very strange question

[nanny pamy]

My friend says her cat is sometimes sick and brings up hair balls. She was quite shocked when I said Theo has never been sick and we,ve never seen hair balls. She says they need to bring up hair balls or pass them or they block their intestines. Is this true

[bobbys girl]

Can't admit that I have ever studied our cat's poo, perhaps they do pass fur/hair. But I have never seen any of them hacking up hair and they are all fine.

[Crewella]

Some of mine produce hairballs and some not - I don't ever remember seeing a white hairball, so I'm guessing that Daz doesn't.

[alanc]

From my experience (which is limited to 5 cats only so is not exhaustive by any means) it appears to be related to how long their fur is. My Tilly who is a long haired Maine Coon, brings up hair balls fairly regularly. My late lamented Badger, also a Maine Coon but with somewhat shorter fur than Tilly, did occasionally. Sally, Misty and Honey were short haired moggies and hardly ever brought up hair balls so far as I know. As Sally was nearly 18 when she died, sicking up hair balls is clearly not essential for long life!

[nanny pamy]

Oh thanks so much for the replies. I feel reassured now. Theo is short hair and we brush him every morning. So he doesn't seem to have excess fur.

[Zella]

Yes it does seem to depend on the cat. As an aside, my 5year old (human) boy is called Theo and you probably brush your Theo more than we do ours lol!

[nanny pamy]

Ha ha. Yes we didn't pick his name. The rescue place named him but yes he loves to be brushed