The secret to doing that is to put the stuff on your finger, then wipe it off on the cat. That way it's smeared into his fur, and he can't 'thwipa thwipa' it off - he has to lick it clean.
Yeah, I feed him really good food (Taste of the Wild) but he definitely has a hairball that he can't quite get rid of. He tries to cough something up, and nothing comes up, and then he swallows, and this happens 2-3 times a day that I know of. So I'm hoping that the lubricating stuff will help him get rid of it. (He's done this for as long as I've had him.)
What seems to work well is to squirt the goo onto the back of a spoon and then use that to rub it into his arm fur. And on the plus side he's stopped with the almost-hairball-coughing-up cough, so it's at least probably effective.
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I've been feeding them Wellness brand indoor formula. I suspect that getting any premium cat food could eliminate hairballs.