Friday, November 29, 2013

Kitty Woes

This summer, knowing that I wanted a red couch, and that I have a long haired white cat, I went looking for ways to address his shedding.  Winter is now 14 years old, so this is in no way the first time that I've tried to do something about the shedding, but I thought it would be worth another try.

I bought a Furminator, which promises to remove loose hair and reduce shedding.  Winter loves to be combed, so it took all of two or three sessions before he started to expect them reguarly.  I have a table set up in the unfinished area of the basement, and all I'd have to do was go to the basement before Winter would run down there, jump on the table and beg to be combed.  So, we developed a routine of me Furminating Winter every day.

To be clear, there was a LOT of hair removed.  I pretty much removed a whole new cat every time I Furminated him.  I did notice his hair getting a little thinner, but I also noticed decreased shedding and -Hallalujah - an end to the regular hairballs that I used to have to clean up all the time.

So.  It's kind of dark in the unfinished area of the basement.  There's just the one CFL bulb down there, and it's not exactly bright.  That's the excuse that I'm using, anyway, because it probably took me longer than it should have to realize that the Furminator was removing a lot more than just the loose hair.  Uh huh.  It was cutting the hair off at the base.  In the areas that Winter really loves to be combed (neck, belly, and base of his tail) the hair is pretty much gone.

My (normally) beautiful long haired, angora cat is currently covered with bald spots.  It' would be really quite sad, if it wasn't so funny.  ... and it's only been a few days since I figured it out, and his hair is already growing back in.

From now on, I'll be combing Winter daily with a paddle brush, and maybe Furminating once a week after his hair grows back in.

And that red couch I wanted?  I got one in leather, so cat hair shouldn't be an issue.

2 comments:

  1. Ooo I have heard that about the old Furminator more than once! I love leather.. :)

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  2. I made a similar discovery with Voodoo's curls. Just once.
    eek.

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