Why do cats never cough up hairballs on tile floors

  • Thread starter Thread starter Moonbear
  • Start date Start date
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the peculiar behavior of cats when they cough up hairballs, specifically why they tend to do so on carpeted surfaces rather than on tile or other easy-to-clean materials. Participants share personal anecdotes, propose theories, and discuss potential remedies for managing hairballs.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Personal anecdotes

Main Points Raised

  • One participant observes that their cat seems to prefer carpet for vomiting hairballs, suggesting it may provide better grip during the process.
  • Another participant humorously proposes that cats might choose messier locations to make cleaning more difficult for their owners.
  • Some participants share experiences with other pets, like ferrets, which they claim are easier to manage in terms of cleanup after vomiting.
  • A participant recounts a negative experience with a cat that vomited inside a television, leading to a dislike for cats.
  • Several participants discuss various remedies for hairballs, including the use of petroleum jelly and brushing, but express mixed results regarding their effectiveness.
  • One participant mentions that their cat leaves stomach acid along with hairballs, indicating a more complex issue with hairball management.
  • Another participant notes that their cat has become finicky with hairball remedies, complicating the treatment process.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of opinions and experiences regarding why cats prefer certain surfaces for vomiting hairballs, with no clear consensus on the reasons. There are competing views on the effectiveness of various remedies and approaches to managing hairballs.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention limitations in their approaches to hairball management, including the cat's changing preferences and the challenges of effective brushing. The discussion reflects a variety of personal experiences rather than established solutions.

Who May Find This Useful

Pet owners, particularly cat owners, may find this discussion relevant as it explores common challenges associated with hairball management and offers anecdotal insights into pet behavior.

Moonbear
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
Gold Member
Messages
11,959
Reaction score
54
Why do cats never cough up hairballs on tile floors, or bath mats, or anything else that's easy to clean? :frown:

I write this as I'm listening to the telltale sounds coming from the upstairs, carpeted hallway (too late to get there, and better to let her finish vomiting before I disturb her so it's only in one place). :rolleyes: She tried coughing it up earlier, but apparently the linoleum of the bathroom floor would have been too easy to clean, so she recovered and waited to get to carpet.

Okay, she's just returned and is nonchalantly grooming herself (guess she's trying to restock the hairball supply), so time to go clean up the mess.
 
Physics news on Phys.org


Ooh! Why don't you standardize on ferrets? They sometimes have to up-chuck, but the vomit volume is modest, and they tend to choose places that are easy to get to and easy to clean. They save hidden, secretive locations to sleep, hide "treasures", etc, and don't want to soil those places. Sweet little guys.
 


Meuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...gag gag gag...cough cough cough...SPIT ...gag...gag...chomp chomp...spit...

...stare...smell...walk away...
 


turbo-1 said:
Ooh! Why don't you standardize on ferrets? They sometimes have to up-chuck, but the vomit volume is modest, and they tend to choose places that are easy to get to and easy to clean. They save hidden, secretive locations to sleep, hide "treasures", etc, and don't want to soil those places. Sweet little guys.

So I should trade the cat in for a ferret? I'll tell her you said that, maybe it'll help. :biggrin:

On the positive side, I finally got a dose of petromalt into her (she's been getting too many hairballs lately, so needs more than just the hairball food she's getting). My finger is a little bit chomped, because I had to pry her mouth open and smear the stuff into the back of her mouth to get her to eat it (too close to the front, and she just spits it back out). I stayed away from the sharp front teeth, but still had to get a finger between the molars, and she of course decided to chomp down on the finger being shoved in her mouth.

Does anyone know of a hairball remedy that's NOT a paste? She loved this stuff as a kitten, and it was so easy to treat her because she'd lick it off my finger like a treat, but one day she decided she doesn't like it anymore, and ever since, I've been cleaning hairballs.

If I got a house with all hardwood or tile floors, would she stop coughing up hairballs, or would she have to move them to the couch or bed?
 


Moonbear said:
If I got a house with all hardwood or tile floors, would she stop coughing up hairballs, or would she have to move them to the couch or bed?
She would start looking for your pillow, favorite upholstered chair, etc. Just show her my avatar and put the fear of god into her. If you want, I'll email a picture of Turbo emerging from an antique stoneware jug that he used to sleep in when we had company. He never wanted to miss a bit of action, especially when "Uncle Dave" was visiting, so he'd sleep in the jug and pop out every once and an a while to visit.
 


I was told cats always do it on the carpet because they can get a good grip on it while they upchuck haha. Kind of gives them an anchor. But I am convinced they do it to make those of us cleaning up after them miserable.
 


scorpa said:
But I am convinced they do it to make those of us cleaning up after them miserable.

I'm pretty sure that's the right answer. She follows me and sits and watches while I'm cleaning, then walks over and inspects my job. She does pick a different spot every time, so I think she's trying to make me clean the carpet one small spot at a time.
 


Ever since an experience with an old roommates cat, I haven't really been a big cat person. About five years or so ago I was sharing an apartment with an old friend who also had a cat which seemed to always do certain things to tick me off... and I was never mean to it or anything. Well, one day while my roommate and myself were sitting on the living room couch watching TV when the cat jumped up on the back part of the television set. Neither of us even paid attention as the cat was always jumping on things. Anyway, about three seconds later we both heard the cat start yacking and what sounded like convulsing, and after about three or four good 'gulps' the cat proceeded to yack down inside the television vents and short out the TV... while we were watching it.:mad: The can then darted off and hid in another room after hearing the *zap* come from the TV. We were both silent for a good solid minute until I decided to say "You got to be kidding me".

Haven't really liked cats since then.
 


B. Elliott said:
Ever since an experience with an old roommates cat, I haven't really been a big cat person. About five years or so ago I was sharing an apartment with an old friend who also had a cat which seemed to always do certain things to tick me off... and I was never mean to it or anything. Well, one day while my roommate and myself were sitting on the living room couch watching TV when the cat jumped up on the back part of the television set. Neither of us even paid attention as the cat was always jumping on things. Anyway, about three seconds later we both heard the cat start yacking and what sounded like convulsing, and after about three or four good 'gulps' the cat proceeded to yack down inside the television vents and short out the TV... while we were watching it.:mad: The can then darted off and hid in another room after hearing the *zap* come from the TV. We were both silent for a good solid minute until I decided to say "You got to be kidding me".

Haven't really liked cats since then.

muha......huah...haha...HAHAAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAH...oh boy...
 
  • #10


Cyrus said:
muha......huah...haha...HAHAAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAH...oh boy...

Oh yeah. There was another instance where not too long after the cat started to no longer used it litter box (I guess it was getting senile?) and it peed in my buddies subwoofer for his surround sound system... shorting it out also. That cat had a serious attitude problem.
 
  • #11


My cat does the same stuff on carpet. He leaves a bunch of stomach acid while he's at it. I hear the heaving and then If I catch him, I have to chuck him into the bathroom or put a newspaper under his head. :rolleyes:
I was putting some petroleum jelly on his paws so he would lick it off and it would supposively solve the hairball issue. He chucked the hairball the next day..

You could try smearing the Petromalt or petroleum jelly on Ember's paws and see if she licks it off.

I do also brush my cat with a brush. He hates it and if your cat is a feisty one, you won't be able to use this brush effectively. http://www.purrfectpets.org.uk/images/products/cats/Cat Brush.jpg (I brush back and forth to get to the bottom of the fur where the most hair is)
 
  • #12


~christina~ said:
You could try smearing the Petromalt or petroleum jelly on Ember's paws and see if she licks it off.
Nope, tried that already. She just shakes her paw until there's Petromalt flung into some inconvenient place that's harder to clean than where she coughs up the hairball. :rolleyes:

I do also brush my cat with a brush. He hates it and if your cat is a feisty one, you won't be able to use this brush effectively. http://www.purrfectpets.org.uk/images/products/cats/Cat Brush.jpg (I brush back and forth to get to the bottom of the fur where the most hair is)

I brush her daily. She doesn't mind too much since it's part of the daily routine. She's not too fond of me brushing her tail or belly, but I can get a good brushing of her back (that part she loooooooves) then quickly brush her tail and flip her over to get the belly before she tries to bite me and take off. Once a week she gets a super-thorough brushing, whether she likes it or not, where I brush until I can't get any more loose fur in the brush. I think it's been worse lately because I've been doing a lot of weekend traveling, so she's not getting the daily brushing when I'm away. When she had a cat-sitter for a week, for some reason, she would only let her brush her tail, so went a week then without a good, thorough brushing.
 
  • #13


I use a lint roller on my cat after I brush him. It picks up any stray hairs that I missed.
 
  • #14


Moonbear said:
Nope, tried that already. She just shakes her paw until there's Petromalt flung into some inconvenient place that's harder to clean than where she coughs up the hairball. :rolleyes:
lol
I brush her daily. She doesn't mind too much since it's part of the daily routine. She's not too fond of me brushing her tail or belly, but I can get a good brushing of her back (that part she loooooooves) then quickly brush her tail and flip her over to get the belly before she tries to bite me and take off. Once a week she gets a super-thorough brushing, whether she likes it or not, where I brush until I can't get any more loose fur in the brush. I think it's been worse lately because I've been doing a lot of weekend traveling, so she's not getting the daily brushing when I'm away. When she had a cat-sitter for a week, for some reason, she would only let her brush her tail, so went a week then without a good, thorough brushing.
I can never ever ever get the brush free of fur. The brushing session end when I give up.:rolleyes: I find that mewmew's most loose fur is coming from: a. tail b. fur on the stretchy skin from leg to stomach. I swear I brush my cat like he's the carpet. :devil:
 
  • #15


Have you tried shaving? Or wax?
 
  • #16


Borek said:
Have you tried shaving? Or wax?
Ouch! giving a cat a bikini-wax could result in serious blood-loss. (yours)
 
  • #17


Borek said:
Have you tried shaving? Or wax?

turbo-1 said:
Ouch! giving a cat a bikini-wax could result in serious blood-loss. (yours)

:smile::smile:

Vacuuming would probably work better and I wouldn't bet on the vacuum cleaner either.
 
  • #18
Somehow, cats always manage to be as big of a pain as they possibly can be. It is a conspiracy intended to torture their big, dumb, nearly hairless slaves and food preparers.

http://www.hillspet.com/hillspet/products/productDetails.hjsp?HillsProductCode=SD_FL_D_adt_NA_o_O_HAIR_orig_USARG
 
  • #19


If you want something to do with all the hair, you can always build another cat :biggrin:

When mine wanted to attention he would sneak in and jump on the keyboard to hit Ctrl+Alt+Del. (pre windoze)
He rarely missed with that.
If I was sleeping, he would drool up my nose.
 
  • #20


Borek said:
Have you tried shaving? Or wax?

I have shaved the cat. I thought a little haircut would solve the fur all over the place in summer, problems. You want to know what happed? Oh the cutting of fur was not a problem at all, surprisingly. :rolleyes: Mew-mew just sat there. :rolleyes: The problem was that, he STILL shed! The small hairs are even more irritating if they get on you.
 
  • #21


~christina~ said:
I have shaved the cat. I thought a little haircut would solve the fur all over the place in summer, problems. You want to know what happed? Oh the cutting of fur was not a problem at all, surprisingly. :rolleyes: Mew-mew just sat there. :rolleyes: The problem was that, he STILL shed! The small hairs are even more irritating if they get on you.

:smile: I've never considered that option. It's bad enough when I trim Ember's butt fur so she doesn't inadvertently carry "things" from the litterbox attached to that fur. It's worse than brushing her...the fur goes EVERYWHERE, and it's only a couple little snips with the scissors.
 
  • #22


Oh, Foofer only spits up on carpet. I have placed a cheap rug over most of the living room carpet, so he is careful to only spit up outside of it. It limits the area I have to clean. :rolleyes:
 
  • #23


~christina~ said:
I have shaved the cat. I thought a little haircut would solve the fur all over the place in summer, problems. You want to know what happed? Oh the cutting of fur was not a problem at all, surprisingly. :rolleyes: Mew-mew just sat there. :rolleyes: The problem was that, he STILL shed! The small hairs are even more irritating if they get on you.

I have never had a cat, but what keeps going through my mind, and its staying for way too long is 'brazilian'
 
  • #24


Bean never yacks up hairballs. I don't know if it's because she only eats wet food, because I give her a dose of Petromalt every second day, because I comb her from head to toe almost every day, or because she's a slob and doesn't do all that much grooming. Or maybe it's a combination of all of those factors combined. I didn't say she never pukes, she just never pukes up hairballs.

I've never had a cat short a t.v. before, though. That's pretty impressive.
 
  • #25


NoTime said:
When mine wanted to attention he would sneak in and jump on the keyboard to hit Ctrl+Alt+Del. (pre windoze)
He rarely missed with that.
If I was sleeping, he would drool up my nose.

Meet Simon's cat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q
 
  • #26


Moonbear said:
:smile: I've never considered that option. It's bad enough when I trim Ember's butt fur so she doesn't inadvertently carry "things" from the litterbox attached to that fur. It's worse than brushing her...the fur goes EVERYWHERE, and it's only a couple little snips with the scissors.

The bathroom/cutting hair room was a mess. I'll admit that I gave up cutting his fur after finishing his midsection.I don't know how I cleaned it up. When he sat on my lap, the fur would get into my clothes.