Shedding of hair is absolutely normal for most cats, provided that they continue to maintain a normal hair coat.
Things that can increase hair turnover (more shedding):
- Poor diet
- Inflammation due to allergies (fleas/food/environmental: make sure you use a good flea control regularly as fleas are the most common allergy)
- Bacterial or yeast skin infections
- Mites
- Ringworm
- Metabolic diseases
Things that can stop your cat grooming regularly so there is more hair to shed in the house:
- Being overweight (difficultly reaching back to groom)
- Pain with grooming (such as joint pain with arthritis)
When it comes to the shedding of excess hair the over-all health of your cat needs to be assessed. Metabolic disease and skin disease need to be ruled out especially when the coat is not healthy. This may mean your cat has a thinning hair coat, patches of hair loss (alopecia), is itchy or has scabs present.
If your cat is shedding lots of hair but they are well, and have a normal, healthy coat then it’s really a case of management. These tips will help reduce the build up of hair at home:
- Daily brushing
- Daily moist towel wipe downs
- Weekly washing in an oatmeal shampoo for cats will help with the hair
- Diet is a premium, balanced food
- Fish oil with its mild anti-inflammatory action (many cats don’t like the taste of it but you can try adding really slowly into the diet)
- Vacuuming
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