I have 2 very fluffy cats - Maine Coons - and although I brush them every day they still seem to suffer from hacking up hairballs. Nearly died when I saw the first one - thought it was a dead mouse

I've looked on the interwebs and have seen gels to put in food or indoor cat grass to help with roughage. Not sure if either of these will be any good?

Grateful for any help on this.

If you consult your vet about this he will sell you katalax, which is a very expensive brown paste in tube. You can get something almost identical in a pet shop under various names (defurrum, sherleys furball remedy) which is a quarter of the price. It will give you the dosing rate on the tube, I usually give it once a day for five or six days and that does the trick. With very furry cats you will probably have to do this every few weeks.

It is a flavoured oily paste which improves the transit of fur through the system, it's malt flavoured which most cats will enthusiastically lick off your finger - hopefully yours will do so, or you're in for a fight

We use the Sherleys hairball paste with our cats and they love it. As soon as I get the tube out they come running and practically take my fingers off trying to lap it all up. I got it in Pets At Home, but I would imagine most pet shops stock it, or something similar.

You can get special foods and anti-hairball treats too, but we've found the paste does the trick, without having to bother with them.

My babies love Defurrum and it does seem to work. I just put a blob on my finger and they lick it off like they haven't eaten for weeks!

All of my cats have loved the furball remedy pastes - except one, who looks at me like I've slapped her if I try to persuade her to take it. I have to hold her down and wipe it into her mouth. My mother has had two cats who wouldn't countenance it either - life is a lot easier when they like it!
(and yes you can buy it in almost any pet shop.)

Thanks everyone got some on order so hopefully it will work!

Apparently a good percentage of a hairball is made up of congealed fat wrapped up in the hair...Nice eh? So adding Lecithin to the diet will actually help digest this fat and braek the furr ball down so it can be passed.
I have one cat with very short but dense fur and he has always had hairballs.....yes the paste helps, but a recent stubborn blockage needed the Lecithin to get rid.
( NB. Most lecithin supplements are soya basd which are ok for infrequent use, but soya has been linked to disturbed thyroud function. It is possible to source egg based lecithin which is better for along term use with a cat.)

Noted! I've always had short haired cats but now have a very fluffy cat/squirrel cross with a tail like Basil Brush. She yakks up the biggest hairballs ever!