Favourite hairball remedy?

Lily is getting a bunch of hairballs lately, the poor girl! It's getting warmer, so they're all shedding a bit more than usual. Lily grooms Smudge as well, who is a big shedder, so she's ingesting 2 cats worth of fur

She's also a shy cat, and sheds when she gets stressed, which doesn't help, and we try to brush her as often as we can with the Furminator, but she'll only allow so much grooming before she freaks out and runs off, and she only allows it on her terms.

So we're going to add a hairball remedy as well. I can find Petromalt, Laxatone, Drs Foster and Smith brand remedy, "Defurrum" treats and paste...

Does any one work better than the other? Is there a particular flavour that cats seem to prefer?

Brushing nightly is the all-time best hairball treatment in my house. When my girl starts hacking up hair, I know it's a reminder for me to brush her.

Unfortunately I can't brush her enough, or enough of her for this to be the only treatment.

We use petromalt malt flavor. The boys hated it the first 2-3 times. I had to wipe it on Harley's paw and I wiped it on the roof of Jack's mouth. Now they lick it right from the tube. Although since we've started raw Harley's symptoms have subsided almost completely. Which sorta makes me sad as Petromalt had become Harley's weekly treat (he responds to nothing else) and now he doesn't need it. I tried to give some to momma cat last week because she was trying to bring up a hairball and she wouldnt' take it from my finger, so I brought it inside for Harley to lick off and he was so happy!!

Leslie

I use Laxatone, I wipe it on Libby's paw and she licks it off.

I got the tuna flavoured Laxatone, and of course Lily turned her nose up. Stumpy loves it though! I mixed some in with some fancy wet food, and locked the other 2 up and gave it to Lily - she loves tinned food, but rarely gets it. She sniffed it and gave me that "what sort of an idiot do you take me for?" look, and walked off Of course Stumpy thought it was her lucky day and wolfed that down too.

So I'll be putting it on Lily's paw once she let me come near her again

I use plain ordinary Vaseline Petroleum Jelly. It's flavourless. It's non-toxic. It's edible. And it's 100% pure and won't cause diarrhea because there is no malt in it. I checked with my vet about it and he told me it was perfectly fine to give to my cats siting the reasons I listed above.

It is the only thing I can get Abby to take. Chynna loves it too. Of course, Chynna likes most everything except for the food she is supposed to be eating!

Ha! I managed to smear some on her paw, and she spent close to a minute sniffing all around the ground and her feet trying to figure out where that smell was coming from Silly girl

She finally found it, realised it wasn't too bad, and I could give her more directly from my finger

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

I use plain ordinary Vaseline Petroleum Jelly. It's flavourless. It's non-toxic. It's edible. And it's 100% pure and won't cause diarrhea because there is no malt in it. I checked with my vet about it and he told me it was perfectly fine to give to my cats siting the reasons I listed above.

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I also use Vaseline Petroleum Jelly. (it's cheap too) All my cats use to love it and would lick it right off my finger. Maggie isn't crazy about it, it's just ok so I put a little on her paw. Of course, she's so prissy and doesn't want anything wet or a little greasy touching her precious coat. She gives me the stink eye for it but licks it off lol

Question.

Is this mostly a long haired cat issue? Napolean is a shorthair, when Pause was around he was what I would consider a medium hair and he would shed ALL the time. Neither of them hacked up hairballs. Why do cats do this? I'm just curious I hear about it happening but *knock on wood* it hasn't happened yet at my house.

butter ... then olive oil ... then vetbasis

Plain old vaseline is all I use, too. It (or similar substances) are the active ingredient in the hairball remedies and its cost is just a fraction of their cost. One of my cats (Rocket) loves the stuff; the other two will tolerate it being stuck on the back of their tongue.

I've got to say butter... Bugsy was having some serious hairball issues, and I gave to him just a little butter, smeared on his paw. I think it was about 1 1/2-2 months ago, and he has had no recurrence to date. I rather give them buttern the petroleum jelly any day

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but I've always read/heard that olive oil or butter are the best natural hairball remedies....so it's what I do, and my kitty has only ever had one hairball in almost 2 years.

Brushing seems to take care of Fawn. Cindy needs a little more help, and actually asks for butter. She likes it, and it does seem to be coincident with hairball cough -- and as soon as she has had a couple of butter treats the hairball situation settles. She has never actually presented one. She seems to know what she needs and when.

Butter here. I still remember giving Damita hairball meds - smeared it on her paw. She promptly raised her paw above her head & shook it. Hairball paste all over the walls. Butter after that!

I wish I could get Maggie to like butter, she wants no part of it. She doesn't mind petroleum jelly so I guess I'll stick with that.

Riley used to have bad hairball issues. It was a weekly thing for him to cough one up. Since I've started growing cat grass, and giving him a nibble each day, he's had one hairball in about 4 months!

I highly recommend it

I buy the seeds in bulk on ebay and just grow them in a little pot in the kitchen.