Why trust this review
I am Dr. Sarah Kim, DVM, DACVIM, and I have spent most of my career managing the internal medicine cases that come from owners trying to solve problems at the pet store. Hairball products are a perfect example. I see cats every month whose owners reached for a gel when the real issue was flea-driven over-grooming, a thinning coat from kidney disease, or an actual foreign-body obstruction that needed surgery. So I review a product like Laxatone with one question in front of everything else: does it help, and does it quietly let a more serious problem hide?
For this review I am writing as a clinician who has recommended, and de-recommended, petrolatum lubricants for years. I followed the testing protocol on our methodology page and cross-checked general cat-care guidance against the ASPCA and the AVMA. Nothing in this review is a medical claim about curing or treating disease, because a lubricant gel does neither.
How I tested Tomlyn Laxatone Hairball Remedy Gel for Cats
I used the 4.25 oz gel over 4 months on three cats with very different needs: a 12-year-old longhaired Maine Coon mix who produced a hairball roughly weekly, a 4-year-old shorthaired tabby with seasonal spring shedding, and a 7-year-old Persian whose flat face and dense coat make grooming a daily chore. I tracked how readily each cat took the gel, how often hairballs appeared before and during use, and how the product behaved on fur, whiskers, and my hands.
I deliberately did not force the gel on any cat. I offered it on a fingertip, smeared a small amount on a front paw for the cats who refused a finger, and noted refusals honestly. I also weighed the cats monthly to make sure appetite and condition stayed normal, since any drop would have ended the test and sent that cat to an exam table.
Who should buy, who should skip
Buy this if your otherwise healthy adult cat coughs up the occasional hairball, you already brush regularly, and you want a palatable lubricant to ease passage during heavy shedding seasons. It is a sensible short-term tool, and the tuna flavor solves the biggest practical problem, which is getting a cat to take anything at all.
Skip it if your cat is retching repeatedly and bringing nothing up, has stopped eating, is constipated, or seems lethargic. Those signs can mean an obstruction, and an oily gel is the wrong move. Also skip daily long-term use as a substitute for grooming. If you are reaching for Laxatone several times a week every week, something upstream needs fixing.
Palatability: the tuna flavor does the heavy lifting
This is where Laxatone earns its reputation. The Maine Coon and tabby licked the gel straight off my finger on the first offer and came back for it. The Persian, predictably fussy, refused the finger but cleaned it off her paw within a minute because cats groom what lands on them. Across 4 months I had a clean refusal only a handful of times. Compared with trying to pill a cat, a flavored gel a cat voluntarily eats is a meaningful advantage, and it is the single biggest reason owners stick with this product.
Effectiveness: a lubricant, not a fix
During use, the Maine Coon’s weekly hairballs dropped to roughly one every two to three weeks, and the tabby sailed through spring shedding with two hairballs instead of her usual six or seven. That tracks with how a lubricant works. Petrolatum and mineral oil coat swallowed hair so it moves through the gut and exits in the stool rather than collecting into a mass the cat vomits up. The ASPCA’s cat-care guidance is clear that brushing and managing shedding matter most, and my results matched that. The gel reduced symptoms but the Persian, whose coat I could not keep up with by brushing alone, still produced hairballs because the volume of swallowed fur was simply too high. The product cannot out-lubricate a grooming deficit.
Ingredient quality: fine occasionally, not a daily food
My one real reservation is the base. White petrolatum and mineral oil are effective lubricants, and the formula includes sweeteners to drive palatability. None of that worries me for occasional use. It does worry me as a daily additive. Oil-based laxatives, given frequently, can interfere with the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, which is why I treat this as an intermittent tool and tell owners the same. This is also why I scored ingredient quality lower than the rest. It does its job, but it is not something I want a cat eating every single day for years.
Measurements that matter
A pea-sized amount, roughly a quarter inch of gel, was my working maintenance dose by eye for an average adult cat, given two to three times in a heavy-shedding week rather than daily. The 4.25 oz tube lasted all 4 months across three cats with plenty left, which makes the per-use cost genuinely low. The texture is the practical downside I kept noticing: it is greasy, it clings to whiskers and the fur around the mouth, and it transferred to my fingers and the occasional countertop. None of that affects performance, but it is the part of the experience no marketing photo shows you. For exact dosing by your cat’s weight, follow the label and confirm with your veterinarian rather than my by-eye estimate.
If your cat needs more than this, the issue is almost certainly the amount of hair going in, not the lubricant. You can compare related options in my other cat supplement reviews, but a brush will usually outperform any of them.
How this product has changed
Laxatone has existed in some form for decades, and the gel I tested in 2026 is the familiar tuna-flavored petrolatum paste owners have used for generations, now sold under the Tomlyn name alongside a chewable version for cats who prefer a treat to a smear. The core formula concept has not meaningfully changed, which is both its strength and its ceiling. It is a known, predictable lubricant.
What has changed is the surrounding advice. The AVMA and the ASPCA both emphasize that frequent hairballs are a reason to look closer, not just to lubricate. A cat that suddenly produces far more hairballs than usual may have a skin condition, parasites, pain, or stress driving over-grooming, and none of that is solved by a gel. I keep Laxatone in the cabinet as a reasonable occasional aid, and I would tell any cat owner the same thing I tell my clients: use it to smooth out a heavy shedding season, keep brushing, and if the hairballs keep coming, the next call is to your veterinarian, not back to the shelf.