Cat brushing

Julie commented she is bored because I haven't posted, but the only thing I have done besides read books for the past few weeks is brush the cat. I do have some good info tho, if you ever were to obtain a cat and wish to brush it!

Most of our cats have been short haired and not brushed. My current cat has semi-long hair, and she sheds like crazy, so I try to brush her at least every other day.

At first I used a brush with bristles like a regular hair brush. It is fairly useless, just picking up any random hairs that are already almost falling off the cat. So when I saw the commercial for the "shedender" or "furminator", I thought they sounded fabulous. The one I purchased, I don't remember which, claimed you only had to brush ONCE every SIX months. Wow! What a bargain! The problem is that the cat does NOT stop shedding for six months. She shed the exact same amount, no matter how many fist fulls of hair I removed with the high tech tool. Eventually, in fact, she started getting bald spots. And still shed just as much.

Then I thought, what if I trimmed her hair shorter? Perhaps we didn't notice the other cats' hair cuz it was shorter! After much research, I bought a comb (for people hair) that had a razor in it. It is supposed to cut as you comb. Frankly, it did a nice brush job, but except for one whisker I accidentally caught, I don't think it cut her hair at all. Perhaps cat hair is too soft? The other end of the razor comb was a plain comb. I tried that, and it got just as much hair as the other types.

I also have tried, at some point, the gloves that have rubber nubs and are supposed to groom as you stroke. I haven't found a cat yet that likes them at all.

So my recommendation is to purchase a cheap fine tooth comb. And go at it!

Also, the pet hair velcro roller thing works well on the back of drapes...

Or, don't get a black cat.

Happy now Julie?

Have a great week,
Anne