Is Hair in Diarrhea a Symptom of Bowel Obstruction for a Cat?

Cats groom themselves on a regular basis throughout the day. Their rough, sandpaper-like tongues pull off the dead hair and they have no choice but to swallow it. The hair typically comes back out through the mouth as a slimy hairball, however, some of the stray hairs may travel through the digestive tract and come out in the feces. Hair in the feces is not a symptom of bowel obstruction.

  1. Definition

    • Bowel obstruction is defined as the inability to pass poorly digested items such as bones, cat litter and hair, according to the "Merck Veterinary Manual." When the bowels become obstructed, the animal is not able to pass the items out of the body via a bowel movement.

    Symptoms

    • Some symptoms of bowel obstruction in cats may include constipation, due to the cat not being able to push the obstruction out through the feces, lethargy, a painful extended abdomen, loss of appetite and thick mucous in the rectum area, according to gopetsamerica.com.

    Considerations

    • Hair appearing in the feces may just be a stray hair that made its way through the digestive tract without getting stuck and was eliminated in the feces.