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I remember watching a cat hack up a fur ball for the first time. I was over at a friend's house who had cats (we were a dog family) and he said if we watched his cat long enough we would see this really cool thing happen. We waited ... and waited ... and waited. Finally, the cat started convulsing that I thought it was going to choke an die.

Then ... a fur ball fell out of the cat's mouth and onto the carpet. I was utterly disgusted and quickly asked my friend if his cat had a disease. "Nah, they all just do that," he explained. Being a boy, gross things are just part of life. I once placed a dead frog in front of my mother's vacuum cleaner and the suction gave the allusion that it was breathing -- and it freaked us all out. But fur balls? I couldn't handle it and wrote off cats as a possibility to be a pet in my household.

But author Gary Null in Natural Pet Care: How to improve your animal's quality of life explains that there are ways to cure fur balls -- along many other ailments: fasting. Pets may not be conscious of the eco-friendly lifestyle, but they do enjoy natural things.

Check out Null's recipe for brewing a healthy natural broth for your pet during fasting and a few other practical tips as well:

"When your pet is fasting you might try boiling sea vegetables, like kombu, to make a nutrient-rich broth. Given every few hours during the day, it will keep potassium and magnesium levels up. That, in turn, alleviates feelings of hunger. Another good brother for fasting employs a base of chicken, turkey, beef, fish, diced organic liver, or vegetables (avoid bouillon cubes; their ingredients are counterproductive to cleansing). Place the base in a large soup pot with a gallon of distilled water, cover, and simmer over low heat until the meat falls off the bone or the vegetables soften. Cool and strain off the liquid. (Freeze edible meat to be used later as pet food). If your pet is overweight, skim fat from the liquid before serving. For flavor, add a teaspoon of sea salt or kelp to each gallon of broth, and if you like, some garlic or a tablespoon of vitamin C powder. The broth can be stored in a sealed container and kept for up to a week in the refrigerator and for several months in the freezer. This broth, in addition to staving off hunger, is highly nutritional. And when your pet is not fasting, the broth makes an excellent flavor enhancer for regular food.

"Another idea to keep in mind for when your pet is fasting: Try freezing a little fruit juice into cubes so that your animal can lick them at dinnertime to get a sense of eating. Moreover, you should also let your animal exercise on a fasting day to get its mind off food. Exercise has the added advantage of helping the bowels move to eliminate poisons."