When it comes to picking a kitten you’ll sometimes be given a choice between a long haired kitty and a short haired one. If you are drawn to long haired cats then I think it’s important to know what’s involved in caring for one. And how that care differs between different types of fur.
I totally get the appeal of long fur. It really is gorgeous, but that longer fur comes at an unexpected cost that many of us aren’t aware of when we have a choice between bringing home a long-haired vs a short-haired kitten.
Coat Care
Cats are really good at caring for their own coats and keeping themselves clean, but it’s a bit more of a challenge when they have long hair.
On at least a weekly basis, long haired cats need grooming. If you’ve got them used to the comb or brush from a young age they’ll happily settle down and even enjoy a grooming session.
Grooming is actually a very positive social behavior in feral cat communities, known as allogrooming. It appears to reinforce between members of the group, and focuses particularly on the head and area. However, some social grooming has aggressive or dominant connotations between cats, which explains why some kitties aren’t a fan.
Regardless of how your cat feels about being groomed, for some a brush still isn’t enough.
Cats can easily become matted, and I’ve known several long haired cats that needed their rear ends shaved by the veterinarian on more than one occasion for hygiene reasons. Which rather puts a dampener on the elaborate look. But that’s not the most serious potential downside.
Hairballs
Any cat can get hairballs. Oscar with his neat short coat has even got a few over the years. But they are much more likely with longer furred cats, and the implications of hairballs can be more dramatic than the occasionally unpleasant damp patch on your floor.
Hairballs are essentially a ball of strands of hair, tangled up and trapped in mucus. It usually either escapes out the natural exit when they poop, or unfortunately become deposited in the middle of your carpet (or in the middle of your stairs just before your in-laws visit…), looking for all the world like a small pile of poop rather than a neat wad of hair. But occasionally they can get stuck.
Warning Signs
If you have a long haired cat that is prone to hairballs, it’s important to keep an eye out for signs that a blockage might have occurred. Vomiting, weight loss and and a loss of appetite are the most common signs. It probably hurts too, but sadly our cats don’t have a way of telling us that part.
Interestingly, diet might actually help cats who are prone to hairballs to pass them more easily for a couple of reasons.
What They Eat
Eating might help to push hairballs along the digestive tract and out the other end, especially in the form of small, more frequent meals. There are also some brands of cat food that offer hairball aiding recipes. These tend to be high in sugar cane fiber, that might aid gut mobility.
So small, frequent meals and a high sugar cane fiber food might help your long haired cat to avoid this issue, but the research is by no means certain at this point. And there is little to suggest that sugar levels will make any difference to how short haired cats pass their furballs at all.
Grooming Helps
What almost certainly helps any cat, is going back around to grooming again. The more loose fur that you remove for them, the less there is to be picked up by their sharp tongues and accidentally consumed.
Although the risks are small, it’s definitely worth giving anything a try that might reduce them if you have a long haired kitty or are planning to bring one home soon!
Leave a Reply