won't eat any furball remedies

so a friend of mine is having terrible trouble trying to get his cat to eat the furball remedy, they've tried a bunch of things over the last two weeks, she still has the furballs and they still have not found a solution....

can anyone suggest some more palattable options for the cat?

she is fiv+ so i guess they don't really want to stress her out too much with rough handling or force feeding.

Why is she having so many hairballs? Overgrooming? Poor diet? Figuring that out will help a lot and groom her often so she doesn't have so much loose hair. What all have they tried? Olive oil? Pumpkin? Does she eat canned, can they mix something into her food? Put the furball stuff on her paw, some will clean it off and ingest, however some will run off and flick it everywhere so do that in the bathroom or something.

Daphne (name of cat) is an ex feral cat so she is VERY VERY VERY crafty. The one time i helped take her to the vet she ended up crawling through the top of the vets blinds after escaping a vet tech arm lock hold. Very dramatic.

Her people will be watching this thread hopefully they will answer your questions about the sudden hairloss... or the sudden furballs....

bumping - still need some solutions.... anyone?

You could mix 1/2 tsp. Pure petroleum jelly , vaseline, with a very tiny amount of wet food or mix it with the gravy and the cat should lick it up. Some people use mineral oil, same dosage as vaseline. Give it three times a week for a few weeks then once or twice a week is fine after that. Another experienced member here on TCS uses Mexican lard from a Mexican specialty store. The lard is pure animal fat and I am sure the cat would like that too.

so does that mean that any pallatable non-toxic oil is allright?
what about butter?
or... canola or flaxseed oil with some tuna sauce in it?

What have they tried? Does she also have times of constipation?

My girl refuses any hairball remedy known to man, apparently - but, she does like Pet Naturals of Vermont Hairball Treats for cats - the chewy version. I only give her one a day - the bag suggests more for hairballs, then like 2 a day maintenance. For Dharma, two a day is too much.

I pick the bags up at Petco, but I'm sure you can get it on line as well.

Butter works. Cindy sometimes has trouble with hairballs, but giving her a dab of butter (about the size of your fingernail) a couple of times a day, combined with brushing lots, gets her over it quickly. She even comes looking for her butter.

Whatever you give her, smear it on her front paws because she'll lick it off

Also, Royal Canin do an excellent furball kibble that works i think 3x more than ordinary furball food.

Our vet swears by fiber (plain old metamusil). So you can try a non-grit one and add it to food. My kitties do not understand when I mix it with their food.

Pet grass also helps. And my boys go bonkers over it.