What can I do to control my cat's shedding?

Most all animals, humans too, shed more heavily at certain times of the year. Assuming you are in a part of the world where summer is coming, your cats are probably shedding their winter coats. And until the bulk of it is gone, there isn’t much you can do. Unless you go to an experienced cat grooming place, I don’t think that would help. I have worked in a lot of grooming places that did cats but really were dog groomers and they really did next to nothing. The best way to get hair out of a dog is a high volume blower. I don’t know if your cats would tolerate it and they are expensive to purchase. Did you see the recent youtube segment of someone vacuuming their cat? Maybe that would work for you.

Best solution for dog or cat owners is to only buy clothes the same color as your pet!

As @rooeytoo said, if it is summertime now where you live your cats are going to shed their coats. It will slow down probably in the next few weeks. Brushing for an hour won’t help. Brushing them every couple days for a a minute might. Think of your own hair, you brush it in the morning and soe hair is in your brush, but if you brush and brush and brush for an hour it can be irritating, and the only hairs that come out are ones that are ready or breaking hair off. If you are pulling fur out that might not have fallen out anyway from your cat, the fur that is ready to fall out tomorrow still will. Hair/fur has a growth cycle, it is ready to come out when it is.

If you use this once every week or two, you can cut the shedding by about 90%. Two of my cats love it, one hates it.

What the heck is that, @syz? A razor or just a comb with tight teeth?

It’s a comb, but somehow it pulls out all of the undercoat. I use it on the cats and the dogs (the fuzzy border collie takes an hour!). Here’s a video on how it works.

I have a similar comb that @syz describes and it is very helpful. When I brush my cats with it I take off so much fur I can make a coat! I wipe them with a moist warm wash cloth first to keep the dry fur from flying in the air as I comb them and also to get any stray hairs I may have missed. If I do that once per week the shedding is minimal. Remember cats also shed when they are afraid or under stress no matter how much you comb them.

@syz is right, that’s a great tool. The first time I used one on our Chow-Sharpei mix I ended up with enough hair to make a small Pomeranian.

I don’t own an animal, but I’m curious as to whether duct tape would work. Perhaps it would take out too much hair at a time? Maybe if you used small pieces of it?

Also, what if you give the cat a hair cut? Like with electric clippers or something, and then do the duct tape thing? Or if duct tape is too strong, you could use something with less sticking power, like postit notes.

No doubt these ideas are silly, but I was curious.

Yes, it is a seasonal thing. Petsmart or other pet retailers carry shed wipes that really help. They come in a canister like baby wipes and cost around $7 for a can of 50.
I have a short haired siamese female that sheds more than my giant bi-color Ragdoll male who has about 5 inches of fur on his body. I just shaved him for summer last week because of the weeds and stickers. Tis the season, keep brushing and maybe try the shed wipes.

Vacuum the cat twice a day.

Okay you can’t really vacuum the cat… find a special comb that is capable of removing loose hair from the undercoat.

@syz thanks I’ve heard alot of good things about that brush I’ll try that, my cats seem to enjoy being brushed as it is. Surprisingly the short haired one sheds more then the long haired one. and @Coloma I think im going to try those wipes for my allergies. Thanks again this helps a lot. Hopefully like everyone else says they’ll stop shedding so bad within a few weeks. :)

@Dazed_and_Confused I was in cat hair hell last week. lol Took my male in for his summer buzz cut and then, because of my allergies I called in Merry Maids for a major spring cleaning. This week is sheer bliss! No cat hair anywhere.

Love those kitties but man, this time of year sucks. My huge fluffy male actually had about 3 baby SLUGS stuck to his belly one night. Gah!

@coloma thanks, Ya its crazy. I Just spent all memorial weekend cleaning and vacuuming. Hopefully the madness ends soon. I love my cats but It’s hard to live with the shedding. :) Thanks again.

@wundayatta So stereotypical male. Duct tape. I love it. No duct tape. You can cut the cat’s hair, but it is really traumatic usually for cats to be groomed by a professional groomer, we did it once to one of our cats, never again.

@JLeslie My guy just lies there, no problem, The groomer was amazed at how easy going he is, although, I have had 2 others over the years that hated the shave job. But..after a day or two you can tell how good they feel.

@JLeslie Hey! It’s duct tape! It’ll cure anything. I bet you know that perfectly well. :-)

Shaved critters still shed, they just shed shorter hair!

The furminator is a great tool, I forgot to mention it.

I never heard of shed wipes, sounds interesting.

I had a tool quite similar to the one in the link and it is wonderful.

If you have one cat that sheds more than the other, it’s usually not just the hair length but also genetics.

What I mean is that some cats with very short hair also have a thick downy undercoat. My Velvet was like that and that de-shedder tool worked miracles.

Except for the white tuxedo pattern, all the rest of her was that beautiful bluish gray typical of a Russian Blue or British Shorthair, both of which are Northern climate types and of necessity have that thici double coat for insulation. Same thing for Weegies and Maine Coons.

Obviously most cats are mixed breeds, but one type frequently predominates and you can tell by body shape, personality , etc.

Most of the Northern clime cats are also ” cobby” type cats. This means bigger, heavier, stockier, larger bone structure etc. Look at pics of the breeds I just named and it will become immediately apparent.

On the other end are Oriental type cats, usually thinner, not so heavy, petite bone structure and very active and vocal.Siamese are extreme examples.

And many Oriental breeds originated in southern Asian regions where temps are hotter so they have no need of an insulating undercoat. So Oriental shorthairs are easier on grooming chores. Some of them have pretty sparse hair (less hairs per sq. inch than others cats) even tho it’s not readily apparent from looking at them.

But in between (or in mixtures of) these types are a lot of variations and combinations.

I’ve had sparse coated cats as well as double coated and the double coated are a whole lot more work. And using a deshedder tool on a sparse haired type doesn’t really do much more than just a regular comb and/or brush.

It was a good thing because my Kitten Mitten who had a lot of Abyssinian in her HATED IT. But as long as I used a comb once a week, even when shedding, it was fine.

I used to do Velvet every day during shedding and got off huge amounts of hair each time. But the first time is always the most dramatic in volume. I had had numerous cats prior to Velvet but I’d never had a cat with THIS much hair. That’s sort of what prompted my research into the whole hair thing.

So def. get what Syz recommended. People rave about it for good reason.

BTW. The hair by itself is not what bothers your allergies, per se. It’s the dander (skin flakes) which attach to the hairs which are the problem.

But you don’t have to bathe the entire cat. Allergies can be significantly relieved by merely taking a damp (not wet, just damp) washcloth once EVERY day and wiping over every inch of kitty. Cats usually don’t mind this since it’s like being petted.

If you find that those special wipes work better, then use those. But the key is consistency. Wipe your cat with a damp something every single day at least once or more. You’ll be amazed at how much it helps.

@Wundy

LOL Duct tape :)

I’m curious, have you ever put duct tape on your forearm or legs for any reason? Most likely not but you do know how powerful it is, right?

Well just think of when you’ve ever had to remove a bandaid from your arm or leg. Remember how much of your hair came with it and how much it hurt. Little kids don’t have as much arm or leg hair as we do yet, but remember what it was like trying to get a bandaid off their arm?

Pulls some hair with it doesn’t it? Hurts, doesn’t it? Now multiply that by 10 and try to imagine how much pain it would be using duct tape. Instant screaming child I would imagine :)

And now just for fun, multiply the number of hairs involved by around a few hundred or so. And then imagine the “child” armed with very sharp claws and sharp puncturing teeth.

How do you think you’d fare using duct tape on a cat ?

Anyone for some Shredded Wundy on a bun ? Mmmmnomnom….....

I couldn’t help myself. That was the immediate mental picture that formed at your mention of duct tape.

Best chuckle I’ve had all day.

:D

@Buttonstc Thank you for the detailed description. I couldn’t have done it better, myself.