Tag Archives: plants

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.

As a veterinarian, the ever-popular 18th century English Christmas carol, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” inevitably reminds me of all the potential holiday hazards for your pet. Since we are in the thick of the holiday season, I’ll use that song as inspiration to summarize the risks that holiday celebrations pose to our true loves, our pets.

Houseplants provide a bit of green to a dull window sill or a bland entrance foyer. If you are a pet owner, you must choose your houseplants carefully or risk