Recipe for Homemade Cat Hairball Remedies

Recipes for homemade cat hairball remedies are extremely easy to follow. They typically only involve getting your cat to eat the right things that will encourage hair that she has swallowed during her grooming sessions to move through her digestive tract and exit out the proper end. That way the offending cat hair can be deposited into the litter box instead of being hacked up onto the carpet.

One of the things that makes homemade hairball remedies so simple is the minimal ingredients required. Usually you just supplement your cat's diet with one or two items that will get things moving in the right direction, and they're almost always ingredients you already have on hand. This can be done separately from meal times if your cat will willingly eat the hairball treatment, or you might need to mix it in with her food if she is less cooperative.

Commercially prepared hairball treatments usually provide your cat with one or both of the missing elements that causes her to cough up a hairball instead of passing it naturally: lubrication and/or fiber. The fiber element helps your cat digest what's in her tummy and move it through her system efficiently. The lubrication factor helps smooth the way, greasing the track, so to speak, and making it easier for your cat's system to work as it should. These two ingredients can work fine on their own, but putting them together gives your kitty the advantages of both and can speed up the cure.

Effective ingredients for a homemade hairball remedy can be found throughout your house. Use items from the kitchen like butter, olive oil, aloe vera juice or sardines packed in oil for lubrication. The medicine chest in the bathroom is a useful resource, too, supplying petroleum jelly for the lube element and over-the-counter laxative supplements like Metamucil to add fiber. Take care when treating your cat at home for hairballs. Too much petroleum jelly can interfere with her ability to properly absorb vitamins from her food, and aloe vera products that have sodium benzoate or benzoic acid can be toxic to cats. It's best to consult your vet to ensure the method you're using to treat your cat for hairballs is OK and to get his advice on dosage amounts.