My Fire Hydrant

Did you know that today is National Hairball Awareness Day?

Once upon a time, I had a roommate who shared his life with a long-haired cat named Miss Kitty. Miss Kitty didn’t like me. I know this because she told me so in very subtle, cat-like ways. She had a habit of leaving hairballs on my bed. It was not a pretty sight. Even less beautiful was the horrible noise she would make, in the middle of the night, right beside my pillow, as she coughed up one of her famous furballs, just before she would smack me with her paw so that she could laugh at me.

Today, in honor of Miss Kitty, I’m joining Romeo the Cat to celebrate National Hairball Awareness Day.

Long-haired cats, like Rasputin, can be prime candidates for hairballs.

What are hairballs?

Hairballs are a common problem in cats. Although they rarely cause serious problems, they can cause the cat obvious discomfort. In addition, they cause messes that can be difficult and inconvenient for the cat owner to clean up. While long-haired cats appear to have more problems with hairballs, nearly all breeds of cats (with the exception of Sphinx cats) can develop them. 

The act of grooming for cats involves ingesting significant quantities of loose hair. For the most part, this hair moves through the digestive tract and is excreted. Sometimes, however, the ingested hair forms a mass in the stomach too large to continue passage into the intestinal tract, especially in animals with longer hair, and is expelled orally as a hairball. Some cats show signs of distress during the process. Some cats may also vomit for several days prior to a hairball. 

Frequent hairballs rarely present true health problems, but may cause major inconveniences to cat owners, and may occasionally be the cause of a cat being relinquished for adoption.

Is there help for cats with hairballs?

The first, and most basic, step to help reduce the risk of hairball formation in cats is frequent brushing. By brushing away loose hair, you can reduce the amount of hair your cat will ingest. Therefore, you also reduce the chance that the hair will gather in the digestive tract.

 Some cats groom themselves and their housemates. Therefore, it’s a good idea to brush all the cats in your house. Baths or professional grooming during a change in season help by ridding the cat of the loose hair from normal, seasonal shedding.

What about hairball diets?

Nutrition — provided through a specially designed diet — is another way to decrease the likelihood of developing hairballs. Dietary fiber is usually the way special diets accomplish this.

Most special diets contain one type of fiber to help move bulk through the intestines (nonfermentable). Nonfermentable fiber, such as cellulose, isn’t broken down by the normal bacteria in a cat’s intestines. Instead it passes through the digestive tract, helping other material, such as hair, move along as well. Other special diets contain a combination of nonfermentable fiber and another type of fiber (moderately fermentable). Moderately fermentable fiber, such as beet pulp, helps move bulk and helps provide nourishment to intestinal cells which, in turn, helps maintain intestinal health.

 Because of the special fiber content, these diets are most effective if they are fed as the sole diet. Mixing with other foods can dilute the fiber that help reduce the risk of hairball formation.

Likewise, switching between a special diet and another cat food may decrease the benefit.

Another way that nutrition can help reduce the likelihood of hairball formation is by promoting skin and coat health. High-quality diets containing animal-based proteins, such as chicken, and a combination of fats — more specifically, a ratio of certain fat components (5-10 omega-6 fatty acids to 1 omega-3 fatty acid) —have been shown to promote healthy skin and coat. Feeding a diet that provides these ingredients can help keep skin and hair healthy and, therefore, may reduce the risks of excessive shedding, ingestion of hair from grooming, and, consequently, hairball formation.

Hairballs. Not a pretty topic. I’m glad that National Hairball Awareness Day is not an entire week!

And to all my favorite feline friends out there, are you a “Miss Kitty?” Do you leave hairballs where your human friends will find them?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DISCLAIMER: This is my personal blog, and I am an employee of P&G Pet Care, North America. When I speak of company business (the nutritional benefits of Iams/Eukanuba products, et cetera), I am the voice of my employer. The personal things I post about my life, my dog, or my opinions are my own and do not necessarily represent the corporate position of my employer. Information posted on my blog (or on the Internet for that matter) should NEVER be substituted for the guidance and advice of your veterinarian or your animal behavior professional.

A little housekeeping first: In the past couple of months I’ve been posting “4 Questions” on Fridays. Part of that has included interviews with people that I work with at P&G Pet Care. Moving forward, I’m going to title those interviews “The People Behind the Paw,” because that’s what they’re about. I’ve gone back and tweaked the blog post titles on the three previous interview posts.

Pam and Cricket

1. What pets share your life?
Cricket is my “little girl in a fur coat.” She was adopted from SICSA 14 years ago and is a beautiful Yorkie-Poo (body of Poo, mouth of Yorkie). She was estimated to be approximately 16 weeks old when we adopted her. Actually, Cricket (then known as Julie) was not our first choice. SICSA had some Chihuahua’s waiting to be adopted and we were going to take of them. The director called me and asked that I “just come down and look at Julie.” I said and I, but still wanted to wait. When Julie tried to jump on my lap (she was only about 6 pounds), that was all it took! We went and picked Julie up the next day. Julie very quickly became Cricket and has been the love of my life ever since then.

2. What is your pet’s most unusual habit?
Cricket has learned to crawl, so she is now going through her second childhood and crawls everywhere around the house. We believe that she does it to scratch her belly! We have to be very careful because she will rub her belly raw right after she is groomed. We keep a t-shirt on her for a week or so after her grooming just so she doesn’t rub her belly raw.

3. What’s your favorite story about pets in the office?
One of the funniest stories was when Cricket was a puppy and I would bring her in the office with me. For some reason, she did not take to real tall men and every time she would see my boss, she would start barking. I felt like it was a reflection on me, but I really had a wonderful boss!

4. What is your favorite Pet Care story of all time?
Oh my gosh. There would be so many pet stories I could not cover them all on this site. Everyone would get tired of reading. I do know that having a pet has made a difference in how I relate to my job. I love seeing the beautiful coat and knowing that the nutrition inside is wonderful. The nice part as well is cleaning up the yard after her. I do know that I enjoy every minute of having Cricket around. One lasting story in my mind was the last time she went to NC with us when my Dad was suffering with cancer — Cricket would get right up beside him as if she was taking care of Dad. She knew that “Grandpa” was not feeling good and she wanted to comfort him. How could you not love a dog for being so sensitive!

Dakota the Dobie!

I want to introduce you to Kim (that’s her dog, Dakota, to the right), a Veterinary Technician, and one of my teammates in Consumer Relations. She has been with P&G Pet Care for eleven years.

1. What pets share your life?
Harley – Domestic Short Hair cat, 17 years old. I rescued Harely when I worked at a veterinary clinic. Her previous owners brought her in as a kitten after she fell off a balcony. She had a fractured femor and was going to be euthanized due to cost of surgery. I decided to keep her and have her leg repaired. She has been a great cat and her nickname is “fat cat” since she is a little chubby!
Dakota – Doberman, 9 years. I adopted Dakota from the Iams Pet Health and Nutrition Center when she was a puppy. She is the first Doberman I have ever had and although she is a little high maintenance, she is a great dog. She is wonderful with my son and her personality is hilarious. She is definitely a momma’s girl – follows me everywhere!

2. What is your pet’s funniest habit?
There are so many I don’t know where to start. We usually get a pretty good laugh every evening when Dakota goes to lay in her bed in our family room. She’s not satisfied with just laying on it. She first must “fluff” it by grapping the corner with her mouth and shaking it a bit, then she will stand over it and fold it over with her front paws, then she puts her head under it and flips it around a couple of times. Eventually things are just right and she lays down with a loud, drawn out groan! It is so funny to watch. 3. What’s your favorite story about participating in a dog/cat event? My favorite event has been the Bark in the Park at the Cincinatti Reds game. It was so much fun to see all the different kinds of dogs there. So many owners dressed their dogs up with hats, shirts, and bandanas. It was great to see the relationships between the owners and the dogs.

4. What is your favorite part of working at Pet Care?
The best thing about working in Pet Care is knowing that our products really do make a difference. I have personally fed Iams and Eukanuba long before I ever worked for the company. All of my pets through the years that have had long, healthy lives eating our products. I absolutely believe that nutrition is a major reason why. I have had two dogs that lived to be 17 years, one cat that lived to be 18 years and my current cat is 17 years old. My Doberman is 9 years old, but still acts like a goofy adolescent and constantly gets compliments on her shiny black coat.

Angela is our Coordinator for the Office of Animal Welfare. She has been with P&G Pet Care for four and a half years.

1. What pets share your life?
I have three beautiful dogs–all rescued–that are my “children.” Asanya is our oldest, a whippet at 9 years of age, was a rescue from Whippet Rescue of Ohio, and she’s the head honcho of our family. Petite and lean, she knows how to work a room (you just can’t resist that face). Samson, our 8-year-old boxer, was rescued from a family that could no longer care for them for personal reasons. He’s goofy, makes us laugh every day, and is becoming more regal with every grey hair that comes in; older dogs are just the best. Cheech is our newest addition (3 years ago). He was a “failed foster” from Greater Ohio Boxer Rescue (we fell in love with him and decided to break the cardinal rule of fostering and adopt him). He’s about 6 1/2 years old and has just received his pet therapy certification! What a wonderful story to tell people. He’s our well-behaved little guy that I take EVERYWHERE with me. We love them each so much.

2. What are your pets most unusual habits?
Asanya will stop at EVERY tree on a walk and–no, not pee on it–will look up to see if there’s a squirrel she can entice down. Some days I think she thinks she’s a monkey… Samson LOVES balloons and will jump right in the middle of the strings to pull them all down from the ceiling. He wraps himself in the middle as if he’s deep in the jungle on a safari. Then he’ll pounce on them individually as if they’re prey. He’s also afraid of construction cones…go figure. Cheech likes to lie his big fat head right on top of my head to wake me up in the morning. There’s no feeling quite like being smothered in the morning. But he’s learned it works, I pop right up!

3. What’s your favorite story about pets in the office?
I LOVE taking Cheech to work with me. He makes me really look forward to breaks and lunches that I used to just work straight through. I love taking him on the Paw Path…a doggy trail on campus at work…and out in the field to play on lunch. And he loves it too. He’s so excited to come to work with me in the mornings!

4. What is your favorite part of working at Pet Care?
I think I have the best job in the world. I get to help find homes for the dogs and cats that have formerly worked for Pet Care. It’s like finding a home for a child…we know them all individually: their name, their personality, which animals are in their playgroups, what they like to play with, who their favorite people are, everything about them. It’s the best feeling in the world to get the feedback, updates, and follow-up pictures from adopters. I’m so blessed to have found such a wonderful job so early in my career!