Best Cat Food For Hairball In 2022 | Buyer’s Guide & Review

Updated: February 16, 2023 by CanCat Eat

Yaak! Hairball. Its awful stench. You also feel the same. It is not a pleasant experience either for your cat or for you. Because you have to clear up the mess. Cats swallow too much fur while grooming. They will throw up a hairball. A good hairball preventing cat food will help your cat to pass hair through the digestive system.

There are many brands promise to solve the hairball problems, but don’t deliver their promise. We have found a few healthy, high protein fiber blend food that will help your cat with hairballs.

We’re one of the only sites out there dedicated to buying in the cat food, thoroughly testing and reviewing them. And then making recommendations based on our experience with the cat food. You can find out more about us page.

Cat food made with dietary fiber and enough moisture is best for hairball.

Many cat owners miss a point important here. Would you replace high fiber food with a high protein cat food? We also need to take care of protein content in food while choosing the best hairball food for cats.

With our research and knowledge, we have made a list of best cat food for hairballs, you check out our list below, which recommend cat food by your cat’s need, and gives a best overall choice Purina One Hairball Formula.

Best Cat Food For Hairball Preventing Comparison

A recommendation, for cat owners who feed dry cat food, considers providing a freshwater source to your cat. Dry food is not bad by any mean. You should go for wet cat foods if your cat doesn’t drink much water. With our research and experience with our cats, enough moisture is also important with dietary fiber to prevent hairball.

Note: Protein is important in the cat’s diet. We should never replace protein in cat food while choosing hairball cat food.

Top Picks By Category

Best Overall: Hill’s Science Diet Hairball Control Canned Food

“Contains real chicken  and made with natural fiber blend.”

Best For Indoor Cats:  Royal Canin Hairball Dry Cat Food

“Made with Unique fiber blend and Especially for Indoor cats.”

High Protein: Purina One Hairball Formula Dry Food

“Premium quality cat food made with 34% protein with special fiber blend.”

Affordable: Blue Buffalo Hairball Control Dry Food

“Little cheaper than other options listed here and contains no corn no wheat no soy.”

Best Cat Food For Hairball Prevention

Let’s look into our top picks of best hairball food. Each food we have listed are a high protein with dietary fiber blend also provide enough moisture. These food are a good replacement for your cat’s current diet. They contain all the other health benefits that you can normally get from other good quality cat foods.

Sometimes affording hairball cat food may get expensive. It is the main concern for many of us. So, we have done our research, found healthy hairball cat food in few different price range. You will also find a cheaper option in our list, which also provides the same benefit with high protein content.

Unlike any other medical formulas, we feed our cats hairball food every other meal instead of every meal. You can try this approach for balance cost and effectiveness.

We always recommend you to do your research well while choosing medical cat food. Below, you will find our recommended best hairball cat food that is going help to pass hairball through your cat’s digestive system safely.

Hill’s Science Diet Hairball Control Canned Food

Hill’s Science Diet, this is one of our favorite cat food. This food is recommended for adult cats from 1 to 6 years.

Science diet hairball control formula made with all the important ingredient to reduce hairball same time it is benefiting cat’s urinary health. This food has a balanced amount of dietary fiber to pass hairball through the cat’s system.

Why this food made in our list? It is made with natural ingredient and contains taurine for your cat’s overall health, vision, and heart function.

Royal Canin provides quality cat food. It is made with no artificial flavor or preservatives. We must say, it has a good mix of vitamin, minerals, and taurine.

We recommend you go for this food if you are looking for wet cat food for hairball presentation. Hill’s Science is the #1 veterinarian recommend brand, this is a good enough reason we consider this food.

Still, any doubt left, read the reviews from the above, look at the opinion of our cat owner and success stories.

Royal Canin Hairball Dry Cat Food

We have Royal Canin. It is a reputed brand that delivers what it promises. We like this food because it is healthy high protein at the same time prevent hairball. This food is appropriate to feed adult cats (age 1 to 10).

Cats get hairball while they groom themselves. Here, Royal Canin plays a good role to prevent hairball with the variety of fiber designed food. This formula helps the fur move through the cat’s digestive system easily.

Why do we recommend this food? Royal Canin made this formula specifically to prevent hairball while keeping other health benefits. This food helps to naturally reduce hairball with the unique fiber blend. Same time it provides a balanced diet and all the nutrition your cats need daily.

It has a good kibble texture which promotes dental health.

The amount of protein content of any Royal Canin food is pretty reasonable. This food contains 32% minimum protein, seems a good amount for an indoor cat.

If you are looking for a good brand cat food for a hairball. You should try this food once. As per our experience, you will see the experience within weeks. We are not the only one who likes this food. Reviewers noted this food best for hairball prevention. Read the full review by click on the button above.

Purina One Hairball Formula Dry Food

This is another good hairball cat food, we recommend going to for. This cat food is for adult cat from 1 year age.

Like any other healthy cat food listed here, this cat food made with natural fiber blend. But, what makes this food so special. It is made with 100% balanced nutrition with vitamin, minerals, taurine, and omega. So, you are getting all the health, you get from a premium cat food.

This is the only hairball premium cat food offers all other health benefits for a happy lifestyle. Also, provide real chicken in the first ingredient.

Purina One Hairball Formula made with real chicken in the first ingredient. All the ingredient are in the food chosen for a specific purpose and benefit for your cat’s overall health. We have found no filler ingredient in this food.

The crunchy texture of this food is good for cats dental health and clear the teeth. Many health treatment cat food is not that tasty. This food has added enticement to make your cat enjoy this food. This is a plus point.

If you are looking for a premium cat food that provides all the health benefit to your cat with hairball preventing. This is the cat food for you. Price of this food affordable compared to the other foods.

Hill’s Science Diet Hairball Control Dry Food

This is another food from Hill’s Science Diet. This food is made natural fiber to stop hair and contains high quality protein to maintain a healthy weight. Unlike the previous Hill’s Science cat food, this is specifically made with Hairballs.

Why do we recommend this food? Along with natural fiber blend for the hairball, it also contains all natural ingredient cats need in their diet. It has Omega 6, Vitamin E to work together to improve skin and coat.

This cat food made with proven antioxidant and vitamin blend for a healthy immune system. You will find food in wet food also.

We love this food for containing no artificial color and preservatives. Reviewers note this best for cats with hairballs. So, we are not the only one who loves this food. You read the review from the button above.

Blue Buffalo Hairball Control Recipe Dry

Next, we have blue buffalo hairball dry cat food. This brand is popular for natural ingredient and quality protein content.

This is an adult food (above 1 year) made with deboned chicken in the first ingredient. And, it contains no meat by-product. This is a good sign. We recommend going to a high protein cat food while choosing a health treatment food for your cats.

This food is made with all the natural ingredient (branded as life source bit). It means the kibble is enhanced with antioxidant rich ingredients and a unique blend of vitamin, minerals to support the immune system and overall health.

You get all other important nutrients in this food like taurine, omega fatty oil, and dietary fiber to prevent hairball. This food is also good for maintaining healthy muscle as it made with lean chicken.

This is a good option for cat owners who are looking for natural cat food for their cats. Reviewed mentioned this cat food is best suited for their indoor cats.

Iams ProActive Health Hairball Care

This is one of our favorite cat food for hairballs. Iams made this food taking care of hairball and healthy weight. It is made with the real chicken ingredient with a balanced fiber blend to pass hairball from cats digestive system.

We have already discussed this brand before.

This is recommended cat food for hairball preventing and maintaining a healthy weight. Why? Because, this formula specifically made to maintain a healthy weight, reduce hairball and litter box odors.

This is dry cat food made for cat above 1 year, best for maintaining healthy weight same time prevent hairball.

It has a huge positive review, Reviewer rated this food 4.7 out of 5. This is the best cat food we’ve found offering hairball solution with healthy weight formula.

Best Cat Food for Hairball Buyer’s Guide

A high fiber blend cat food will help to control hairball problem. But, there are some factors you should consider before buying it. We made this guide with our experience with our cat is going to help you as well. Before going to that, let’s find out find your cat has a hairball.

What Cause Hairball in Cats?

Hairball in cats is abnormal, except if it happens occasionally. Breeds such as Persian or Ragdoll are long-haired and so their grooming time is high. While grooming most cats ingest the fur and it accumulates in cat’s stomach. As you know hair won’t be digested causing indigestion and ends up as hairball in cat’s bowl or vomit. It a situation where the cat’s digestive system been compromised and won’t work efficiently.

You will not notice your kitten having hairballs. But, as get grew up, they will develop hairball. Hairball is quite normal for older cats. They are more adept to grooming themselves. They lose more dead fur from their coat with their tongues. Mean you have to clear more hairball.

All cats groom and ingest fur. Normally, fur passes through the cats digestive system. Sometimes fur gets stuck inside cats stomach create a layer or ball of hair. This can be very dangerous. Cat will vomit it out.

Symptoms of Hairball in Cats

It is not a pleasant experience to watch your cat eliminating a hairball. There is some common system of a hairball, you may notice like hacking, gagging, and retching. Your cat will vomit the hairball in a short period of time.

If you have noticed any of the following syntoms. We advise you to contact your veterinarian. They are the only person can tell you if that hairball has any potential threat to your cat’s life.

• Vomiting
• Nonstop gaggling, hacking and retching either with hairball produce or without
• Lack of appetite
• Lethargy
• Constipation
• Diarrhea

Most cases, moving to optimal fiber blend cat food helps to pass hairball through the cat’s digestive system easily.

We will talk about it more in details below. Some effective remedies that you could add with cat food to avoid hairball.

What to Consider When Buying Food for Hairball Control?

Picking the best food for your cat is very important for their overall health. This is a very important task for us as cat owners. While choosing cat food, we look for a high protein food that provides other important ingredients for cat’s healthy lifestyle.

While finding the best hairball control cat food, we also need to look for a high protein cat food that also provides good fiber blend. This guide mentioned all the important ingredient to look for when choosing a hairball preventing food.

What are The Important Ingredients to Considers in Hairball Food?

There are a few important ingredients we need to look for while choosing the best hairball food for cats. Here, the listed ingredient is important for hairball control also for your overall cat’s health.

Fiber

Fiber is the most easy and effective way to prevent hairball in cats. There are different types of fiber can help to pass hair through the cat’s digestive system. There is a very simple way to add fiber in your cat’s diet. You can mix canned pumpkin to your current diet.

There are many hairball cat food available has added fiber in their formula. Transitioning to one of this food will help to prevent hairball.

Omega Fatty Oil

A good hairball preventing formula should contain omega fatty acid (omega 3 and omega 6). Fatty acid benefits healthy skin and coat and same time provide nutrient to keep your cat healthy.

Protein Content

Cats are carnivores. A high-quality protein is important in their diet. So, you should not compromise on protein content while choosing a hairball control food for your cat. A good cat food brand never replaces protein with high fiber content.

A good hairball food provides balanced nutrition for your cat’s overall health. Also, provide natural fiber to prevent hairball. You should choose a food low in carbs, not a food that is low in protein content.

Grain / Grain Free

The grain is not always a bad thing for cats. And, not all cat needs a grain free diet. You should consult with your vet to know if your cat requires a grain free diet. But, you already know that your cat is sensitive toward grain. Then, you should go for a grain free option. Grain free cat food is good for the sensitive stomach.

You should avoid grains for kitten or young cats. Because their digestive system is not ready to process these ingredients. You can choose a suitable grain free cat food for them.

Antioxidant

Fresh veggies, fruits and fiber rich grains also helps cat food digested easily, as they are rich in antioxidants they improve your pet overall health, makes skin, hair and body strong and decreases hair loss and in turn it minimizes you cat ingest its fur while it licks its skin.

Taste

Choosing delicious cat food is also important. The food is no good if your cat does like the taste of it. There are plenty of flavor available. We recommend chicken, fish, turkey flavors. You will find man hairball recipes in both wet and dry cat food.

If you prefer to feed wet food to your cat. There you can choose from pate, minced, shredded, sliced etc. You can add some meat or pumpkin topping with dry food. Pumpkins has added fiber help to prevent hairball.

Choose food that your kitty will love to eat also prevent the hairball. You also add some topping to make it enjoying for cat.

If you know what your cat likes to eat. Then, you can plan it according. You can easily find a hairball control food that is delicious same time effective also.

Bag Size

Some fussy cats don’t accept leftover food. While buying cat food, you might have observed there are 2 types of sizes or weights that you find. 1. 3 oz, and 5.5 oz. Depending on cat size, one has to choose the right size bag or can for their cat.

Keeping the food fresh and healthy to eat is also important. We recommend going to small or medium packages to keep the food fresh and healthy. You can also get large package or large cans of food. But, again you need to refrigerate them. Many cats doesn’t like to eat food that is cold.

Hairball control food is expensive. So, you should consider buying small packages. Otherwise, you may end up wasting it.

What Are Things to Avoid In Hairball Food?

You should avoid such ingredients like artificial color, flavoring, and preservatives in cat food. They add unhealthy chemicals to the food.

We highly recommend you avoid BHT, BHA, Ethoxyquin additives in dry cat food. These cause many potential health diseases to cats.

Suppose, your cat food contains full of by-product meat but no real meal content. Then, you choose a better cat food contents real meat. Also, avoid excessive amount of carbohydrates or grain in cat food.

How to Prevent Hairball?

There are many hairball formula from popular brands. These high quality food can help to control hairball. Let’s look at some factors help to prevent hairballs in cats. Here, some of the best hairball remedy for cats.

Brush Your Cat: Cat licks their hair for a few hours every day. Self grooming is a natural cat behavior. Through this process, cat ingests a lot of furs. And, sometimes result in hairball. We can’t stop their natural grooming. But, Brushing session is a good option. Brush your cat’s hair on a route basis to avoid excess hair consume while licking. Cat food rich in omega fatty oil also helps to improve skin and coat. Omega 3 supplements also help to reduce the volume of hair a cat sheds.

High Quality Food: High quality cat food are important to avoid hairball. Choose food that contains healthy ingredients.

Enough Hydrated: Provide your cat with enough water if your cat is on dry cat food. Otherwise, choose a suitable wet cat food. You can also afford a small water fountain for your cat to improve her drinking habit.

A Healthy Diet: Cats are a carnivorous animal. They can’t digest carbohydrate rich food. We recommend feeding high protein cat food to your cat. You need to look for a nutrition rich food for your cat overall health.

A Petrolatum based lubricant some time help to move hair through cat’s gastrointestinal system. Normally, cats often resist taking this. We don’t recommend it for your cat.

Dietary Fiber: Cat food specially made for hairball control contains dietary fiber. Fiber helps to move hairball naturally through cat’s system. A good hairball food contains a high level of fatty oil also supplies all healthy nutrient to keep your cat healthy.

FAQs

How Can I Help My Cat Pass a Hairball?

There are many different ways to help your cat to pass hairball. We have already discussed several ways to do it One of the home remedies you can try is canned pumpkin.  But, sometime hairball could be very painful. If your cat is in trouble to pass hairball. Kindly take your cat to your veterinary doctor immediately.

How Do I Know If My Cat Has Hairball?

If you see you one of the symptoms like vomiting, lethargy, nonstop gaggling, retching, diarrhea and constipation. These are the sign of hairball. We have talked about in detail above.

Can A Hairball Kill a Cat?

Hairballs are natural to cats. It is a way for cats to rid of her hair stuck in her stomach. But, If it happening very often with your cat. Then, it could be dangerous. Vet visit is important if you notice it is happening very often.

What Dry Cat Food Is Best For Hairballs?

We recommend Royal Canin Hairball Dry Cat Food for hairball. You can complete about this review above.

What Is The Best Cat Food for an Elderly Cat Who Has a Lot of Hairballs?

You can go for Hill’s Science Diet Dry Cat Food, Adult 7+ for your elderly cat.

What is Best Hairball Treats for Cats?

There is plenty of hairball treat available out there, you can choose from. Greenies Feline SmartBites Hairball is one of them. This is rich is fiber blend, delicious dual texture food. Also provide essential vitamin, minerals, and also contains other naturally healthy ingredients. It is recommended for cats one year old and above.

Kristen Torres

Kristen is a cat parent. Love to keep my cats happy always and playful. Also, It became my passion to help another cat owner with caring tips for their cats and kittens. Stay tuned with my personal blog to know more caring tips, review of cat food and feeding guides. I’d love to know about your cat. If you something to share with about your cat. I will be happy to read.