Eats My Hair

Hi! I just joined the site today and I already have something a little odd.

My cat eats my hair. I'm not talking she grooms me and will on ocassion get a strand of my long hair in her mouth. She will eat the hair off my hair brush and she will dig in the waste basket to find the hair I throw away and she will eat that.

I catch her sometimes, but there are time I don't, and weeks later, she ends up being sick for 4 days from it. It causes her to vomit and gives her diarrhea, and then it *pardon the pun* passes and she's back to normal.

I asked the vet about it and she wasn't that alarmed about it, however, I am alarmed. I want her to stop doing this.

Has this happened to anyone here and if so, was there anything you did to stop it?

My cats will opportunistically do the same thing. If i'm grooming one cat, the other will try and lick the hair off the brush when i'm done. I'm not really sure why that is. My suggestion would be to try and limit access to hair for your cat. i.e. lids for the wastebasket, putting your brush in a drawer etc. I have to hide my cats brushes to keep them from getting the hair.

I haven't had mine get sick from it. You could try getting your cat some hairball remedy or hairball food to help her pass the hair if you can't keep her from doing it.

Thanks for your great advice!!!

The vet said that if my hair wasn't so long, it probably wouldn't effect the cat so much. Kes is only 8 months old, and she's already gotten sick more times from hair then my old Persian kitty Pussywillow did in a lifetime, and Puss lived for well over 15 years and only ate her own hair when she groomed.

I guess the hairball medicine is a the best option, does that work the same on human hair?

Since hairball medicine is a mild laxative, I would imagine that it would work on human hair. One of my cats will chew on my hair while I'm sleeping to wake me up and get my attention (she's kept me from being late to work once when I overslept!). She has also been known to dig floss out of the garbage can to play with. Since this can be dangerous (i.e. by wrapping around their intestines) or make them ill, I would advice keeping the garbage can under a cupboard or get one with a lid like Renny suggested.

You know, that sounds like such a simply remedy and so easy! Why in the world I didn't think of that is beyond me. I may not be able to stop her from eating my hair, but I can at least keep it out of her reach. I kept concerning myself more with keeping her away from my plants and out of the cupboard under the sink that I never allowed my brain to think of a lid for the garbage can.

A big DUH for me.

My sympathies to you!
Dax also eats hair - and anything else hair-like she can snag. We have not had any sickness from it other than a few "Kitty nun-chucks" in the litter box - if you have a cat that likes to eat furry stuff, you will know what I mean...