The FURminator deShedding Tool

My Introduction to The FURminator

As a lifelong cat lover, and a feline only veterinarian for the last 20 years, I have always been on the lookout for products that will improve the quality of life and longevity for cats. However, I'm also not the first, by any means, to jump on the bandwagon prematurely. In fact, I'm a bit of a skeptic when a new product comes out with grandioso claims.

So, I have to admit that when I first heard about FURminator products, I was skeptical, just as I have been with any other new products that claim to perform miracles. However, I have taken care of cats for so many years and have always looked for better solutions to particular cat problems including:

(1) hairballs in cats, which is easily the number one problem that brings cats to my hospital complaining of cats throwing up, and

(2) matting of cat fur, especially as they gain weight, become older, or have any kind of health problem that decreases their self-grooming habits. I felt I owed it to my clients, my readers, and to cats to at least give this new deshedding tool a try.

Cat Grooming

I have seen terrible, terrible cases where a cat was literally one big mat – the mats covered the whole body, there was not a single hair that wasn’t part of a mat, and all the mats were attached to each other.

In cases such as these, as we clip the cat, the mats come off literally as one large mat in the shape of the cat. The process of clipping these extreme cases is slow, tedious, and very painful for the cat. Sadly, with proper grooming from their owners with the right tools, this is completely preventable.

Cats Hairballs

In spite of their owners using one of the many hairball lubricants on the market and/or feeding foods that claim to help hairballs, I've also seen many cats that continued to gag and try to vomit up hair balls or actually throw up hairballs.

It's perfectly understandable why cats have problems with hairballs. Just watch your cat for one day and see how often she grooms herself. They are well-equipped for this job - ever feel a cat's rough tongue on your skin? Ouch. That rough tongue does a great job of cleaning your cat's fur, but of course, in the process of doing so, your kitty swallows a fair amount of hair.

FURminator Deshedding Tool

When I first tried out the FURminator, my staff and I were literally astonished by the results.

We had a cat in for the day for an exam, vaccines, and a brush-out. He was a short haired cat with a fairly nice hair coat. However, the owner said that the cat was constantly shedding. Regardless how much they used a cat comb on him, there was always excessive cat hair flying through the air and all over the furniture.

I had known the family for a long time and they were very caring owners. I know that they had really tried to do something about the excessive hair problem by combing this cat on a very regular basis. But, despite their diligence, they couldn’t get the excessive cat shedding problem under control.

My head technician/groomer took the cat into the area of my hospital reserved for grooming a cat. I was a little surprised when, just 5 minutes later, I saw her returning the cat to his condo. I asked her how she could possibly be done in such a short time. She said that she had combed and combed with all of our regular grooming tools until she had removed all the fur that would come off. She was adamant that there was no more hair to be combed out.

I was still not convinced that she was unable to get more hair and that such a severe shedding problem could be resolved with such a brief grooming. I suddenly remembered that she was not working the day I talked about trying out the FURminator and that she was unaware we finally had one to try. I told her to take the cat back and give the FURminator a try. This would be the perfect opportunity to see if it came even close to living up to the company’s claims.

My technician looked at me with skepticism, but got the cat and our new deshedding tool. Within a couple of minutes, she came back with this large ball of fur in her hands, easily more than triple the size of what she had been able to remove using our standard cat brush. All of it had come off the cat from using the FURminator!

I asked her to continue brushing the kitty for a few more minutes until there wasn't any more cat fur coming off of him. We were all absolutely floored by the amount of hair that came off this cat that a standard deshedding tool had left behind!

We immediately took pictures to show you the difference between the amount of cat fur the standard grooming tools removed and the amount that had been taken off by the FURminator.

I have to add that this cat thoroughly enjoyed his grooming session with the FURminator. As you can see in the pictures, he was quite comfortable.

When the owner came to pick her kitty up, we showed her the amount of cat hair that had come off and she was absolutely flabbergasted. We showed her the difference between the tools and the amount of hair they each removed, and she immediately wanted to know if we sold FURminators so she could buy one of her own!

We don't have a retail center in our veterinary hospital, so I did not have anything to sell her. Instead, I referred her to the FURminator website. It was pretty obvious she was going to become an immediate customer.

After this experience, my staff and I were left feeling like we would be doing an injustice to all of the cats that we groom, as well as all the cats that come to me with a hairball problem, if we don't use the FURminator.

I've always tried to use the best equipment and technology to care for the cats in my hospital and this deshedding brush is now one of those essential pieces of equipment. Without it, I know I would be running an inadequate hospital. If I don't have a FURminator, use it on every cat that comes in for grooming, and recommend it for all cats hairball problems, I will be doing my clients and patients a great injustice.

The company makes 4 types of grooming tools for adult cats of all shapes and sizes:

- Short Haired, Small Cat (under 10 pounds)

- Short Haired, Large Cat (over 10 pounds)

- Long Haired, Small Cat (under 10 pounds)

- Long Haired, Large Cat (over 10 pounds)

They also sell a wonderful tool for kittens called My FURst Groomer, designed with a kitten's delicate skin in mind.

And, they now sell a line of Waterless Grooming products for cats.

I am thrilled that FURminator is sponsoring our website, allowing me to keep providing cat health information and answering your cat questions for free. Despite their sponsorship of our site, however, I want to reassure all of you that my reviews are completely honest and independent of any relationship I may have with any company. If the product isn’t worth my time, yours, or your cat’s, then the company will not be accepted as a sponsor... But, in this case, there is no doubt in my mind that every cat owner should own one of these amazing cat grooming supplies. Cats and hairballs and shedding problems all go hand-in-hand, but the FURminator is an amazing tool for greatly reducing these problems!

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