# Furminator -- Is it good?



## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

I have two long-haired cats and, of course, they shed. I heard some good things about the Furminator brush so was considering to buy one. Then I went to the pet store and the price tag on that little purple brush stunned me. $45 for a brush?! Is it really worth the price? Anyone who has it, could you share some opinions? If its really that good, I'll go for it. Thanks a lot!


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## princessbear (May 19, 2011)

It really IS that good! You wouldn't believe how much fur comes off your cat with this thing - all the undercoat and loose fur that gets stuck. I bought the "small" one for cats under 10 lbs because Bella was 7 lbs when I got her - but I wished I had bought the larger one so I don't have to do that many swipes with it. And make sure you get the one for long hair! They have 2 - one for long and one for short hair.

If you watch the Petco website, they have 40% off everything, etc. online and that's how I got mine. I'm going to get the big one at some point.


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## lyttleravyn (May 5, 2010)

I love the furminator, but only for short-coated dogs and cats. Long coats can be damaged by the tool since it can actually cut the longer hair instead of pulling out the dead coat at the skin. Also it can easily irritate skin with over-use. It should be used with a very very light hand and no more than few swipes in the same spot before taking a break from that area. 

At work I offer a de-shedding treatment for long-haired cats (and dogs) but use a took called a de-shedding "rake" my favorite being the Mars Coat King. It is designed to penetrate the longer coat to get to the undercoat at the skin. It is dull so it won't cut the hair (which damages it) and is much less likely to irritate the skin. Regular bath and blow dry grooming appointments can also reduce shedding a lot (especially the blow dry which loosens dead coat and then it is combed/brushed out). I also would follow any brushing with a fine-tooth comb which will also pull out a lot of dead coat as well (I love my Chris Christiensen Cat Comb).


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## its.alice (Jun 15, 2011)

I used it on my mom's 3 cats, when I was back home after the earthquake here in March, and she has noticed MUCH LESS hair floating around her one bedroom apt. The cats LOVE it and practically run at her when she picks up the brush. :3

I have used it on a long-coated cat before, and while he didn't SAY he liked it, he definitely showed it.


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## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

princessbear said:


> It really IS that good! You wouldn't believe how much fur comes off your cat with this thing - all the undercoat and loose fur that gets stuck. I bought the "small" one for cats under 10 lbs because Bella was 7 lbs when I got her - but I wished I had bought the larger one so I don't have to do that many swipes with it. And make sure you get the one for long hair! They have 2 - one for long and one for short hair.
> 
> If you watch the Petco website, they have 40% off everything, etc. online and that's how I got mine. I'm going to get the big one at some point.


Thanks for the opinion! I do noticed different types of brushes for long-haired and short-haired, but frankly, aside from the color of the handle, I cannot see any difference.. Maybe the secret is hidden inside? :roll: My friend offered to lend me his Furminator to try it out first, but his brush is for short-haired dogs, so I'm not sure if that hand-on experience is helpful...

As of size of the brush, actuall I prefer smaller ones. Yes, there are more work with small brush, but I can easily reach small corners or narrow areas, like under armpit, the furry butt, top of head between ears... But it's just me. I guess we all have different ways/preferences of brushing our furry friends


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## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

NJgroomer said:


> I love the furminator, but only for short-coated dogs and cats. Long coats can be damaged by the tool since it can actually cut the longer hair instead of pulling out the dead coat at the skin. Also it can easily irritate skin with over-use. It should be used with a very very light hand and no more than few swipes in the same spot before taking a break from that area.
> 
> At work I offer a de-shedding treatment for long-haired cats (and dogs) but use a took called a de-shedding "rake" my favorite being the Mars Coat King. It is designed to penetrate the longer coat to get to the undercoat at the skin. It is dull so it won't cut the hair (which damages it) and is much less likely to irritate the skin. Regular bath and blow dry grooming appointments can also reduce shedding a lot (especially the blow dry which loosens dead coat and then it is combed/brushed out). I also would follow any brushing with a fine-tooth comb which will also pull out a lot of dead coat as well (I love my Chris Christiensen Cat Comb).


It's nice to have some suggestions from a pro groomer  I live in Canada and I don't remember seeing the Mars Coat King or Chris Christiensen here. But I will search for it. For the fine-tooth comb, the ones I saw in the store are those flea combs. I remeber hearing someone says we shouldn't use flea comb on cats if there is no flea. No sure if that's true...


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## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

its.alice said:


> I used it on my mom's 3 cats, when I was back home after the earthquake here in March, and she has noticed MUCH LESS hair floating around her one bedroom apt. The cats LOVE it and practically run at her when she picks up the brush. :3
> 
> I have used it on a long-coated cat before, and while he didn't SAY he liked it, he definitely showed it.


Actually my cats don't shed a lot (except one month in spring). I don't see hair floating in my house  It's just I don't want them to eat a lot of loose hair while grooming themselves and then throw up hairballs. My cats don't mind being brushed (I think they actually like it) if I'm not interrupting their play session :cool But they definitely won't run at the brush (wow it's so cute!). It's nice to know brushing with Furminator won't hurt though :smile:


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## Time Bandit (Aug 17, 2010)

The Furminator is awesome! It works wonders on both my longer haired and shorter haired cats. The amount of hair that comes off is insane. XD

The price for one is a little scary. Thankfully I found one on Amazon for under $20...shipped. I suggest you start your search there.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

All my cats hated it, so I gave it to my Mom. Her cat likes it.


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## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

Time Bandit said:


> The Furminator is awesome! It works wonders on both my longer haired and shorter haired cats. The amount of hair that comes off is insane. XD
> 
> The price for one is a little scary. Thankfully I found one on Amazon for under $20...shipped. I suggest you start your search there.


I live in Canada and Amazon.ca doesn't have furminator for cats (at least that's last time I checked). I could buy on amazon at us or ebay and have it shipped here, but adding the shipping/handling and extra tax, the price won't be much different :/ Also if my cats don't like it, I assume returnning an item bought online is not that easy?

PS: One bad thing living in Canada is you don't get lots of good deals...


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

They're great, even on Blacky... I just have to go a little slower when working on her.

I've seen Furminator knockoffs for 10-15 dollars in a few stores, maybe look around and you'll find something the same... but cheaper. I mean, you could almost do the same thing with some electric hair trimmers. Not turned on of course.


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## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

marie73 said:


> All my cats hated it, so I gave it to my Mom. Her cat likes it.


Marie, do you cats like being brushed by a regular brush/comb? Do you know why they hated it? I noticed all your cats are long-haired, how about your Mom's cat? Maybe long-haired cats don't like their loose furs being pulled off? :?


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

I use a slicker brush on Gigi and Cleo. Gigi likes being brushed, Cleo HATES it. 

The bratz don't really need much brushing, they've never had a matt in their life, but I like to brush them so they're not ingesting all that hair.


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## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

Carmel said:


> They're great, even on Blacky... I just have to go a little slower when working on her.
> 
> I've seen Furminator knockoffs for 10-15 dollars in a few stores, maybe look around and you'll find something the same... but cheaper. I mean, you could almost do the same thing with some electric hair trimmers. Not turned on of course.


10-15 dollars is a really good deal and I will definitely get one if I see price like that. I guess to get a good deal like that, patience is a must 

Electric hair trimmers? Now THAT's scary... But a very interesting thought :smile:


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## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

marie73 said:


> I use a slicker brush on Gigi and Cleo. Gigi likes being brushed, Cleo HATES it.
> 
> The bratz don't really need much brushing, they've never had a matt in their life, but I like to brush them so they're not ingesting all that hair.


Exactly the same brush I'm using here!  Both of my cats likes being brushed, Meatball will even turn over so I can brush her tummy. I'm not worrying about matting either. Same as you, I just don't want them to ingest the hair. But couple of my friends told me how good Furminator is and how it can brush off a lot more loose hairs, so I thought I might give it a try. But with that price, I need to make sure it really worth it :cool


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## princessbear (May 19, 2011)

yingying said:


> Thanks for the opinion! I do noticed different types of brushes for long-haired and short-haired, but frankly, aside from the color of the handle, I cannot see any difference.. Maybe the secret is hidden inside? :roll: My friend offered to lend me his Furminator to try it out first, but his brush is for short-haired dogs, so I'm not sure if that hand-on experience is helpful...
> 
> As of size of the brush, actuall I prefer smaller ones. Yes, there are more work with small brush, but I can easily reach small corners or narrow areas, like under armpit, the furry butt, top of head between ears... But it's just me. I guess we all have different ways/preferences of brushing our furry friends


Yingying - I don't use it on Bella's head or anywhere near her face - the instructions specifically say that it should not be used on or near whiskers (guess it could pull them out)... so I stick strictly to the body and use the regular brush on Bella's face.


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## lyttleravyn (May 5, 2010)

Carmel said:


> They're great, even on Blacky... I just have to go a little slower when working on her.
> 
> I've seen Furminator knockoffs for 10-15 dollars in a few stores, maybe look around and you'll find something the same... but cheaper. I mean, you could almost do the same thing with some electric hair trimmers. Not turned on of course.


While the furminator blade is the same as a #40 blade for trimmers, the big difference is that the cutting blade has been removed. So I would not recommend using the trimmers (even turned off) since it still has that part of the blade intact.


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## alohomora (Jun 3, 2011)

The Furminator removes an incredible amount of fur. My cat hates being brushed in general, but we try to do it at least once a week.


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## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

princessbear said:


> Yingying - I don't use it on Bella's head or anywhere near her face - the instructions specifically say that it should not be used on or near whiskers (guess it could pull them out)... so I stick strictly to the body and use the regular brush on Bella's face.


I see. Thanks for the info! I usually don't read any manuals but I guess I will go over Furminator's manual when I get one :cool


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## littlesushi (Jun 8, 2011)

So am I correct, the furminator only grabs loose fur, and not cut fur? I was always confused about this, but intrigued in this product. Seemed to sound good since I also don't want my kittens to lick too much of their fur, buy I also don't want to shave them lol


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

And you guys complain? Furminator costs $100 in my country, and it's the old version only (the yellow one, not the purple). So when I was in the US last week I naturally had to take advantage and buy a Furminator ($50 at Petco), even if I was undecided whether my cats needed it. Now that I've used it several times, I'm still undecided. Yes, the amounts of hair that come off are big, but I suspect it pulls off hair that's not loose. I hear the click and I don't like it one bit. My friend, who cat-sat Prince in exchange for a Furminator from Petco and cigs from the duty free store at the airport, loves it and only complains about its weight. She says it doesn't pull rooted hair, so maybe I'm wrong. My cats love being brushed, also a couple of my strays do. To be honest, I may be wrong but I think a big slicker brush is no worse than the Furminator and I think cats like its feel better, and it gives them a nice stimulation of the blood circulation underneath. I use a very big slicker brush for every day grooming, the Furminator once a week and a very small slicker brush for the narrow areas. I also use a baby's brush with ultra-soft bristles just as a petting tool.


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## Miss Callie Kitty (Jun 12, 2011)

You can actually buy the furminator at any FS or TSF store in Ontario or at any Petsmart.

For long haired cats I find the shedding blade used for horses just as good...a pony blade is better...does not damage the hair as much.

The furminator is a clipper blade from an Oster...if you get a 36 instead of the 34 that is sold on the furminator...you can make your own brush for long haired cats...I will have to look and see if I still have the "plans" on building one.


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## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

@Straysmommy:
If it costs $100 at here then it becomes really easy to me. I won't even consider buying it  I still think $45 is overly pricy so I will wait until I can find a good deal.


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## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

@Miss Callie Kitty:
I didn't even know they have shedding blade for horses. Do horses actaully shed?


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## littlesushi (Jun 8, 2011)

i caved in and bought one yesterday! i got the long-haired in the large size even though the kittens are 6 and 7 lbs (i figured they would grow into it). they currently don't shed much at all right now but i hear they go through shedding season twice a year. it took off more fur than my normal brushes (i use a slicker brush and a flea comb) but even so i was pretty easy with it since i was worried about irritating their skin. 

they don't really need to be brushed as they don't shed much and i have yet to see a mat, but i'm just trying to do it regularly to get them used to being groomed as kittens so when the need strikes we won't being having too many wrestling matches. so far they seem to be warming up to it fairly well if i catch them at a time when they are sleepy and relaxed


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

yingying said:


> Do horses actaully shed?


Yes, horses grow a winter coat and then they it out in the spring/summer.


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## Hepburn (Feb 9, 2011)

Omigod, it's amazing. I have one for short-haired cats, and I actually get hair off of Niles. Most brushes don't get anything off because his hair is so short! And when I use one on my mom's long-haired cat, WOW, it's crazy how much hair it gets!


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## Leanne2112 (Aug 13, 2010)

It's great if your cats don't mind it! My boys are okay with me doing their backs with us but they attack my hand if I try to go near sides or tummy


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

I saw a friend post a picture of the pile of hair that came off one of her cats. I couldn't believe it. I think I will get one. Both cats are brushed several times of day with a plastic thingy that doesn't take much off. They love it but my had gets tired!


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## yellowdaisies (Jan 25, 2011)

We got this one from Amazon: Amazon.com: FURminator Large Yellow deShedding Tool with 4-Inch Edge: Pet Supplies in SMALL (the blue one), and it's only $21.50. We bought it because Lily kept getting hairballs, and we didn't want her ingesting so much of her fur. Both of our cats hate being brushed in general, but since this works so well and so quickly, we have to do it much less than we would with a regular brush. I am still amazed by the HUGE amounts of fur that come off with this thing!! I probably wouldn't spend $50 for it, but it was totally worth $21.50!


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## kittywitty (Jun 19, 2010)

I also have the furminator and my cats love being brushed with it. I have the one of the older types, the yellow one that I bought a couple of years ago. After I am done brushing my cats, I take the accumulated fur and roll it up like a cigar and let them bat it around. They love it. Just gotta make sure the cat doesn't eat it up...lol


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## applesparks (May 5, 2010)

Maybe look around on ebay? Don't know how shipping to Canada would skew it, but I bought mine (new) off of ebay for much lower than retail... I wouldn't pay $45 for a brush either!


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## love.my.cats (Jan 29, 2009)

I like my Furminator.  Here in Australia they're about $60-$80 in the shops depending on the size but I got mine for $18 off Ebay!


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## Sinatra-Butters (Aug 9, 2010)

I got mine for like $25 on Amazon when they were having a sale. My cats hate being brushed though .


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

I've stopped using it, because I can hear the hair being pulled from the root. My vet says he got one for his dog and doesn't use it anymore either. I don't know, maybe we're wrong. But the cats don't like it and THEY are never wrong.


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