My cats are throwing up hairballs. Is there a diet or treatment to help alleviate the problem?
Hi Joanna,
A first step is to try a lubricant supplement, like Laxatone. In simple cases, laxatone helps to lubricate the hair and allows it to make it through the GI tract and get pooped out as normal. Another strategy is to work on brushing your cat(s) regularly, which helps to reduce the amount of dead hair that they're grooming and swallowing.
Fiber supplementation may also help if you're seeing any signs of constipation connected with hair ingestion. Some examples include a tablespoon of canned pumpkin with each meal, or metamucil/psyllium at 1-4 teaspoons per meal.
If your cat is having hairballs on a frequent basis (a couple times a week or more), especially as a middle aged or older cat, this might be an indicator of inflammatory bowel disease, since hairballs are vomited up and chronic recurrent vomiting can always be a concern for IBD in cats.
It doesn't hurt to try the simple methods first for a couple weeks to see if a simple solution helps. If if they don't help, a more thorough work up may be a good idea.