A couple of weeks ago, I had a group of friends over to watch the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics. Now, a group of people in the house, as far as one of my cats is concerned, only means that many more hands available for petting and scritching. And this would be, of course, the cat that sheds. As the fur flew about, human conversation turned to various pet brushes. Marge, Binky, and I talked about the Furminator, and I vowed to buy one for myself.
Last weekend, I went to PetSmart. HOLY CRAP, they want $38 friggin’ dollars for a CAT BRUSH?! Yeah, yeah, yeah, there’s a satisfaction guarantee. And the packaging shows all sorts of deshedding success. What really sold me, though, was my own friend’s testimonial. Still, though… $38…
Dave was with me, and within seconds had checked Amazon’s site from his nifty iPhone. $22 for the same model, plus free 2-day shipping for those of us with Amazon Prime. Oh, right, and I won a $5 Amazon credit through Blingo! Score! Okay, I’ll buy that brush for $17. It’s still three times the price of my other cat brush, but this thing is supposed to be the shiznit, right?
The Furminator arrived Wednesday, and I “unboxed” it as soon as I got home. Heeeeeere, kitty kitty kitty! Come here and get Furminated! Brush, brush, brush. Brush, brush, brush. Bruuuuuuuuush brushbrushbrushbrush.
Results: The Furminator removed the same amount of fur as my slicker brush, if not less, before the cat decided he didn’t like it and could he please be excused? The slicker brush never resulted in such a reaction. The Furminator is a lot easier to clean; but the tiny, fluffy bits of fur pick up in the air current and fly about. The slicker brush makes little hair mats, for lack of a better description. Much easier to dispose of.
I will give it another go tonight. If the cat is still shedding a half-pound of fur, and I achieve the same brushing results, I will look further into that satisfaction guarantee.
The World of Wink 
Please keep us updated…after you and several others have mentioned this product, I was thinking we needed to hop on the Furminator bandwagon. But our cat HATES being brushed…so not sure it’s worth it. Let us know how attempt #2 goes.
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The furminator definitely works better than any brush we’ve got, but it takes some handling to get any cat to sit still for it…I have to do it in sessions. I get about 5 minutes with Daisy, 2 minutes with Paka, and 5-8 minutes with Cleo (depending on if she’s just eaten and is too full to run very far). You have to be a bit more aggressive than you are probably used to… Stick with it, you just may need to work on your technique!
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…and when you’ve perfected the technique and you get a chance, I have two dogs and a cat that will happily sit still for you. Just let me know when you’re ready and I’ll bring them over.
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The instructions included with the Furminator specifically say to be more gentle than with a “regular” brush or comb, so that you don’t irritate the animals’ skin. I’ll try to dig deeper, but the grumpy cat was already whining as I tried to Furm her last night, and the happy cat, who usually sits for brushing longer than I’m willing to hold the brush, took off and hid after a few minutes.
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Oh, just to clarify – I meant you needed to be more aggressive in getting your meows to hold still, not in brushing them. 🙂 I had some furminatin’ sessions this afternoon. Daisy always purrs at first and then after a while she starts just growling and then the growling turns to hissing. I think it’s just the sounds of us bonding. 😉
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Hey… this is gonna sound gross, but…
I have this old pocket comb that for some reason I don’t use anymore.
One night (after a few beers with Mike) I found it lying on the back patio table and decided to use it on Peggy… (Peggy is my cat… just so you know; I’m not randomly getting drunk and combing the neighbor girls’ hair. Wait a minute…!)
It worked great!!! I used the little end that is really narrow, and because it had a bunch of old pomade in the comb, it totally collected up all of her freshly combed hair (that usually only finds my black t-shirts)… this worked so well that I actually rub a little pomade (Fiber Grease works best as it is water soluble and the cats can lick it out afterwards…) on the comb and then straight do work!
So… the comb pulls the hair, the pomade holds it to the comb, I throw it in the trash, and my cats rock bitchin’ hairdo’s all day long.
I also have this neat trick for brushing Ringo with a broom… But seeing as how you don’t have a dog, you’re probably not interested…
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Hello there, Wink! I have two dogs. My big dog (who is a husky type) has been Furminated and it worked great. I paid the $38 for the brush–stupid owner!
Since Furmination, he seems itchy. Wait. I mean, he is itchy. I don’t really know if it’s a result of Furmination or if it’s seasonal allergies. His skin does not seem irritated or anything, but he’s scratchin’ like a fiend.
Anyway, this brush worked better than anything I’ve ever used on him because he’s got a very thick undercoat. I, however, don’t do it more than a couple times a week.
Holly
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