I bought a Zoom Groom and need your help

I read such good things about the zoom groom on this site, and like everyone else my cats are shedding bad. I used it on Sweetie when I came home from work as I was changing work clothes. I was in undies in the bathroom cuz thats where I try to groom the cats, its easier to vacuum. Sweetie loves to be brushed and Juno runs and hides. Sweetie sat on the sink and I brushed her. What a mess. The hair was all over the sink, floor and everywhere. It didn't help that she wouldn't hold still. She purrs and turns and has a good time. The zoom groom does remove the hair, but it doesn't seem to hold it like a shedd ender or even a metal brush. Sweetie is a short haired tabby. I tried to wet her a little hoping that it would hold down the static, but it didn't work. Is there a trick to this that I'm missing? I didn't even try to get Juno. She's medium haired and hates grooming. Thank goodness I had taken off my work clothes and thank goodness for the vacuum. Maybe my next cat will be one of the hairless variety. I love my kitties even with all the shedding.Any comments would be appreciated.

I know what you are talking about. You have to get a nice little mat of hair in the Zoom Groom and then the rest will stick... it is weird.

I have also found that it removes different hair. Zissou's undercoat (the curly one) comes out well with a Zoom Groom but her overcoat comes out well with the wire brush.

She hates them all of course.

Anyway, it does get it everywhere. But I am okay with that, because then I can clean it easily. If you turn the ZG over and rub it on the carpet it makes little hairballs that are easy to pick up.

I had thought about getting one of these, but hesitated only because I was afraid of it not holding onto hair and just falling everywhere (used one like it on the dogs and it didn't stick to it either...)
I actually ended up buying one of the soft baby brushes (with the super soft bristles) and it turns out she loves it, and it seems to hold onto most of the hair it gets off of her.

Even when it is catching there hair there will always be some stray floating off. To help this I brush, pet, brush, pet, collecting some of the loose fur in my hand.
Don't wet the fur or brush, the static is what helps the hair cling to the zoom groom.

I didn't care for the zoom grooms performance on my long haired cats. It didn't get hardly any fur out. At least it's getting hair out for you! Sorry I'm not much help!

I love the zoom groom! And my cats both loved to be groomed with it! Sophie has fairly long hair and she just doesn't want me to stop brushing her with this! She even reaches out her little paw and grabs my hand and pulls it back so that I can keep brushing! It does a great job of pulling out Sophie's loose hair, but I do have to keep the little clumps together!

I find the Zoom Groom great. I have both long haired and short haired cats...and I find it does retain the fur in clumps. I agree with Zissou in that you have to get a bit of hair in the brush first for the remaining hair to stick to.

Maybe the efficiency of the Zoom Groom is dependent on the type of fur the cat has? My cats' coats are quite matt..maybe its works best on that type and not on a glossy or curly coat?

I think it definitely depends on the coat. Ferris' fur is fine and silky soft, and I wind up COVERED in his shedded fur after using the zoom groom, it is everywhere, all over my hand, all over the cat in big puffy clumps, all over whatever surface he is sitting on, my lap, up my nose, in my mouth, etc., etc.

BUT...it can't be beat for getting that fur off the cat - there is nothing else I have used that works as well on Ferris, or that he will tolerate.

I cannot use it on Ginger, the only things I can use for her are the long-hair shedding comb with fine, alternating sized teeth, and a long-hair groomers rake for her tail.

That Zoom Groom thing is similar to mitt that I have for grooming cats. On the back of it is a fabric of some kind and the palm and finger parts of the glove are rubber with those nobby things on it. It's supposed to catch and attract the hair while you brush.

I found it useless! Hair everywhere and because it's building up static as you brush in an attempt to hold the hair, the hair ends up flying around and sticking to everything worse than it would have done otherwise.

I stick to a metal slicker brush. I have 2... one small designed with cats in mind, and one large (dog size). My cats love the large one and so do I because it covers more area and grabs more hair including the very downy soft undercoat, all without adding static charge to the hair.

Using a zoom groom is messy, but for Luna I've found that it's about the only thing that works. You just have to vacuum immediately afterwards and take a lint roller to your clothes! Since it's been nice outside I've been taking her out on our deck/veranda and I sit on a blanket and she'll just lay down and let me brush her. The hair flies off of my deck and doesn't end up all over the house. I'm not worried about her jumping off either, it's higher up and she's kind of a scaredy cat. Even people walking outside below will make her dash back inside.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Even when it is catching there hair there will always be some stray floating off.

To help this I brush, pet, brush, pet, collecting some of the loose fur in my hand.
Don't wet the fur or brush, the static is what helps the hair cling to the zoom groom.

Click to expand...

The brush, pet, repeat method works for me with the ZG too.

I didn't have a problem with the Zoom Groom being messy until the Sping Shed hit Now there is so much hair comming off of Diesel that it doesn't quite keep up. I've been brushing him on a towel. I take it outside and shake it when we're through.

I've never used the Zoom Groom, however Shaggy (short haired) and I are content with a slicker brush and this nifty brush attachment for our vacuum. He absolutely *LOVES* to be vacuumed and I love it because I don't have any clean up!

Since my original post I gave the ZG another try. It really does get the hair off. Sweetie sits on the BR sink and loves to be brushed with anything, but she won't hold still she turns and purrs and the hair goes everywhere. I finally got Juno in the BR. She does not like to be groomed. I had her on the hamper after I got her out from behind the toilet, her hiding place. She is medium haired, I had to keep one hand on her to lightly hold her down. The ZG really pulled hair off her. I was able to put the loose hair in the tub. The whole time I was brushing her she purred, but still tried to escape. She's my feral baby and is very distrustful of anything. I used the vacuum to pick up the hair from the BR after I was finished. The ZG is messy but really works. It would be ideal if I could take them outside to do this but I'm not allowed to have pets where I live. So I'll just have to continue inside. Thanks for all your replies and hints.