Every one in a while, you may have noticed your cat cough. You may first attribute it to their cat food. If you’re never had a cat, you might find the site alarming when you see your cat coughing. You may think he’s sick, that he doesn’t like his cat food, or that’s he’s swallowed something – as they will typically scrunch down on all fours, close to the ground, and typically extend their chin out, elongating their neck. Usually, this behavior is quite normal and is not harmful to your cat. Your cat is just trying to get rid of a fur ball.
So what’s up with Kitty when he does this? Cats clean themselves by licking their fur. This behavior helps to keep their fur tidy and fresh looking. Often, you can tell a sick cat right way by the mere fact that their fur is unkempt, dirty and ragged looking. Because cat fur length and density varies from breed to breed it’s especially important to give your cats some assistance when they may have more fur than other breeds.
As an aside I recommend that you feed your feline a premium cat food, especially in this time of pet food recalls. After all, a premium cat food can help in so many ways related to health.
Persians for one are a breed than can use their owner’s assistance in maintaining a healthy appearance. They tend to get food and other items easily stuck in their fur and are more prone to tear staining around their eyes. Once their fur gets wet and dirty, this just seems to compile and get worse. This can become an issue for these cats as they continually try to groom themselves to get themselves clean, which could result in a possible hairball fiasco.
To minimize hairballs in your cat, brush him regularly especially if he has long hair, to keep lose fur at a minimum. What you don’t want is Kitty swallowing lots of his own hair, which will go directly into his stomach. The hair is not food, it is not digestible, so Kitty will try to cough it back up. If you need to, trim your cat’s hair if necessary, and be sure to remove anything stuck in your cat’s fur.