If you add a tablespoon (more or less) of canned pumpking to some wet food, you'll find good results to resolving hairballs. It's healthier than butter, too.

Some cats really, really like the taste of pumpkin. Some need it mixed with canned food. Be sure to be store it a plastic container and pay attention to the freshness. It will expire and grow mold if left too long in the fridge.

My long haired cat, Sasha, loved it so much, she would eat it plain.

Here is a hint for pumpkin preservation: Put the pumpkin into an ice cube tray. Freeze the cubes over night, then transfer them into a zip lock bag. Defrost a couple cubes at a time as needed. This will allow you to buy the larger cans...much more economical!

L

Butter is not really working. He is still puking up a hair ball every 6-7 days.

Well, it's good that the the hair balls are coming up. Not good would be hairballs constipating him. Butter is fairly soluble so I doubt that would work. Try petroleum jelly -that's what's in the commercial 'hairball' preparations. Just put a half teaspoon on his paw once a day to start and he'll lick it off.

Is he a long haired cat? I'd try brushing him so you remove some of the loose hair that he is swallowing when he cleans himself. my cat has medium length hair but she usually brings up her hairballs outside luckily but a long hair cat can swallow quite a bit of hair but if you brush him a few times a week it will get rid of some of the loose hair so he doesnt swallow so much

He is what I'd call medium haired. I do brush him about once a week but probably should do it more. He doesn't go outside so brushing him is fairly messy in which both me and the carpet get covered in cat hair.

I almost switched his dry food to hair ball formula (Science Diet) but chickened out. He's been eating Nutro since he was a baby (supposed to help hairballs but clearly doesn't).

So petroleum jelly won't hurt him? I did notice that the formulas at Petsmart were either this or mineral oil.

Try brushing a little bit every day instead of trying to do one thorough brushing once weekly. It's no less messy but easier for you and your cat. You may wish to try a Furminator, which helps to pull out the shedding undercoat. Most of my cats love the Furminator, except one who has extremely sensitive skin. Follow the Furminator with a few strokes of a plain brush to get the loosened hairs off.

Also check his diet. If you're feeding dry food, you're handing over loads of carbohydrates that cats cannot digest. You're also depriving him of fluids. Cats lack a sufficient thirst drive so won't drink as much as they need-their bodies are made to take fluids from their foods. Try to switch him over to less dry food and more tinned food, and give him a little piece of real meat from time to time instead of commercial cat treats. You can also try to provide him with moving water-a dripping faucet or a cat fountain can help to get more fluid into your cat.

Another thing you might consider trying is grass. Cats eat grass not because it's nourishing, but because it helps them to pass or regurgitate the undigestible parts of their food-such as hair, some bones, and gristly stuff. You can buy little cat grass kits, you can sow a little parsley seed into a cup of soil (my cats love parsley seedlings), even catnip which has the added buzz bonus.

And feeding him foods that aren't loaded with artificial colours will help greatly to reduce staining on carpets. Most dry foods have lots of colours added so that they look more palatable to us humans. The cat doesn't give a hoot what colour its food is as long as it tastes good.

Have you asked the vet why your cat is so prone to hairballs? I wonder if there might be an underlying condition affecting him. Worth looking into if your efforts aren't paying off.