Tag Archives: hairballs

Cats are wonderful creatures with whom to share our homes and lives. They entertain, comfort and sooth. While cats, like Mary Poppins, are practically perfect in every way, they do have one annoying habit: vomiting up hairballs. Cats never seem to vomit a hairball neatly in the corner. Instead, they always choose the exact spot you’re most likely to step on it—soggy, squishy and simply revolting. So why does your cat vomit hairballs? And when might hairballs indicate a medical condition? Let’s take a closer look at what’s new in our understanding of feline hairballs.

Hairball Awareness Day is celebrated on the last Friday in April. This year it falls on April 26th. Like many cat owners, I find hairballs one of the more annoying facts of cat ownership. I hate stepping on those cold, slimy, cigar-shaped wads of hair strategically deposited on the bedroom rug in the pathway to bathroom. Even with the light on, the hairballs are always perfectly camouflaged by the pattern in the rug. I am not the only one who thinks hairballs are important. Since 2020, when using the PubMed search engine I found seven scientific publications on hairballs; six studied domestic cats and one reported on hairballs in snow leopards. This new information on feline hairballs will be the focus of this blogpost.

Hairball Awareness Day is April 25th. Most of us become aware of hairballs in the middle of the night, either when we hear that characteristic yacking sound made by a