Saturday, April 18, 2015

Furminate!

I don't normally review products, but I had to share this one with my fellow cat-lovers.

As you know, I have three lovely, short-haired cats. But one of them....
 ...hides a secret. She has extremely thick, dense fur... and it mats. Badly.

I've tried all of Mopar's old grooming tools on her. The wide tooth comb, the mat cutter... she hates them all. I've tried just brushing her on a regular basis, but the matts have gotten so bad, she won't even let me use the regular slicker brush on her.

So, I did a little research and came across the Furminator.

 
In addition to promising to reduce shedding up to 90%, it says it gets to the loose undercoat - the main cause of matting. After getting over the sticker shock (almost $60 for a cat brush!!!) I decided to get one and give it a try.

I knew I wasn't going to get to try it on Peno right away, given how wary she's become of brushing. So I grabbed Rocky. He tolerates it for a while, and next to Peno, he's the worst for loose hair.

Well... Rocky thought it was just fantastic. He got a full 20 minutes of Furmination (that's about 10 minutes longer than we get with the slicker brush....) and while I still wasn't allowed to use it on his belly...
That's a lot of hair from just one cat. He also purred through the whole thing.

Next up was Tux. Tux LOVES to be brushed (he use to hate it when I first got him, put persistence on my part changed his tune.) Tux got about 10 minutes. Because of the diabetes, he has lots of little blemishes on his skin. I think the Furminator irritates it little because it gets right down to the skin. He was sure to tell me when he'd had enough.
We still got a respectable pile of fur!

Then it was time for Peno. I had to coax her over with treats. Her Furminating lasted about 2 minutes. And I had to hold her the whole time. No pictures of her with her pile, I'm afraid. I decided it was better to let her go than traumatize her further that night.
 From left to right... Rocky's, Tux's and Peno's...

There's a visible difference in the look of Rocky's coat
And definitely less fur shed when they come for a snuggle.

I'm still not sure $60 is a fair price... but it definitely does the job.... and bit by bit... we are going to get Peno Furminated too...
... whether she wants it or not!

11 comments:

Lorraine said...

I totally agree- while the initial sticker shock is hard to get past, the Furminator truly works, especially on the undercoat.

My cats see me take it out of the drawer and they come running at me.

Delusional Knitter said...

My friend is a groomer and swears by that, I don't know why I don't have one yet ... other than the biting and scratching with brushing, hahaha! Those piles are almost (you have bigger piles) what I sweep up on a regular basis ... hhmmmm. Love the last pic of Peno, hahahaha!

Anonymous said...

Those eyes say, "I don't think so!"

kathy b said...

Big Furminator fans here. Al got us hooked on the fulminator years ago. Your cats look great!

WildflowerWool said...

Your Peno looks just like my Daisy! I have a similar brush and it works wonderful. Daisy loves being brushed. I'm sure over time she'll realize how much better being brushed makes her feel. Good luck!

Araignee said...

Even my ferals love their furminatior. I swear they would stand there letting me comb them until they were bald.

Rachelle said...

I've got something similar which I use on the girls in spring. Ray loves it, she's not normally a purrer, but with this there's an engine in there! Star however is keen for a short space and then she gets overstimulated and scratchy. One of these days I'm going to spin the pile of mostly undercoat I've got off Ray with it and see how it turns out.

Mary Lou said...

I use the equine version on my horse. Wonderful product. Too bad there is no good use for all that hair.

Minding My Own Stitches said...

I picked up a two-sided brush at PetSmart - wire brush on one side and softer bristles on the other. My cat just LOVES being brushed. I usually stick to the bristles because I think the wire might be too abrasive - she's got a short coat and sensitive skin. We have a daily routine with brushing immediately following dinner. She comes running as soon as I pick up the brush!

Samantha said...

Yeah, they're great products, I used to sell a lot of them to the clients with big shedders. Be sure you don't brush them all the time with it, it can (and will) cause bald spots.

RobinH said...

Ooh, poor Peno- she looks so alarmed in that last photo! We have one of the lower-end furminators, and it's great for the short-haired cats. Biscuit just needs to be brushed all the time, but he's matting too.