While cats look absolutely adorable with their fur coat, sometimes they start losing hair or need a shave for some reason. Whatever the reason, many pet parents want to see their cats have a healthy fur coat as soon as possible. The fur not only helps your pet keep themselves warm and look pretty but also saves them from the harshness of the environment and keeps their skin safe.
Why is a Fur Coat important?
As mentioned, the fur coat has numerous functions besides giving your pet a beautiful look. It protects your cat and helps them communicate by:
- Insulation: The fur on mammals’ bodies plays a vital role in insulation from the environment. As cats naturally love to live outside, their body hair helps keep them warm during cold days. It also acts as a mechanical barrier, saving your fur baby from injuries and insects.
- Sensation: You might not know that your cat’s fur is a part of its tactile system. It allows your pet to sense danger and communicate about it by bristling their hair.
Keeping the fur coat in good health contributes to the cat’s overall health. However, it does not always stay the same, and shedding a few hairs is natural. Cats experience the hair cycle that causes the hair to lose and new hairs to grow.
The Hair Cycle
- Anagen Phase: It is the time of rapid growth, and the hair multiplies.
- Catagen Phase: This phase is considered the transition phase where no old hair is shed, and no new hair emerges.
- Telogen Phase: The old hair begins falling; eventually, new hair replaces them.
How soon does Cat Hair Grow on Average?
If you have a cat with luscious fur, it may take up to 6 months for cat hair to grow back. The hair may come back in around 12 weeks for cats with a less thick coat. Yet, you can help the hair grow faster by eliminating the cause of hair loss and stimulating hair growth.
How? Let’s tell you
How To Make Cat Hair Grow Faster
As cat hair does not take much time to grow back and comes back in 12 weeks usually; though, here’s what you can do to improve their hair growth. You can check here if you have a Persian breed.
Maintain Nutrients
If you think that your cat is shedding hair more often or has been shaved for weeks now and the hair has not come back, maybe your cat has nutritional deficiencies. You can offer additional nutrients in your cat’s diet to help with the hair fall or give supplements.
- Choose a cat food brand that has meat as the main ingredient, uses the least preservatives, and is loaded with all essential nutrients in the recommended amount.
- Introduce egg to your cat’s diet. You can offer cooked egg yolk to your feline baby as it contains nutrients like vitamins, minerals, and proteins. It is good to avoid giving albumin (the white part of the egg) as it may obstruct the absorption of biotin which helps with hair and skin health.
Add Supplements
Some cats easily intake egg yolk, whereas others do not like the taste much. What to do in such a case?
The best way to provide vital nutrients to your cat is to add supplements to their diet. Three of the most important supplements for your cat’s fur health include Omega 3, Omega 6, and Zinc. You can find all these separately and incorporate them into your cat’s food as advised, or get a combination of Omega fatty acids. Opting for cat food that contains fish is another convenient way to add omega fatty acids to your cat’s diet.
Zinc is also very important for healthy cat fur as it aids in hair growth. Supplement the cat food with zinc or choose brands that have enough zinc for healthy cat fur as zinc deficiency can cause hair fall.
Regular Brushing
Cats usually shed dead hair, which helps grow new hair. But, they cannot get rid of all dead hair and need proper brushing. Grooming your cat regularly helps remove hair that may get entangled with others and restrict the growth of new hair. They are also excellent sites for dirt entrapment and lead to matting.
Brushing your cat is an important part of the grooming routine and helps them stay pretty and healthy. Some cat species require brushing more often than others. Find the right kind of brush for your feline baby to ensure they get the right treatment and hair grows faster. Check brushes for Persian and Main Coons.
Bathe your Cat
We understand that cats do not appreciate water much and do not want to bathe often. But, allowing them to not bathe for a long time can create problems in the long run. The frequency of bathing should not be similar to brushing as it can deprive your pet of their natural oils; bathing them once a month (if they stay inside) is enough.
Wash your cat with a pet shampoo to remove any dead skin or hair present on its body that may obstruct new hair growth. Giving them a light massage during bathing also stimulates hair follicles and helps cat hair grow fast. You can also use waterless shampoo if they resist water.
Maintain Temperature
Many of us probably do not usually know that the cat’s fur help regulate temperature and survive cold temperatures. If your cat is in a highly cold temperature, it starts losing the body hair to preserve body heat. When your cat is cold numerous times and continuously tries to keep itself warm, it will lose more hair.
Avoid Stress
If you thought that only humans lose hair because of stress, cats experience the same.
Studies have shown that stress can disturb the bodily functions of cats and eventually affect the distribution of nutrients across the body. When your pet does not receive enough nutrients, the fur loses its health leading to more hair falls. You can help your cat by ensuring that they are not stressed. Relax them by giving attention, petting, and brushing your cat to show your care towards them. Reducing stress can highly contribute to improving a cat’s hair growth.
Evaluate and Eliminate the Root Cause
Besides adding nutrients to the cat’s diet, maintaining temperature, and avoiding stress, other solutions could make cat hair grow faster depending on the cause of hair fall. To find the right solution to your pet’s hair fall, evaluate the cause of the problem.
Your fur baby may be suffering from a dermatological or medical health condition causing hair falls like Bacterial Folliculitis, Telogen Defluxion, and Cushion’s disease.
- Bacterial Folliculitis is caused by bacteria invading the hair follicles and causing the hair to fall out. It can be treated with oral antibiotics or need a medicated bath under sedation.
- Telogen Defluxion occurs typically during pregnancy and falls out of all the hair at once, distinguishing it from other health conditions.
- Cushion’s disease is the increased Cortisol production that results in a thin skin and increased hair fall. It is commonly treated by using medication that stops the production of cortisol.
The Bottom Line
The cat’s fur is an incredible part of their body that saves them from harsh temperature and injuries besides giving them an absolutely fabulous look. The fur typically grows in 3 to 6 weeks, yet you can make cat hair grow faster by adding supplements, avoiding stress to the cat, and evaluating the root cause of excessive hair fall.