Hi! My name’s Walnie and I’m the newest Island Cat around here! Okay…so I’m not a real cat…I’m a FURmination Creation, made out of Wally and Ernie’s furs after about 5 minutes of being groomed with the FURminator!
Did you know today is National Hairball Awareness Day?!? Well, it is! We’re joining with Romeo the Cat and the FURminator people to celebrate and share information on how to prevent hairballs. And the Island Cats are letting me be the spokescat for them!!
Here’s a familiar site…most of you have yakked up a few of these yourselves, right?? (Humans, don’t look if you get squeamish!)
Pretty gross, huh?? Did you know…
- Us cats spend 30% of our lives grooming.
- Up to 2/3 of our shed hair can be ingested as we groom.
- Hairballs aren’t just a messy inconvenience, but can be a sign of discomfort and can lead to problems like vomiting, constipation or diarrhea, intestinal obstructions and loss of appetite.
- And it’s just not long-haired cats that can have hairball problems. Short-haired cats can too. That yucky hairball there? One of Wally’s finer creations.
Now here’s some ways these nasty hairballs can be prevented:
- Regular Gooming. Ask your human to groom you regularly by using a grooming tool like the Furminator, which reduces shedding by nearly 90%.
- Home Remedies. Ask for a little canned pumpkin mixed in with your stinky goodness once or twice a week. The fiber in the pumpkin can help move those hair clogs through your system.
- Stay Hydrated. Make sure you drink lots of water. Water helps flush out the hair before it has time to clump in your stomach.
- A New Menu. There are several specially formulated cat foods that help in the fight against hairballs. You might want to ask your human to get you some. But of course, make sure your human asks your v-e-t before changing your diet drastically.
- Ask Your V-E-T. If you have a chronic hairball problem, have your human ask your v-e-t to recommend a laxative supplement to help prevent ingested hair from forming balls. This stuff can be pretty tasty!!
I hope these tips help you in your fight against hairballs!!
Uh oh!! I think Wally’s gonna make me his new toy!! I gotta go now!! See ya!
53 Responses to “National Hairball Awareness Day”
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Ha ha ha ha ha!! : )
Walnie is furry cute and a great spokesman for Hairball Awareness Day.
We love Walnie. What a good job that Mom did on that. Lots of great info too about the hairballs. We are going to send the assistant out to get some pumpkin. Glad to see that you are watching the wedding. Take care.
Walnie, you are too funny. Thankfully I’ve never had a hair ball. Marmie doesn’t brush me either…..bad Marmie. However, she is now considering getting one of these furminator things.
Now that is the second one that I have seen that isn’t “creepy!!” It’s sooooo cute!! Thanks for the tips about hairballs as well….be sure to stop by my blog today and enter a HUGE hair-ball related give-away!!! xoxo
Hi, Walnie…..you sure are a cute little thing!!!!!!!!
Great post…….we send our love.
Hi Walnie we hope you won’t be offended if we don’t want you as a friend.
Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx
i think i might try that pumpkin suggestion…. hopefully this will be the best national hairball awareness day ever!
Walnie is a cutie. Thank you for the tips, we had never heard about pumpkin being a help. Hugs and nose kisses
Walnie is a cutie pie! I never heared about the pumpkin. These are great tips, thanks!
This is great information…we love Walnie!
We need this good reminder and the importance of watching those hiairbaslls. M just learned this year that kitties can die from having one. She gives me “goop” once a week and brushes me regularly.
wow, Walnie, i’ve never seen a cat like you before. don’t let Wally eat you!! thanks for the information. 🙂
Hairball Awareness Day? We didn’t know there was such a day. It’s certainly the time of year for hairballs, though. 🙂
Walnie is funny-looking, but kinda cute! Jack hates the FURminator and Baby is so excited by it that she wiggles too much to use it. Luckily, we don’t have much hairball problem here.
Walnie, you’re very cute! We think that if our Mom made a cat out of our fur, it would look exactly like Bella (small and tortie)!
Walnie, you’re pretty cute! (And your human is very creative!)
Derry gets brushed regularly because he loves it, but Nicki…not so much. LOL. Neither of us has had a hairball, though, so we’ve been lucky, at least so far.
Hey, you guys created a tortie – is that Zoey’s new friend?? I, Zoe, love to attack the balls of fur that are made when my mom brushes me with our faux-furminator!
Walnie is very cute! Thanks for all the facts about hairballs. We learned a lot! We’re lucky in that we don’t have a hairball problem here. Or maybe it’s mommy who’s lucky since she doesn’t have to clean them up!
Walnie, you are an amazing hairball creature!
Walnie is too funny!
Me gets hairballs and yacks them all the time. Me has short short hairs! Thanks for the informative post today!
Kisses
Nellie
MOL
Hello Walnie, you are cute!
Thanks for all information, I didn’t know about this important event!
Now, time for another nap here!
purrs and love
Luna
That was a wonderful creation! I seriously love it. Your blog was filled with good and always timely information too. Loves you muches!
xoxox
MOL… hee hee hee… That furminator really did the trick.
pawhugs, Max
That is so cool gang! I actually forgot about the special day today, or I would have come up with something (heehee)!
Those are great tips, thanks! We use the furminator on our foster cats and the zoom groom on our own cats. Leo especially seems to shed quite a bit!! We didn’t know about the pumpkin with food and will definitely try that for our foster Leo.
Have a good weekend!
the critters in The Cottage
Hi Walnie! Nice to meetcha! Mommy says she gets enough fur offa us to make a godzilla!
Say, we want to compliment whoever yakked up the hairball on placement! Light carpet equals 10 points.
Hey, nice to meet you, Walnie. You’re kinda cute. Do you have a date for the prom?
We hope your mom didn’t have to clean the entire house after she finished making Shaggy. 🙂
MOL Walnie….that is too funny.
Oh I almost love being brushed as much as I love eating…Hugs Madi
Walnie, you are soooooo cute!! Thank you for sharing your vast knowledge of the almighty hairball. I am, unfortunately, all too familiar with it!! P.S. We’re doing a fun giveaway on our blog — come by and enter!
ha ha ha snort ha ha ha that is awesome. we had to read it twice because we were laffin so hard. those are great tips. thanks for sharing them! I get hairballs occasionally. I get laxitone 2x a week and that helps “move them thru” the other end.
the best hairball i ever had was Christmas morning 2007. It was a work of art.
Walnie: I just Cokie’s fur kitty. These are hilarious! Like mini-me’s!
That is really cute! I hope Wally does not eat it – that would definitely be a hacked-up hairball just waiting to happen!
Uh oh..I thought Wally was going to eat you, Walnie! purrr…meow!
Mol! Walnie is cute 😀 Hollie had a hairball the other day in preparation for today 🙂
Pip, Smidgen, Minnie, and HOllie
Hello Walnie!!!!
Love meeting you! I think our mom’s had fun playing with our furs. They are easily amused.
xoxo Cory and family
Wally
It was nice to meet Walnie!
What a cutie.
Purrs
Abby
Walnie, you are a very cute kitty!
First, that is an outstanding fur-critter! Obviously the Bein kept the furs separated for artistic werk later.
Second, we lose very little of our short furs. None of us has yakked a hairball in months or longer (yakkin after eatin grass is more our hobby).
Third, TBT’s hand is the furminator we like best. Given a choice of brush or hand, we will take the hand evry time. The brush doesnt scritch as it moves over us!
MOL!
Hello Walnie. You kind of resemble Wallie, as seen in the last pic. Mom doesn’t have much luck with the fuminator. Maybe because Cleo and I can’t sit still enough for her to use it. She uses a brush, but we don’t like that either. Mom does have laxatone and buys hairball food, and she says “you better eat it.”
We are stopping by to thank you for your Sympathies, purrs and prayers for Patches, we really appreciated it. We do miss her, especially Mom.
Casper
Well, Walnie, you’re pretty cute, and I have to appreciate the good advice. However, I would not want to eliminate furballs altogether, as I enjoy a good yak now and then, and it’s a useful tool in punishing the Human.
Awww what a cute furball creation.
You guys have it goin’ on over here! Theese was a excellent post! Walnie is a great creation! Uh, Walnie…you may be in a bit of trouble, my friend…
Ew, hairballs are gross. I didn’t know about the canned pumpkin – I’ll have to try that!
Mom says your mom should sell these Walnie critters! She would surely buy one! To darned cute!
Well hi, Walnie. You’re pretty cute!
Thanks for the valuable information about hairballs.
My goodness! I didn’t know how much time I spent grooming myself! My mom says I mostly sleep!!! Walnie! How cute!
My Marley has to take lax on a regular basis. My vet said he was the most well’d
groom cat he has ever seen. Marley loves to be clean. Especially his face. He will not eat tuna with the rest of the cats cause he does not like for it to get on his face.
Hes really pickie about the way he looks.
We likez Walnie ^..^,,, Some good info on hairballz , da mom said she nefur heard about pumpkin… how intersting! Great Tip !….
She needz to find a Furminator……
Thank You for your kind wordz for owr Angelz ^..^
Purrz & Kissez ~ ^..^
Thanks, Walnie. That was a really informational post!
wow oh wow!!! Mon says we are getting a furminator this spring, and one for the woofie who’s coming to live with us this winter too
Oh Walnie, I didn’t know Wally and Ernie could have furbabies?! You are so cute! Thank you for the information on hairballs. Mummy found it very helpful. We don’t have the hairball problem at the moment but Mummy says that we could do in the future therefore we must plan ahead.
Nishiko xxx
how useful and interesting, thanks so much for this. We have a blob of ‘de furr em’ gel each week and it seems to help but sometimes we still hak up. Love Darcy, Bingley and Helen xxx