What a Hairball Looks Like?

Gizmo left a deposit on the floor this morning right after I cleaned her box. For a minute I thought that it was poo, but on closer inspection I believe it was a hairball. I won't disgust anyone with a picture (anyway the thing has already been consigned to Hairball Heaven) but would appreciate a confirmation of the description:

It was greyish, loose, and appeared to consist of bits of cat litter as well as cat hairs. It didn't have a firm texture, rather more gravelly than anything else. Gizmo's litter is ground corncob and is gravelly.

It was rather wet;

It was in two pieces, well away from the litterbox.

My problem is that if this is a hairball, Gizmo clearly ingests some litter while she is cleaning herself. The manufacturer claims that all ingredients are safe, but I am a little concerned since the thing seemed to have a sizable amount of the stuff in it.

Gizmo's otherwise in perfect health.
any help (gross or not) would be appreciated.

You seem to perfectly describe the hair balls I used to see with cat adult cats. At 4 1/2 months, I have found no hair balls with Persi even though his hair is starting to get mighty long but then I do brush him very vigourously every day.

Hairballs do look like poo!! She may have eaten some litter to help expel the hairball....like some eat blades of grass?? At least it's outta there!!

She was playful and happy today and so I guess that she gave me a little present. Yek. But as long as it's not a 'missed the litterbox' thing.

Yeah, Oliver's look like poo as well... especially cuz he's orange! It's basically a clump of hair mixed in with some not fully digested food and any grass/spiders/bugs he's recently ingested... his seem to clean up pretty easily thank God!

Oh, and at least your kitty didn't "expell" his hairball at 5am, when youre sick, in bed with you and managed to hit every single piece of the bedding, causing you to get your sick bum outa bed and change out the bedding! haha... Oliver doesnt get hairballs too often, but if I'm asleep when he's getting one, he will readily puke it on the bed next to me... I'm thinking he's trying to let me know that he's being sick so I can take care of him, as annoying and inconvenient as it is!

I'm thankful that when Gizmo is sick (as occasionally happens when she eats too fast) the vomitus is in a place where I can readily see it. There is also no odor. So it could be worse.

sounds like a hairball to me! as mentioned above some cats will eat litter or grass to help expell the hair. might be an idea to get a little pot of cat grass or some hairball formula food. i think they even have some gel/paste for hairballs at pet stores that you can feed as a treat.

I was giving her hairball paste last year when I thought she was coughing to bring one up (she in fact had asthma.)

I've just put down a deposit on a topiary (shaped like a kitten) that will have cat grass grown on it. I cannot keep the bowls of cat grass alive in the apartment and am hoping that the topiary will be easier to keep green so that Gizmo has a ready supply year round.

lol I freaked out with my first hairball experience, because I had no idea what it was! With the name "hairball" I thought it would look more like a ball of hair, not a nasty slimy thing that looked like a peapod.

Originally Posted by gizmocat

I was giving her hairball paste last year when I thought she was coughing to bring one up (she in fact had asthma.)

I've just put down a deposit on a topiary (shaped like a kitten) that will have cat grass grown on it. I cannot keep the bowls of cat grass alive in the apartment and am hoping that the topiary will be easier to keep green so that Gizmo has a ready supply year round.

Click to expand...

Oooo, where from????

Sandtigress, that was a near-perfect description of what I found. What concerned me was that it appeared to have a lot of her litter in it along with the hair. Is it normal for a cat to ingest litter? Or was I just seeing partly digested kibble (hers includes the rabbit's bones, which are ground up very small?)

Gingersmom, The topiary is being grown with wheat and oatgrass instead of usual topiary stuff. There is a fellow at the local farmers' market who sells the things, and the 'kitten' is very small, about six inches long by four high. He has already grown several for other cats, he told me, so it's not like Gizmo is getting a one-off. I feel that she does need the cat grass and it has to be available to her at all times. The stuff from the pet store has been disappointing.

I'll write about the 'kitten topiary' when it is ready in two weeks' time. Of cours it would have been more appropriate to have a mouse shaped one!

do short haired cats get hair balls?

Sure... Oliver's short hair and he gets them

My Rosie, bless her little heart sicked one up the other morning but i don't think she got all of it up

I'm picking up some Katalax from the vet on saturday because no matter how much i brush them they still get them

but I have been giving him the hairball paste about 1-2x a week and he hasn't had one in several months so I am hopeful. Hairballs are usually easy to clean up but they sure do look gross!!! And mine sounds like he is heaving up a lung or something.

Ha! Yes, I agree a mousie would be more appropriate - a kitten snacking on a kitten, rather macabre, huh?

Hairballs look like poop made of fur and other stuff. Since your litter is corn-cob based, eating a little of it to help ralf up the hairball makes sense- it is fibrous, like grass.

A good brushing and food made for hairball reduction, like Nutro Indoor will probably reduce the incidence of these little presents.

Gizmo has to eat special 'rabbit food' for her allergies. I have been brushing her more often but she won't under any circumstances let me brush her tummy. That is where the thickest fur is.

Anyway, I read on another part of the forum that a lady had to have her cat operated on for an intestinal blockage caused by the cat grass she fed her pet. Is this a common problem, and is the cat grass actually bad for them? I always thought it was necessary for them if only to be sick; and Gizmo loves it.
Any theories?

Do all cats get hairballs? Not that I'm complaining, but Marlee is a year old and never had a hairball. She has short-medium hair, and sheds quite a bit. I brush her when she'll let me. Are some cats just less prone to hairballs?

I think it also depends on what you feed them. Gizmo usually passes the hair in her stool. This time, she didn't.