I have a five cat household and, as you can imagine, hairballs are a big part of it. As…

More and more, we are beginning to think that hairballs may not be a normal thing for cats and in fact, may be a sign of poor intestinal motility. If I see a cat with chronic hairballs, I now will often try to rule out any underlying disease before chalking it up to being normal. With this stated, there are many hairball remedies that are out there that are petroleum jelly based. The idea behind these, is that they make the hair easier to pass so it does not come up as a hairball. Many come in tubes, are flavored to be palatable for the cat and are available at pet stores, veterinarians. etc. Regular petroleum jelly works similarly and many cats will eat it straight. A small amount, about 1 teaspoon, is often a dose recommended – can be placed on the paw. There are not any known side effects to these products and many cat owners do think they help.