- Clients may use the term hairballs (ie, tubular wads of ingested hair) to describe loose strands of hair in vomitus or regurgitated/vomited food; it is important to clarify what they are defining before determining diagnostic and therapeutic approach.
- The extreme hairball is a trichobezoar—a hard concretion of hair lodged in the stomach that is too large to vomit or pass through the pylorus and intestines.
- Cats normally ingest small amounts of hair that pass in feces; increased hair ingestion (eg, skin/coat problems) or abnormal passage of hair (ie, changes in GI motility) may result in hairballs.
- Hairballs signify disease and, although common, are not normal.
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