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Did you know that cats spend 15 to 50 percent of their day grooming themselves? With that amount of grooming, hairballs will form.

Depending on your cat’s breed and grooming habits, you might find hairballs appearing quite regularly, leading you to wonder if this frequency is typical for them.

Let’s take a closer look at hairballs. What are they? What causes them? How do you prevent them?

What Are Hairballs?

Hairballs form when cats groom themselves. Their tongues, covered in tiny, backward-facing barbs, act like a brush. These barbs catch loose fur, which the cat then swallows. While their digestive system can usually process most of this hair, some of it may remain in the stomach. Because cats can’t properly digest hair, it can clump together, forming what we know as a hairball. Eventually, the cat will expel this clump by throwing it up.

It isn’t very pleasant to find something living on your pet that you did not invite into your home. External parasites are a hazard of pet ownership, but with the help of Ten West Bird and Animal Hospital, you can develop a pet wellness plan that makes sure that you identify and eradicate external parasites as quickly as possible. 

With our increasingly busy lives, it may seem as if grooming our pet is just one more chore. After all, her coat looks pretty good, so why bother?

Grooming is not just about bows and brushes, it’s an essential part of caring for your pet. Besides brushing, pet grooming also means looking after your pet’s teeth, nails, eyes, ears, and coat — all of which add up to a healthy, happy, and beautiful pet.