How do you guys with a multi-cat household deal with all the cat hair? I have 8 cats and I vacuum every day and brush their hair often but there still seems to be cat hair everwhere.

We just deal with it, and have a ton of lint rollers for our clothes, lol. We have no carpet either, we got rid of that and put wood floor in. Also our couch has sheets on it. I guess cat hair here is just a new type of fabric, lol!

I only have 3 cats, but they are primarily white, so the fur shows up everywhere! I havent really found much I can do about it. Ive become very accustomed to it though, and it doesnt really bother me much anymore. I vaccum a few times a week, use a roller-brush when Im wearing dark colors, and do my best to brush and roller-brush the cats. They dont mind the roller which is kind of funny :D

Hi Meagan and Alpha Cat. I go through a lot of lint rollers and I also use them on the cats. They don't mind and its amazing how much hair it picks up from them.

We groom in the bathroom. That is where they want to be when we are in there anyway, so we have major grooming sessions in there, or outside. On the furniture, I use a horse grooming brush, and for couch throws and blankets, I toss them into the dryer with a wet dryer sheet (like Bounce) and let the dryer go through the cycle. The hair sticks to the wet dryer sheet-

Hi Hissy,

What is a horse grooming brush and where can I get one? I got a new Sofa and Loveseat last month and I've been keeping them covered with throws. They protect the furniture but the cat hair really builds up on them. I'll have to get some Bounce tomorrow and see how it works. I may have to use 2 or 3 sheets at a time.

Thanks,

Ellen

Ellen,

I use what is called a mud brush. It has a strap your hand can slip through and tough bristles that lift off the mud from horses and cat hair from your furniture. :) You can buy it anywhere they sell horse grooming supplies, tack etc... I discovered it by accident when our dog left a pile of hair in our new truck. I had some old brushes in a box and on a whim just picked one up and used it. Worked like a champ so now I use it inside. I have 12 cats and a lot of cat hair!

Thanks Hissy.

I can't imagine having 12 cats. It's all I can do to keep up with 8 of them.

I vacuum constantly and use a damp rag for dusting instead of using the sprays. The cat hair clings to that instead of flying everywhere. I brush the cats with a wet comb every evening, that helps with keeping the hair in one place instead of flying around. If I miss vacuuming for a day we are overrun with cat hair and I only have 2 cats. I can't imagine how all of you with alot more cats keep it under control.

Hi Abby,

A damp rag is a good idea. Let me ask a stupid question. Do they sell special combs just for cats? All I see are flea combs and brushes for cats.

Ellen

There is alot of talk about a zoom groom. I bought one and Sam poo-pooed it big time. He only lets me brush him with a flea comb or he bites me. Sally prefers the flea comb too. But my cats seem to be rather rotten and set in their ways. I have seen alot of people say their cats love the zoom groom. I got one at PetSmart for about $8 I believe.

Thanks Abby, I'll check it out.

Remember that it is called fuurrrniture. :lol3: :lol3:

<<Remember that it is called fuurrrniture.>>

Isn't that the truth.

I also have a zoom groom and found it's excellent for picking up stray hair also. :) I do groom them with it and it picks up hairs and I run it over the cat stands/furniture and it's good at getting that hair also. I don't worry too much because it is furrniture :wink: :cat:

I wrap Duct Tape on my hand and pick up all the cat hair,it works pretty good too :)

I remember reading in another post about wrapping masking tape backwards on the roll to pick up cat hair. I tried that today on my youngest who was wearing a dark shirt--worked like a charm!!

Cat Hair...never leave home without it. :lol3:

Katie

Speaking of cat hair, I have a problem. Princess Alexis, a Siamese/Himalayan cross needs to be clipped twice a year. She is impossible to groom, refuses to allow me to comb or brush her, hence the clipping. However, she comes out looking like a checkerboard, hates having her tummy clipped and I come out bleeding. The last time we tried this I went to the vet's for some pills. I got most of her done, but not all and I am facing having to start on her again. I am beginning to think a baseball bat (joke) would help out. Any advice, helps, comments, baseball bats? Anything will help.

I bought a Dyson (unfortunately not the 'animal') If I vacuum with the fabric attachment instead of the regular one it picks up fur from my vertical blinds, curtains, sofa, carpet and rug. It's really quick and great for me since we've come to the conclusion I may be allergic to Jeepers (permanant stuffy nose, runny eyes)

Is there a cat groomer in your area?

As far as the checkerboard design, you need to be cutting with the hair and not against. For example, to do her back, start at her tail and go up to her head. Do not go side to side. When you cut against the hair growth, it causes a shingled appearance because the hair lays differently than the way you are cutting.

Thats about all the advice I can give you. I wouldn't touch my cats with anything that buzzes because they would have me ripped to shreds in record time so you are braver than I am!

Save the baseball bat for your computer the next time it acts up.. ;)

Have you tried brushing her while shes sleeping? Just a sneak up swipe or two every so often? Or get her while shes asleep and when she wakes just pet her till she goes back to sleep and do a bit more? My mom used to brush her siamese cat that way.

Yes but their prices start at $50 up to $80. On my budget, that's three months of food and kitty litter. Not an option. You know, she feels better after she is clipped, she comes over and wants lovings and huggings. Why can't cats understand that all we want to do is help them? (The eternal question)

Thanks everyone for your help. I read in another cat forum that birds like to make their nest out of cat hair. So I'm going to start putting my cat hair outside for them.

I have tried some of the vitamin supplements that help them only have a shed cycle once a year and it helps decrease the shedding a lot! You still have hair but its not near as much. I love Mrs. Allen's Shed Stop but it is becoming increasingly hard to find!

I have a wonderful brush that was stiff bristles on one side to pick up the hair, and the other side has soft, which also picks up hair but also makes it lay and look smooth and soft. I also purchased a pair of gloves that have little rubber dimples all over them. Tank will let me use these on him, but Stinky will have none of it. She slinks way to the ground and takes off! I've also wondered about all the hair. My boyfriend seems to be allergic and complains at least once a week about it. I've found excessive vacuuming to be helpful, but not always practical with our (I mean MY, he never vacuums :lol3: ) busy schedules. But that's about the end to what I can offer as advice... :)

Uggh..cat hair. I have a persian and a siamese so I vacuum everyday, have my furniture slipcovered. I wash the slipcovers once a week. I dust with a damp cloth. My persian likes to be brushed with a human brush- She won't let me brush her with anything else! And I have to brush my hair with it first or it's a no go.

My short-haired cat, Red Cat, used to refuse to be combed or brushed. I thought I would lose an arm trying, so I gave up. Then a year or two later I got Purdy, a long-hair, who definitely needed lots of combing and brushing. Apparently Red Cat got "jealous" of all the attention Purdy was getting, so kept trying to get between the comb and Purdy, demanding that HE be combed! (Oh, cats aren't supposed to be able to be jealous, are they?) Now Red Cat "asks" to be combed a couple of times a day.

The big problem here is all the hair from the long-haired cat. I haven't solved the problem, but do comb or brush daily. I cover my sofa with a sheet. (Only have company half a dozen times a year and never use the living room myself, so may as well.) I wash my bedspread every two weeks. I got one of those lint removers that is like a four-inch-wide masking tape, which I use on clothing.

There is alot of talk about a zoom groom. I bought one and Sam poo-pooed it big time. He only lets me brush him with a flea comb or he bites me. Sally prefers the flea comb too. But my cats seem to be rather rotten and set in their ways. I have seen alot of people say their cats love the zoom groom. I got one at PetSmart for about $8 I believe.

Our monsters love the zoom groom. They love a regular brush, too. There's always enough hair in the waste basket to knit a couple of kittens -- they make sure of it.

Has anyone tried one of these for getting fur off of furniture / carpet?

http://www.petco.com/product_info.asp?familyid=9455&sku=0557100391&tab=1&dept_id=257&c1=254&c2=257&c3=&ct1=Hair+Pick+Up+%26+Shed+Control&ct2=Gloves%2C+Rollers+%26+Sponges&ct3=

I keep seeing this rubber nubbed broom advertised on TV and they sell them in the Petco stores, though I can't find them on their website. I'd love to know if these things work, because I'm amazed at how much cat fur my cats leave on my stairs and it'd be much easier to use a brush like what I saw on TV.

I have Groom EEZE gloves like these that I use to groom my cats. They are the grey ones at the top. They have 3/8" spikes on them and they are the best things since sliced bread.

http://www.vetvax.com/mittsgloves.html

They all LOVE the glove, hence I nicknamed it the Love Glove even though there is another product with that name (which sucks BTW). The only issue with these gloves is that they are a plastic piece hot glued to latex gloves and latex gloves dry/rot over time so they need to be replaced every so often.

Look at the deal on these gloves on E-Bay... I need some new ones... This is awesome! I can have them all over the house!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20749&item=4303384212&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW