Talk:Hairball

Test for Presence of a Furball
Is there a test for determining whether a cat has a furball? If a cat throws up a lot, does that mean it necessarily has a furball? That would be a behavioral clue, but are there any other clues? 198.177.27.32 (talk) 23:27, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Chicken with fur/hair
I'm surprised that humans are incapable of digesting hair -- what about chicken or certain dishes prepared with small stands of hair, which you cannot see and often consume? I have consumed chicken with small traces of "hair"; is this bad? Since we can't digest it, that means it would be accumulated? Also, the girls mentioned in the article -- they all suffered from Pica, correct (meaning, is that the only known way to accumulate hairballs in your stomache)? 24.23.6.222 (talk) 05:36, 25 February 2006 (UTC)
 * I believe most things that cannot be digested are merely passed, if they are in small enough amounts. If it's little enough to be unnoticed when embedded in food, it'll emerge embedded in the "used food," still unnoticed. McGehee 21:57, 13 September 2007 (UTC)


 * I'd be VERY surprised ...if you found either fur or hair in a chicken. Last time I checked, they had FEATHERS. 69.228.240.57 06:52, 10 April 2007 (UTC)


 * No one is going to accumulate a hairball without eating a lot of hair. Is this something that needs to be explained better in the article? 75.210.147.156 (talk) 19:25, 27 November 2013 (UTC)

More representative photo
I changed to a more representative photo which shows a hairball conglomerate with a dense ball of hair, some vomit, recently swallowed food, and a whisker all in one "ball" Themeparkphoto 06:15, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I reinstated the previous photo in addition to the new photo. They are both illustrative. --Tysto 18:22, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Hairballs common in cats?
I notice that on US cartoons and other 'comical' media, cats are always portrayed as having problems with hairballs, as though it was very common and inherent to them. But in reality, I've never seen a cat cough up one, and I've had many cats (and known people who own cats too). Also, cats are never portrayed this way elsewhere (most of the humor around cats is based on them having many lives, etc instead). Weird... --164.77.84.202 02:46, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Merge with Trichobezoar?
How does this article differ from the article Trichobezoar? They even have the same picture. Surely they should be merged? Almufasa (talk) 18:05, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
 * 👍 Support. 75.210.147.156 (talk) 19:31, 27 November 2013 (UTC)

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Biochemical explanation
There is an interesting thread at ResearchGate on, "Why can humans digest some keratin-containing cells but not hair?"

It would need padding out with references if they can be found, but it seems like a potential starting point. Samsara 06:55, 19 April 2019 (UTC)