How to Stop Cat Hairballs with Petroleum Jelly

Cats ingest fur each time they groom. Over time, this fur mats together in the digestive tract, causing a hairball. Hairballs can cause a lot of problems, minor or major, for your cat. Vomiting from hairballs is hard enough on your cat but hairballs can also cause other problems, such as blocks in the digestive tract. If your cat has vomited a hairball, chances are she will develop new hairballs unless you intervene. There are many over-the-counter hairball remedies but you can also create your own at home with a few simple ingredients.

Things You'll Need

  • Canned cat food
  • Petroleum jelly
  • Spoon
  • Bowl
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Instructions

    • 1

      Spoon out one tsp. (or more, if you are certain your cat will eat all of it) of canned cat food (use the smooth kind, not the chunky kind) into a bowl or saucer.

    • 2

      Add one-half tsp. of petroleum jelly to the food and stir it in. This amount of petroleum jelly is recommended by animalvetcenter.com. The food makes this more palatable for the cat and you are therefore most likely to get the full dose in her.

    • 3

      Let your cat eat the food on the saucer. If he won̵7;t eat all of it, refrigerate the remaining food and try to feed him the rest later. Animalvetcenter.com recommends medicating your cat with petroleum jelly for two to three days.