addsomething to not every bowl of
water, but one of the bowls, soit's more like a soup to
encourage them to drink more.
Amy Castro (30:26):
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 Ididn't start immediately just
dumping an entire can, but it'slike if I put a can of food in
the bowl, I've built up toputting also a can of water and
I don't mix it or turn the bowlinto mush, cause I think my cats
like to kind of have thatbiting at it, as opposed to I'm
going to slurp up some slop thatyou've got in the bowl, cause
(30:49):
they're very particular on howthey like their stuff.
But I'm always shocked thatI'll go back and there might be
some food left, like a littleisland of food, but all the
water's gone.
So they're drinking thatflavored water.
But again, I don't do it atevery meal.
And then they've got theirfountain.
They seem to really especiallyPickles.
She seems to really like thatfountain.
So it sounds like a lot of thisstuff is just experimenting, you
(31:11):
know, finding the right balanceof the right diet, the right
amount of grooming, what yourcat's going to like or tolerate,
so that and and I think theother key point that you made is
the whole maintenance.
I mean, I'm really big onchoosing the right fit pet for
you, and if you're not going tobe able to maintain that
grooming for a dog or a cat andthen you're going to end up in
(31:33):
physical issues or having to goget them shaved down to the skin
because they're so matted, thenyou really need to think about
whether you're committed enoughto do that daily grooming that
might be required.
So any other final thoughts oradvice that you want to share?
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (31:48):
You know, definitely work with your
veterinarian, let them knowwhat's going on, and if you're
seeing more than one hairball aseason, something might be up.
And just ask about it.
Maybe it's normal.
They may have pointers thatthey can give you, depending
upon where you live and yourcat's lifestyle, that can help
you to kind of figure out thismystery of the big wet blob that
(32:10):
you're finding.
Amy Castro (32:12):
Nice thing that you step in in the morning, that you
say they have those littlesigns for them.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (32:16):
That's what I love that you have these
little orange or yellow signsthat you can put over the
hairball so that you don't stepin it.
I saw that.
I saw that you sent me thatpicture and I was like yes for
your kids that don't want toclean it up.
Amy Castro (32:36):
Yeah, so well, at least it's the warning.
I always find there's a verydirect path from my bedroom to
the back door, which is where Iwould let the dogs out in the
morning, and it's dark, I mightnot have my glasses on and I'm
just constantly looking forlandmines on the floor.
It could be anything from adead bug to a hairball, to a
turdlet that somebody droppedalong the way, and that's not a
daily thing, but there's nothinglike stepping on a nice
hairball.
But at least in that point I'mhappy it's a hairball and not a
(32:58):
turd.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (32:59):
It's the animal life.
Amy Castro (33:00):
Well, linda, thank you so much for being here with
us today to talk about thislovely subject of hairballs.
I know it was helpful for me.
I got to get my brush out andmake sure it's in the RV before
I go.
I've got a variety of brushesso I can kind of see which ones
they might like or dislike alongthe way, and I guess I will
take those hairballs a littlemore seriously and investigate
(33:21):
those a little bit further.
So thank you so much forsharing that information.
Dr. Linda Atkins, DVM (33:26):
I was happy to be a guest again.
Amy Castro (33:28):
I appreciate you coming back For everybody
listening.
Take these hairballs much moreseriously, hopefully, and make
sure that your cat gets the carethat they need to prevent
something that shouldn't be adaily occurrence and a daily
menace for us and for our cats.
So we will see you next weekwith another episode of Muddy
Paws and Hairballs.
(33:49):
Have a great week.
Thanks for listening to MuddyPaws and Hairballs.
Be sure to visit our website atmuddypawsandhairballscom for
more resources and be sure tofollow this podcast on your
favorite podcast app so you'llnever miss a show.
And hey, if you like this show,text someone right now and say
I've got a podcastrecommendation.
You need to check the show outand tell them to listen and let
(34:11):
you know what they think.
Don't forget to tune in nextweek and every week for a brand
new episode.
And if you don't do anythingelse this week, give your pets a
big hug from us.
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