Weddingbee boards

When I first started trying to brush my cat, you would have thought I was attempting to light her on fire - she hated it! Now, she'll just collapse like some sort of lump and let me brush her forever; she actually acts all irritated when I stop. I've also found the Furminator to be invaluable. I end up generating a cat-sized mound of fur by the time I'm finished brushing her.

My aussie/heeler mix sheds more than any dog I know.  You just pet him and you get a hand full of fur...  I notice that when I furminate him and use the de-shedding waterless shampoo once a week he sheds less around the house... Other than that I vacuum and sweep twice a week and avoid wearing black outside of the house.  I also vacuum the entire couch once a week, like all sides of cushions and pillows in the crevices etc.  Our couch is a PITA to get the hair out of though, our next couch will be a light colored canvas or some other non-textured fabric to help with that.

It drives my FI crazy... But how can you get mad at this face??

ETA:  I highly suggest investing in a furminator http://www.furminator.com/

@KansasPrincess11: you know you have shedding issues when you spend 15 minutes staring a the Dyson for Animals vacuum in Target wishing somehow you could afford a $600 vacuum...  Yup.  I did that.

Anyone have any suggestions on what the best vacuum is for picking up pet hair?  (Slightly off topic.. but kind of useful in this thread...)

@KansasPrincess11: What a big beautiful girl!!  The picture of my boy makes him look really small, but he's 55lbs, although he thinks he's a little lap dog.  Case in point:  Here he is laying on the window sil of our front window when he was almost a year old (he's almost 2 now and bigger)... Mind you the window is probably about 6 feet wide and he takes up most of it.

@KansasPrincess11: it's so true!  My FI is most definitely a cat person more than a dog person, and he has suggested on a few occations that Blue may be more trouble than he's worth (he is deaf, so ontop of his shedding he is a little bit special needs) and I always practically break down into tears and say "but he's our BABY!"  he just doesn't get it.  We made the commitment to get a dog (with special needs nonetheless) we can't just get rid of him, you wouldn't just get rid of your kids when things get tough!  Besides, I love my baby boy!

@redherring:  I third the Furminator!  It's quite expensive but SO worth it.  I got it for my dog and discovered it's invaluable for my horse as well.  Haven't tried it on a cat but I'd imagine they'd get used to it after a bit. 

@MsBrooklynA: What an adorable kitty!!  Honestly I feel like cat's with orange hair shed more than most cats (except black cats, they shed like CRAZY!).  I would try to avoid shaving him as much as possible, when you shave an animal it messes with their heating/cooling system and can make them overheat/hypothermic alot easier.  Which isn't good.  But you can try some furminor spray it is supposed to help with shedding and might be easier than brushing him since he doesn't like it so much... Otherwise I would enlist some professionals, maybe paying to get him groomed a couple times would get him used to being brushed enough that you could tackle it at home?

@caitlanc: our two cats LOVE to get furminated... I actually have to shoo them away when I'm brushing Blue (who does NOT like it)... But our cats are weird.

Mainly this guy, the other one is just skitzo:

^He was actually watching tv (it was a baseball game)... he did this for almost a half an hour.

@MsBrooklynA: They also have waterless shampoo, which might be easier with a cat.  Although if he likes the bathtub that might not be to bad... You could always try some kind of brush mit as well, then you could trick him into thinking your petting him.

But cat's are smart... he might figure that one out.

@KansasPrincess11: The little ones usually do take charge!  How cute is that pic though!?

@panterapeach: I currently have a regular Bissel and I find that it does a great job!  Although we have far too much hair for it to pick up and the filters need to get cleaned quite frequently...  We used to use a Eureka but it kind of sucks  (figuratively, no pun intended... because it kind of doesn't suck literally) and gets clogged CONSTANTLY.  May have to look into the Bissel for pet hair.

@meliss: It's cute but don't you dare touch it, He will go into attack mode!  I think He's a little sensitive about his flabby belly...  But I do just want to rub it and put my face on it and blow raspberries; which wouldn't work because he's furry... but...