The active ingredient in hairball remedies is petrolatum.......... vaseline. You can mix a teaspoon of vaseline with ferretone (yummm!) and your ferret hopefully will take to that. If not right away, then offer a teaspoon of vaseline in the cup of our hand with a few drops of ferretone dripped right on top of it to get them started. As with any new food/treat, you may have to put a little in their mouth (just behind the canines - the long teeth) for them to taste it. Most ferrets actually like it, even if it sounds unappetizing to us. I have found that my ferrets like the vaseline/ferretone mixture better than hairball remedy anyway and they don't get all that sugar that they don't need along with it! HOWEVER, if your ferret already has symptoms of a blockage, you need to bypass this treatment and take the ferret to the vet immediately. Intestinal blockages are an emergency and can kill a ferret really quickly. By the time there is a blockage it is usually too late for a hairball remedy to be effective. jacquie rodgers, kylie & gilbert [Posted in FML issue 4594]