Your Cat’s Digestive System

Hairballs, also known as ´Furballs´ or trichobezoars (their scientific name), are a very common problem in cats especially long haired varieties. Up to 80% of cat owners report their cats produce hairballs at least monthly. These disgusting furry sausages are accumulations of hair, fat and undigested food residing in the cats stomach that are eventually vomited up because they are too large to pass into the intestines.

Have you ever looked at your cat´s tongue? The top of a cat´s tongue contains numerous hard barbs or spikes. These spikes are great for cleaning and grooming themselves; however, instead of spitting out the loose hair that accumulates on their tongue "brush", they swallow it. Normally the non-digestible hair swallowed passes through the stomach into the intestines and is expelled in the cat´s stool. Problems occur when the swallowed hair combines with fat (and sometimes food) forming a dense "hair ball" that usually stays in the stomach because of its size.

The "hacking" you may notice when your cat is bringing up a hairball is actually the gagging or retching of trying to vomit. Besides the unpleasant hacking associated with hairball elimination, hairballs can also create a mess on floors, carpets or furniture. If you are a person who finds hairballs intolerable, you may even want to consider a hairless breed.

Hairballs are actually one of the most common reasons that cats vomit. While it is normal for a cat to have them occasionally, large hairballs can be dangerous. Fortunately most hairballs are eventually "coughed up" before they pass into the intestines and cause a serious digestive tract obstruction. Signs of a major hairball problem and possible obstruction are persistent retching/vomiting without producing the hairball, inability to defecate, diarrhea and/or loss of appetite.

To reduce the frequency of regurgitated hairballs at its source, you should regularly comb or brush your cat. Longhaired cats and cats with thick coats particularly benefit from regular combing. I remember at least one owner who routinely shaved her Persian cat in a drastic attempt to eliminate the problem. If your cat still has problems even with frequent brushing, ask your veterinarian to recommend a hairball-management product. Most of these commercial compounds are composed of flavored non-digestible white petrolatum that works by lubricating the cat´s digestive tract to help the hair pass more easily.

An easier long-term solution to hairball problems involves switching to a hairball-control formula diet. Historically veterinarians used a high-fiber diet to help with a chronic hairball problem. The fiber can help move the excess hair through the cat´s digestive system. As hairballs are composed of up to 30% fat, a new dietary technology uses a natural soy lecithin emulsifier in combination with fiber. The emulsifier helps break down existing hairballs, allowing them to pass more easily through a cat´s digestive tract. Even better, the compound minimizes the formation of new hairballs. You may want to ask your veterinarian about the newer hairball-control formula diets for your cat.

Compared to relatively benign hairballs, swallowing a string-like object, medically termed a ´linear foreign body,´ can have potentially fatal consequences. Being imaginative creatures, cats love to play with ´string-like´ objects such as shoelaces, sewing thread, yarn, dental floss, curtain pulls, fishing line, rubber bands, string, and audiotape. Holidays have an additional set of temptations with tree tinsel (the plastic variety), ribbons, and balloon strings.

Unless it balls up, the digestive tract has a hard time moving a long string-like object through, especially if one end is wrapped around the base of the tongue. The stretched-out linear object causes the intestine to bunch up around it in a wavy accordion shape as the far end of the ´string´ is pulled along by the intestine, which is attempting to move it out of the cat. But the near end of the string (closer to the mouth) may be anchored at the tongue or moving more slowly.

As the intestine continues to pull on one end of the string, the string becomes tense, like the rope in a tug-of-war. This increasing tension causes the string to ´saw´ through the intestines with fatal complications if not surgically removed in a timely fashion. Obviously, the earlier the surgery, the better the outcome.

Signs of a ´linear foreign body´ can include gagging, vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia, lethargy, a painful abdomen, and perhaps a fever. You might even see a string-like object protruding from your pet´s rectum or mouth. Call your veterinarian immediately, but don´t jeopardize your cat´s health by attempting to pull the ´string´ out.

Despite the dangers posed by string, this is a fairly rare problem and most cats can live long and healthy lives playing with these types of things since most pass without hanging up and damaging the intestines. However, the best prevention is to eliminate as many linear objects (especially loose objects that aren´t attached to anything) from your cat´s environment as possible. Why take the risk?

Maintaining Digestive System Health

Maintaining a healthy digestive system is very important to your cat´s overall health. Here are some easy things you can do to keep the digestive system as healthy as possible:

• Keep your pet free in intestinal parasites such as worms. Have your veterinarian perform routine fecal examinations.
• Feed a high quality, highly digestible diet.
• If hairballs are a persistent problem, feed a hairball-control formula diet.
• If giving snacks or treats, make sure they are not more than 5% of the total diet.
• Avoid feeding fatty snacks that can upset the digestive system.
• Don´t tempt your pet by placing ´goodies´ (especially chocolate) in easily accessible areas of the house during the holidays.
• Keep your cat´s environment free of ´string-like´ objects.

If you suspect your cat may have a linear foreign body, do not delay in seeking veterinary care.