Brush for cat with sensitive skin

I don't brush my cat enough. My cat's never really liked brushing, and always attacks the brush after a couple strokes. Someone told me that if you use a rabbit brush, it hurts less so I tried that, same result. But maybe I'm using the wrong brushes entirely? Anyone want to teach me about brushes? My goal is to make her swallow less hair. She overgrooms and the vet told me that her hair was probably irritating her digestive tract (he found a lot of hair in her poop). I don't really have a problem with her shedding on stuff, though, but maybe that's because she's eating all her hair...

I was using brushes like this:
(The rabbit version was like a mini version of this kind of brush)

And now I have a Furminator but I can only ever get like a small hairball quantity of fur off before she starts attacking everything.

I think she has sensitive skin, because I see a lot of dry skin flakes whenever I brush. Which is really only a few times a month, but I don't want to make her bald (since right now I only have the Furminator).

She's a short haired cat, by the way.

My old short haired cat Wesley developed sensitive skin with age, especially above his tail.  I tried several grooming tools on him, including the furminator and ended up with the following soft bristle brush:  
Below is a picture of it.

 
Some cats unfortunately don't like being brushed.   It often helps to give your cat treats while you groom him, but you might have to break the grooming process up into more than one sitting.   The following is an article that might help.
[article="29666"]How To Properly Care For Your Cats Coat  [/article]
This article gives some good ideas as well. http://www.quality-cat-care.com/cat-grooming.html

Hmmm. Too bad it's hard to describe the texture of the bristles in text..... It's the base of her tail that's most flaky, too. (And that area seems to have the most hair coming off when I brush it.)

The bristles are very soft.  There's another product you might try - it's actually a mitt.  Here's the link:  

If your cat really hates grooming tools, this might be an alternative. I bought one of these and it does work, though not as well as the brush.  

You might also look into nutritional supplements.   There was a thread recently on this subject but I can't seem to find it, but here's a general article on supplements.
[article="0"]Nutritional Supplements For Cats  [/article]
One of the supplements recommended for dandruff prevention in cats is omega 3 fatty acid, available in fish oil.
[thread="297338"]Omega 3 Fatty Acids Question  [/thread]
Also, see:

https://www.vetinfo.com/cat-dandruff-treatment-with-omega-3-fatty-acid-supplements.html

I know about the possible omege-3 connection, but she's allergic to fish. I'm thinking about trying krill or green-lipped mussel, but she's recovering from a really bad IBD flare and I'm waiting to make sure everything is stable before adding anything new.

I just realized something we could use to describe how soft the brush bristles are: are they more or less stiff than the base of a cat whisker?

I tried a rubber brush once, but I think the rubber texture kind of skidded against her coat and she didn't like it much. I tried this gimmicky plastic thing you fill with catnip and nail to the corner of a wall (to try to get your cat to brush itself), too, with no success. I'll look around for a soft brush.

To me, the bristles feel about the same.  It's hard to be sure, though.  Don't hold me to that!  

Gives me something to go on. Thanks

And just hang in there, I have a sensitive skinned kitty too.  Before she was rescued, she had mange so bad she lost most of her fur, and even though it has grown back, its thin.  Sometimes even just petting her gently you can feel her skin literally "crawl" under your fingers.  She overgrooms... if you even look at her like you are going to touch her she has to give herself a thorough bath.    But, we started slow, using the mit, then moved up to a brush. We still aren't where were want to be, but she does have a couple spots she LOVES to get brushed, and she will tolerate brushing close to those areas.  She loves it when I take the brush and start under her chin, go up behind her ear, and down her back.  I do that a couple times on each side and then she will let me get a few good strokes down her tail.  so far, I only get 3 swipes on the belly (with her laying in my arms), but she stretches out so they are actually three FULL strokes down her belly and sides.  Still working on the haunches.  She is also learning to brush her teeth.  We have some good dental hygiene days, and others where she barely sniffs the toothbrush, but if you do it every day, you get a lot of opportunities to get it right. 

Maybe something like this would help. It's supposed to feel like a cat's tongue. It's probably not as efficient at removing hair as a real brush, but it might be a good start.

What about the kong brush?

Softish and great at removing hair

http://www.thecatsite.com/products/kong-cat-zoomgroom

Have you and your vet considered feline hyperesthesia? The overgrooming and extreme sensitivity fit the symptoms. Unfortunately, there is no test for this. It's usually diagnosed by eliminating all other causes. One of my friends has a cat with hyperesthesia. She had to stop showing her because the poor kitty couldn't take being handled so much. She recently said that she'd found something that helped a lot, but I wasn't really listening. I'll contact my friend to ask her about it.

I have actually wondered about that, since my cat fits some of the symptoms. It was worse in the past, she used to only allow head pets and if you went all the way to the base of her tail she was totally weirded out (she'd run away or catch your hand). She also does the skin shrugging thing sometimes when I brush her. But she was also kind of traumatized from living with a neurotic chihuahua that couldn't stand anyone else getting attention for the first few years of her life, so it could also be more of a having to learn she can let her guard down and get pet/brushed without getting attacked.