Furmination

[bunn]

I bought Henning a cheap clone of the Furminator comb, which has special blades that are supposed to strip out the underfur.  And wow, I got a lot of fur off him!  I could knit at least 2 new cats... It seems to be much more effective than an ordinary rake.

Unfortunately, he's not wild about having his sides and belly done - he'll let me do his beard and face as much as I want, and the back and tail are also allowed, but not the rest of him.  So at the moment he has fluffy bits on the sides which make him look even fatter than usual.  Still, I am hopeful that this wonder-comb will eventually significantly reduce the amount of fur sticking to everything we own.

I was surprised to find that Furminating Perl also produced a mountain of fluff, as we don't usually bother brushing her as her coat is short.  Perhaps we should do this in future.  Oddly, Footie, who has the same coat type and is probably some relation of Perl's produced no fluff at all. He seems to be doing really well this year, we haven't had any recurrance of the skin problem that usually bothers him in the spring.  I wish I could work out what we are doing differently.  The only thing I can think of is that he is getting more high-quality wet food.

Comments

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

If I try to brush Magnus' tummy he practically takes my hand off...

Funnily I hardly get anything off either him or Mechtilde when I brush them, but Mikka is like some great big ginger snowstorm. The other two just groom themselves on the carpet...

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I can just about hold Henning and brush his tum, he isn't too mean about it, but he is just so huge that holding down all of him doesn't leave you many limbs left to operate the brush. Usually we do it as a 2-person operation.

[chainmailmaiden]

I have to brush Flossie daily at the moment, as even though she's short-haired she produces mountains of fluff. I get about a kitten's worth of fur off her each time. Even Lindy who's very sleek and non-fluffy is shedding a lot at the moment and requires a comb through every day or so, but then it has been very hot here. They're both a little unsure about getting their tums brushed, but never actually bite. Once they've had enough they just get hold your hand in their mouth and look at you, at which point we retreat :-D

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Most of ours perform a complex wiggle and suddenly reappear about 10 feet away. Well, apart from Perl who rarely gets tired of being brushed. If she were human she'd be the kind of person who just has to go to the hairdresser every week.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

The feline manager of our hotel in Orkney didn't need brushing! Coming within ten feet of me was enough for all his loose white hairs to gravitate towards my black trousers.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Sounds like he *did* need brushing to me! In theory, once sufficiently Furminated, the cat should not shed surplus hair because it's already been removed. Whether this will work remains to be seen...

[chainmailmaiden]

I'd be interested to see if that does work, because despite daily brushings, we still seem to end up ankle deep in fluff bunnies after a couple of days...

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Right. I'll believe that when I see it.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I need to get one of these things. Our red duvet cover is rapidly turning white, since Precious has decided it's her new favouritest place ever. Her old favouritest place, Pellinor's arming jacket, will never be the same again.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

I feel the need to use an icon to illustrate the cats being referred to in this thread.