From an article I found...

What you should know about Cat’s Shedding

The truth about cat shedding is that every cat lovers must accept it, because this is normal natural event in the cat’s life. Shedding is how animals replenish their fur and keep it in good condition.

Cats in the wild generally shed their coats twice yearly, in the spring to lose the heavy winter undercoat and in fall in preparation for the "grow-in" of the next winters' undercoat. However, since we have domesticated cats and subjected them to air-conditioning in summer and artificial heat in winter, their systems have been confused enough to put them into a constant shedding state.

Cats shed in order to remove dead hair from their bodies. Dead hair can cause skin irritation and thus needs to be gone. If you do not remove it for them, they will release it on their own.

Hair shedding is considered a sign of health in the cat, because the sick cats do not shed. It happens for different reasons, but basically it depends from the time your cat spends outdoor or whether your cat is purely an indoor cat. The shedding is largely influenced by daylight, and this is called “photoperiod”. The number of hours a cat is exposed to sunlight in a day (photoperiod) triggers the shedding process. In addition, shedding varies considerably with breed as well as husbandry practices (i.e. bathing, grooming, activities, etc.).

Indoor cats shed at any time of the year. The amount of shedding hair is less than the outdoor cats due to the artificial light inside the house, but it depends and from the control of the constant temperature in your home.

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