How Do I Stop My Cat From Getting Hairballs? A Vet-Backed Brushing Guide

The fastest way to cut down hairballs is to remove the loose hair before your cat swallows it, and the Cornell Feline Health Center is blunt about how: brush and comb the coat daily. Hairballs are not a stomach problem you fix at the stomach. They are a hair problem you fix at the coat.

Related reading: How Do I Keep My Cat Entertained All Day? A Vet-Backed Enrichment Guide — useful if stress-driven over-grooming is part of your cat's hairball problem.

Why does my cat get hairballs in the first place?

Because cat hair cannot be digested. As the Cornell Feline Health Center explains it, when your cat grooms herself she swallows a lot of loose hair, and the main structural component of that hair — a tough, insoluble protein called keratin — is indigestible. Most of it passes through the gut and leaves in the stool. What stays behind collects in the stomach, packs into a wet cylinder, and eventually comes back up on your rug.

Two things push more hair down the hatch than usual: coat length and shedding season. Cornell notes that long-haired breeds such as Persians and Maine Coons are at significantly greater risk than short-haired breeds, and that hairballs turn up more often in the seasons when cats shed their coats. A short-haired indoor cat in February and a Maine Coon in May are not the same problem.

How many hairballs are normal for a cat?

Roughly one every week or two. The Cornell Feline Health Center puts the normal range at a hairball once every week or two and adds that, aside from the inconvenience to the owner, this is nothing to worry about. More often than that is worth a second look rather than a shrug.

Veterinarians at Texas A&M take the same line. Dr. Carly Patterson, Clinical Assistant Professor at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, states that frequent hairballs can be a sign of an underlying disease or health issue, so if a cat is having them regularly, it should see a veterinarian. Hairballs also form when there is a change in overall gastrointestinal tract motility — meaning the hair is sometimes the symptom, not the cause.

Does brushing actually stop hairballs?

It is the one intervention both veterinary schools recommend first. The Cornell Feline Health Center's advice, from Dr. Goldstein, is that owners get into the habit of brushing and combing their cats' coats daily to minimize the development of hairballs and their complications. Dr. Patterson's guidance at Texas A&M matches it: daily brushing can reduce the amount of excess hair, especially for long-haired cats.

The logic is mechanical. Every gram of dead undercoat that ends up in a brush is a gram that never reaches the stomach. That is why a tool that lifts loose undercoat matters more than one that only smooths the top coat. Our deshedding comb pulls the loose underlayer out in the same pass that detangles, and its steam function softens knots so they release instead of pulling — which matters more than it sounds, because a brush that hurts is a brush your cat learns to avoid.

What about hairball treats, gels and "hairball control" food?

Be careful here. The Cornell Feline Health Center strongly advises owners never to give their cats a laxative without the approval and supervision of a veterinarian, and applies the same advice to commercial diets that claim to be effective in preventing or relieving an obstruction. Products that move hair along are not a substitute for a diagnosis, and an obstructed cat is a surgical emergency, not a treat-aisle problem.

Use those products if your vet puts them in the plan. Do not use them to paper over a cat who has gone from one hairball a fortnight to three a week.

Why is my cat suddenly getting more hairballs than usual?

A sudden jump usually means your cat is grooming more, not that her stomach changed. The Cornell Feline Health Center is direct about the threshold: licking that causes excessive numbers of hairballs or hair loss is abnormal. Dr. Pamela Perry, D.V.M., an animal behavior resident at Cornell, and Dr. William Miller, Jr., V.M.D., Professor Emeritus in the Section of Behavior and Dermatology there, point at two families of cause — physical and psychological.

On the physical side: fleas, pollen or food allergies, and pain from conditions such as disc disease or anal sac impaction all drive a cat to lick. On the psychological side, Cornell notes that a recent move, the addition or loss of another pet in the home, or even a change of schedule can cause anxiety, and that licking works as a displacement behavior that can become a habit. Their environmental suggestions are concrete: introduce changes gradually, provide vertical space, and give the cat 10 to 15 minutes of daily play.

How do I brush a cat that hates being brushed?

1. Shorten the session, not the frequency. Two minutes daily beats twenty minutes on Sunday. Cornell's recommendation is a daily habit, and cats accept short routines far better than long ones.
2. Start where she already likes being touched. Cheeks, chin and along the jaw first; belly and hind legs last, if at all.
3. Kill the pulling. Tangles that tug are what teach a cat to bolt. Soften the knot before the comb goes through it — that is the whole point of the steam deshedding comb.
4. Let her groom herself for the parts she won't let you touch. A wall-mounted corner self-groomer gives cheeks and flanks a bristled surface to rub against, which strips some loose hair on the cat's own terms.
5. Know when to hand it over. In the Cornell article, Dr. Joanna Guglielmino, DVM, advises getting a cat accustomed to daily brushing and combing, and adds that if the animal won't allow it, she should go to a veterinarian or a reputable groomer for a haircut once or twice a year.

Sources & references

• Cornell Feline Health Center, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine — "The Danger of Hairballs": causes, normal frequency, daily brushing recommendation, and cautions on laxatives and hairball diets. Link.
• Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Pet Talk — Dr. Carly Patterson on hairball causes, GI motility, and daily brushing. Link.
• Cornell Feline Health Center — "When Cats Lick Too Much": over-grooming causes and the abnormal-hairball threshold, with Dr. Pamela Perry and Dr. William Miller, Jr. Link.
• Cornell Feline Health Center — "A Hairy Dilemma": coat length risk, shedding season, and Dr. Joanna Guglielmino on daily brushing. Link.