A Hair-Shedding Mechanism

My cat, Carmel, sheds an inordinate amount of hair.  At least that is how I see it.  In addition to finding his hair in the usual places, such as on my clothing and clumped on the carpet, I also find his hair on my computer, inside magazines, stuck to my other cat, flying through the air, backstroking in my sink water, and I suspect several hairs have made their way to the moon by now.  Curious about how much hair is in the coat of a normal housecat and how much of that a cat sheds over a given time, I surfed the net for information.

Not much out there for answers.

Wiki.answers suggested that an average cat might have 30 to 50 million hairs.  Several places indicated that a cat might have up to 120,000 hairs per square inch.  The number varies by the breed and the size of the cat.  I also learned that most cats have three types of hair: down, awn, and guard hair.  Down hair is soft and short.  Awn is coarse and medium length.  Guard hair is long.

Still, no firm answer on Carmel—my personal hair-shedding mechanism—and how many of his 50 million hairs he flings around the place.

Here is my best guess as to how much hair my cat sheds: as much as he possibly can.

I have posted a picture of Carmel.  My apologies if he sheds on your computer screen as you read this.

--Mitchell Hegman