Hairball questions.

I've had cats for years, found numerous hairballs never had a problem until Pansy.

He apparently had a giant one in his stomach for several days, maybe weeks, it looked like, and was as tough as a piece of a rug. He vomited partially digested food for days, and was not a happy camper. Fortunately, he coughed it up before we got xRAYS etc.

MY questions are, are these supposed to pass through the intestinal track? What makes them hang around in the stomach? If the one I saw had entered his intestines, I think he would have been blocked. Does the Vaseline stuff lubricate for it to pass through, or does it detach it from the stomach, if it is attached. What does the hairball food do? help pass through, or upchuck? Is there something that would help them to dissolve or break down?

Now that our crisis is over, I am feeding a portion of hairball food, giving a digestive enzyme, and will slather a little of the Vaseline stuff on his paw once or twice a week.

Does the hairball food have some oat bran>>>?? or is it a High fiber ie more than 6%??

is some of the hairball food wet ??

personally I use butter over petrolum

actual butter? you can use butter for hairballs? how much?and if ot actual butter....I feel a little dumb, but what did you actually mean?

yes actual butter ... i actually get fresh made from the farm ,regular butter worked for decades

I give up to a tablespoon a day ... normally I just give a figertip a day

Oh ok...thanks so much!!I have to try this with my Princess because she is always coughing up hairballs!

the hairball is max cat dry, I use butter to help pill, I was giving him some during the crisis. I would melt about a half tsp. in a little dish and he would lap it up. Do you think I should continue to do this? The other cats have no problem whatsoever. where are their hairballs?

hairballs are essentially a mass of hair stuck in the upper GI that is expelled ... my personal and most vets agree safer is to get the mass of hair expelled thru the lower GI tract... butter is fat and thus helps bid the hair like hairball goop ( which are oils ( food) or petroleum based ) and send it out the rear ...