CONTEST: Share Your Grooming Woes

Struggling with cat hair all over your home? Your cat needs constant grooming to avoid hairballs or hair mats? Too many cats to groom? Can't manage claw clipping?

Share your grooming woes with us and you could win a special prize package -

Premium Pet Tools Group Image.jpg

• Anne
• May 9, 2015

Winner gets a set of professional grooming tools by Andis:

Premium Small Nail Clipper

Premium Deshedding Tool or Premium Soft-Comb Sticker Brush

Premium 7 1/2 Inch Steel Comb and Flea Comb (flea combs can be used for cats to help grab hair and control shedding)

The Rules - 

1. Post a reply to this thread describing your grooming problems. If you can, let us know how better tools like these might help you. Be descriptive and make your post interesting and maybe even fun to read. Add pictures of your cat or cats if you can.

2. One entry per member (though you can describe a lot of issues in your entry   )

3. Anyone can share their woes but the prize can only be shipped within the US. So, if you win and you're not in the US, you can either provide us with a US shipping address for yourself or perhaps donate the prize to shelter in the US.

4. Submissions accepted until and through Sunday, May 24th.

Winner will be picked by the site team based on quality of entry. Judges look for detailed eloquent posts that demonstrate why you could use professional grooming tools!

Good luck!

My grooming woes are easy, Autumn won't let me near her when I have anything in my hands.  I cannot brush her, it got so bad that there were large lumps of hair on her back which had to be shaved off by the vet.  Her hair has grown back with no lumps but I still cannot brush her. 

The above brushes are some that I have but if she runs away, they are of no help.

My woe is that Akodo thinks I'm playing with him when I try to brush him, so he tries to bite the comb and I cannot even bribe him to stand still.

I try to use a furminator, but probably is too harsh for him. Softer combs and brushes would help a lot to make tim more comfortable while I groom him

My BFF, best feline friend, is Angel.  She is an all-white domestic long hair, who her vet says "Angel is a mutt who thinks she's show cat."  Angel was named before she came to live with us 5 years ago.  Angel is a apt name since her her fur flies everywhere.  Angel certainly puts the "fur" on our furniture.

View media item 237636
She is loving and loves to curl up on my lap whenever I sit down.  And when I get up, Angel hair covers my clothes.  She is professionally groomed every 5 weeks, but within a couple of days, the fur flies again.  She loves to be brushed and combed, I think it must be her illusions of being a show cat.  Both of us would love to have professional grooming tools - for Angel's vanity and, for me, to keep the cat hair on Angel and off of me and our furniture.

My groom woes are because my oldest cats' fur, Chispa, is very thick and coarse, it tangles, especially around her hind legs. Her fur has  broken combs and brush tines. I am using a metal comb now, hoping it doesn't break. In total I have 6 cats of my own, 24 colony cats, they are community cats and several of them I can brush, others I can't yet. This would be a great prize to win, hopefully it wouldn't break. I like the largest comb on the bottom because the tines are metal and it looks like a very sturdy set. I don't have my cats shaved as they need their fur, they should have it and she likes to clean it.Just sometimes her fur gets out of hand.

My grooming woe is that I just can't seem to find a comb or brush that Binx will sit still for. He's a Russian Blue (or Maltese of some kind), and his double coat makes it tricky to to gather/remove all of the loose hairs on him. Recently I've been trying a hand-mitt (which doesn't seem to work at all), instead of the wire brush, because the wires irritate his skin. Even the double layer boar bristle brush I've tried doesn't actually grab the hair, so much as make it fly everywhere. A set of professional tools would be extraordinarily helpful, even the nail clippers and a file. I have a pair of clippers, but I'm still trying to figure out ways to clip his nails properly and keep them from catching on woven items- for his sake- I don't want him hurting himself by accident because I failed to keep his claws groomed properly.

Alice is definitely the kitty with the grooming issues.  She has long hair with a deep  undercoat.  The only grooming tool I have found that she will tolerate at all is the furminator but only in short sessions the same with claw trimming just 2 or 3 at a time.  Usually I stop short of testing her patience but with shedding season in full swing I push her to her limit and she swats and tries to bite to let me know that she has had enough.  During shedding season grooming is pretty much a daily thing, at least once sometimes twice a day.  I do a small section, get handfuls of dead hair out of the undercoat and she lets me know that is enough.

View media item 272269It's not that my cat is a long haired breed, but his fur is exceptionally thick, the undercoat especially. My rugs are rolling landscapes of cat hair tumbleweeds...

I've never had a cat with this kind of fur. His back is kind of a rough fur, but it tangles underneath. I have a de shedder, but it doesn't pull the hair from his belly area well. For instance, I just brushed him yesterday and yet this morning, petting him, I kept pulling out more of the downy fur from his sides and belly. More tumbleweeds!! Help!!

Very nice package, Anne!

You all know we have six cats. I take one cat a night and we go into the bathroom for a good brushing/combing session. And why in the bathroom? Because the cats love to be brushed. If it's not just one cat and me, then the others are milling about, head-butting my hand, meowing, "Mom! Mom! I want brushed! Oh, please, brush me, brush me!" So one cat a night. And on the seventh night? I rest!

We keep their brush and comb in a plastic bag in the bathroom closet. And they know. When they hear me rustling the bag, they come. I choose a kitty and shoo the others out. A good brushing takes about 20 minutes or so. I sit on the bathroom floor with the cat between my legs and I brush and comb and check for any lumps or bumps or scratches. Look for fleas. Talk, tell them what a pretty kitty they are. Ms. Pepe loves being brushed and I swear I could brush her all night and it wouldn't be enough. She likes to move around while she's being brushed. And she talks back to me the entire time. Our Tabby is quite the character...the last time I was brushing her, she said, "Hey, wait a minute." She walked away from me, got into the litter box, took a pee, scratched around, jumped back out, and said, "OK where were we?" And the brushing continued. (The girl has no qualms about peeing whenever. She's also been known to run into the bathroom when I'm putting fresh litter in the boxes, jump in, do a quick pee, jump back out, and run out of the bathroom with a quick Thank You! meow.)

We clip claws the first Sunday afternoon of every month. Tabby is wonderful; I hold her and Rick clips. She's very relaxed, probably because we've had to clean her ears out from the time she came to us with a bad mite infestation as a wee kitten. So she doesn't care; she's pretty much used to whatever we do. Clip the claws, clean those pretty ears of hers. We put her down and she scampers off.

And then it's Mollipop's turn. And first, we have to go look for her. She knows. She always knows. So we play Find Miss Pop. Sometimes it takes a while, but we get her. And into the bathroom we all go. I hold her and Rick (tries to) clip. One claw and it's fairly quiet. Two claws and there's a little squirming. Three claws and we're killing her. I swear you can hear her screaming on Pluto. Now that the windows are open again, we're waiting for the neighbors to come over and ask us what's going on....she is truly that loud. She's also a whirling dervish. So you have her screaming, you have Rick saying, "No, Molli! No!" And you have me going, "Shhh, shhh, it's OK. Mama loves you." And then you have Molli yelling, "It hurts, you're killing me here!" During a good clipping, we can get 6 claws before it gets too bad and we have to put her down. And as she sashays out the bathroom, we can hear her say, "I win!" Brat.

We have two brushes. One is very small and the other is larger, but not as nice. We also use a flea comb. That's pretty much it. I keep saying that I could use some better tools, but we never seem to get around to getting them. Their nail clipper has a guard on it that helps us not to get too close to the quick. We don't have any scissors.

My boy, Trooper the Handicapped Kitten had a visit to the groomer to remove some mats that were too close to the skin.  He hates being brushed and will get matted which I usually cut out, but sometimes they get too close and I am afraid of hurting him.  So the groomer shaved the areas- a couple of which were much too close and got irritated.  Trooper's incessant licking of the area further aggravated it and I ended up putting a sweater on him to keep him from getting at it.  Well the sweater irritated the spot terribly and within a few days it got horrible and oozing with infection.  I was horrified to see what I had done to Trooper by putting a damn sweater over the hot spot.  So now it amounted to getting the vet involved, antibiotics for the infection, purchasing a "cone of shame" and ointments and treatments all to get this hot spot reduced.  All because the groomer shaved way too close to the skin and he broke out.  He eventually healed over a period of months and is back to normal, but that was a lesson I will not soon forget!

View media item 272320View media item 272321

I have no woes. My cats loves to be brushed. Sometimes they would fight over who gets to be brushed

I just deleted a few posts which were not contest entries. Please, let's keep this thread for contest entries only!

If you wish to further discuss your grooming woes we have the Cat Care and Grooming forum just for that! Recommendations for products are always welcome, and the place for them is in the Reviews Section. Just search for the product you wish to recommend and add your review. Thank you!

Both Casper and Cocoabean are very good about being groomed.  Casper, tends to wind his way around you when brushing him down but Cocoa is much more calm and relaxed.  She'll just lay there, let you brush and comb her everywhere.  This is one of the main reasons we believe she was not on the streets too long before being rescued. She's way too well socialized, and how easy she is to groom proves that.  

The only one problem we have is since Cocoa is long haired, two very specific things happen.  First, is she tends to mat under her arm pits.  Not the legs, just the arms.  A very delicate area to try and cut one out of, or slice through with the mat cutter.  

The other is she gets "klingons".  You know, poo in her cataloons.  She's dark colored (tortie) and it's really difficult to see if there's one there until well, it falls off on the floor somewhere. Maybe we need to start trimming her back there.  We've considered bringing her to see a professional groomer but there are none which do cats close to home.  Or none that I've found.

Small edit: Both dislike having their nails clipped.  We've taken to bringing them to the vet when they get too long.  Both are regular scratchers on appropriate surfaces so this doesn't have to happen too often.

My, woes are well my older boy will not let anyone brush him. My little girl princess on the other hand loves my hair brush when I do my hair she has to have a brush first. And my other boy the baby he lets me for now but he is still a kitten so this might change.

Lilith and Sophie are doll faced Persians so needless to say they have long coats. Lilith's is long and silky and Sophie's is not quite as long and is thicker than her sister's. They both dislike grooming unless they are doing it themselves. Sophie's a little better than Lilith but not much. Fortunately, Lily's fur, being long, fine and silky is less prone to matting than her sister's and if she does get one, it grows out and is easily removed.

When I first got them, I decided to take them for lion cuts after a couple of "tushie baths" were needed. I had attempted to bathe them in the tub but decided to never do that again after I realized how much I enjoy having a face. I called around to every pet store and groomer in town until I found the ONE place that takes cats. All mobile groomers within 90 miles of me take small dogs only.

I made them an appointment for early morning on a Saturday. I took them and then decided to wait outside since they do not let you into the grooming area and the groomer was about 25 minutes from home. It wasn't worth leaving. About 15 minutes later, the groomer working on them (a young man of about 30 or so) came outside looking for me with THAT look on his face. "oh no, what did they do?" I thought. He told me that Lilith was impossible. She wouldn't let them bathe her, use dry shampoo on her, trim her nails or give her the sanitary shave. He wanted to give her back to me exactly the way she came in. As there were NO other groomers anywhere near me that would groom a cat I was in trouble (even our vet doesn't do it unless it's for medical reasons). I begged him to at least do the sanitary shave. He said he'd try. He also said that Sophie wasn't much better but she let them do the dry shampoo, nail trim and sanitary shave. There was NO way a lion cut was going to happen on either on them. Did I mention that Lily is about 6 pounds and Sophie's about 5 pounds? My tiny little terrors.     I was literally at my wit's end.

He went back in and came back about 10 minutes later. The sanitary shave on hurricane Lilith was done (barely) but it took 2 people to hold her so he could do it. Sophie looked a little better but to look at both of them, no one would say, "wow. those 2 have just been to the groomer". As I was paying, I was told in no uncertain terms that they would not be welcomed back  as Lilith scratched the groomer and both were very difficult to work with.

From that day on, I have been on my own. They bite the brushes, scratch and bite me and run and hide. Praising them doesn't work. Telling them they are getting prettier doesn't work. Treats don't work. Taking breaks doesn't work. I have an arsenal of tools that I bought hoping that "this" might be the one they tolerate. It never is. The tail area is the worst part. They won't even let me touch them. We've come a long way with building trust as I'm sure that this has a lot to do with it. They do trust me it's just that they don't like to be groomed. They were rescued from an abandoned house in town with about 20 other family members. I suspect it was a BYB that lost their home to foreclosure and just left them all behind. I doubt that they had ever seen a brush before they came to live with us. They had a brother with them who had sever matting when he was brought to the Humane Society and had to be shaved down almost completely.

I am able to bathe them by taking them into the stall shower and putting a wet towel onto a small seat that is built into the shower. They hate it but I rarely come out with any injuries. It's still a work in progress. Hopefully someday they will start to enjoy it. I don't know if using different tools would help but I doubt it would hurt.

Both of my cats just love being groomed, so there are very few woes, except that Nilah always wants her fur back.  I have to get it well and truly out of the way or she will try to 'groom' it. 

I have a personal woe about about grooming them, though.  I had two friends looking after them once and they always groomed my two on top of the washing machine.. now, whenever I have a load of washing to do, the little darlings see me heading for the laundry and launch themselves onto the machine.  So I always groom before the laundry these days.

Grooming woes, hmm...

Shadow is a British Shorthair with an incredibly thick coat which is prone to matting. He's very good about letting me brush his back and sides, but most other places are no go areas. He doesn't like me brushing near his bum/hind legs and tail, so the back part of him is always full of mini matts. It's rare that I'm allowed to brush his chest too, so that's always a mess. As for his belly - forget it! I'm resigned now to having a cat that's half beautifully groomed and half a matted mess To be fair to him, though, he never gets nasty with me - he just wriggles and struggles and gets away from me. If I have time, I'll follow him round the house for a bit, but if I persist he goes and hides somewhere inaccessible. Still, I should be grateful that he's better about being groomed than his late brother was. Cali would tolerate literally 2 or 3 brush strokes before pouncing me and the brush with claws out. If I didn't stop at that point I'd usually get a bloody hand for my trouble. He'd get so bad that we regularly had to cut matts out of his fur. That was always interesting too...

Asha's not been groomed much yet. As fat as I can tell, she's pretty good about it. I haven't found any 'off limits' areas yet, anyway. My problem with her is I can't find an effective brush for her. She's got a much thinner coat than Shadow, and I'm worried that the sticker brush I use for him will just make her sore. I'm currently using an old hairbrush for her, but it doesn't seem to do much good. It brings some loose fur to the surface but doesn't quite get it out of her coat. After the sticker brush I'm used to with Shad, it seems rather ineffectual and messy. Far more fur ends up on me than on the brush :lol3:

Then we come to my semi feral, Pushkin. Let's just say I value my hands too highly to even attempt it She accepts touch on her terms, and her terms very definitely do not include any kind of grooming implement :lol3:

I have never attempted bathing or claw clipping with any of my cats. The most they get is a damp washcloth or unscented baby wipe up the bum (and sometimes tail) in case of trailing poop. It's often hard enough just to catch either of them for that. Shad sulks for ages afterwards (or until he's hungry!) but Asha's a little more forgiving. So long as she gets a cuddle (and maybe a treat) afterwards, she's happy.

My grooming woes begin and end with The Forest Cat.

His former owners abandoned him in the middle of the woods. When I found him he was very skinny, but his coat was in surprisingly good condition. He had a few brambles that had to be cut out of the fur on his tail, but apart from that he was fine.

As soon as I'd got him used to me and he was eating properly I started grooming him. He didn't mind his daily brushing sessions at first, but I soon realised Persian cats are  better off as 100% indoor cats. I'd let him go out to play with the other cats in their enclosure every day and he'd come back all tangled with grass seeds and leaves caught in his fur. However he was having such a good time out there it didn't seem fair to restrict him.

It became more and more difficult to brush him and he started growling at me whenever I tried, I guess it was painful having me try to work out those knots. Eventually, after getting some advice from more experienced Persian owners on TCS, I took him to the vet for a hair cut. Here's the before and after pictures.

View media item 272494
View media item 272495
Even though he doesn't look quite as splendid without his fur, he seemed a lot happier. He was much more active and happy to be petted with all those knots gone.

I'm going to wait until his fur is a little longer and then give him his first bath. At the moment I pet him with a very soft child's hairbrush so that he'll get used to being brushed again. Hopefully by the time his fur's grown back he'll be comfortable with being groomed.

None of my other cats mind being brushed at all. In fact if they see one cat being done they'll come and try to head-butt their way in so they can be groomed too. I guess a set of nice brushes would make them all happy, not just Forest.

Here are a few shots of Forest now, starting to get fluffy again.

View media item 272498
View media item 272499
View media item 272500

Well, now I wish I took a photo of all the fur I got out of my 3 cats yesterday! We have 3 cats in a small apartment. They shed nonstop, worse in the Spring. We can barely use our own sofa b/c they rule it & put their fur aaaaall over it. We vacuum that sofa almost daily. Not to mention it gets all over the curtains & even into our bedroom (which they're not allowed in b/c of the fur!)

Our issues stem from my cats hating to be groomed. They are all domestic short hair cats that I rescued as kittens from my backyard, along with their momma. While they'll sit on you, they don't like to be held in any way, especially not for grooming. Clipping claws & brushing fur is a 2 person job. Someone always comes out with scratches. Here are the things that I wish I had:

1. Brush that easily pulls out the under fur without much tugging. I have to go over the same spot so many times that the cat loses focus & sometimes even complains like its painful. That breaks my heart.

2. Claw clippers that had some type of measuring device on it so that you know you can't cut too far down & hit the quick. That's only happened once, but it was so scary!

3. A brush that easily releases the accumulated fur. So much time is wasted trying to take out the fur that the cat starts to get away!

4. Maybe a soft brush that looks just like the heavy duty one, but isn't as rough. That way you start with that one to get the cat primed to being touched lightly, then quickly switch over to the more serious one to get the job done?

5.  I have also had recent issues with hair balls almost weekly. Particularly with Bella who has the softest fur. Its horrible & I've been giving them hairball paste from the store, but it's not doing anything. I know that if I can brush them more regularly & more effectively, it'll greatly reduce this issue.

with Kiki it's all about the shedding. she has the softest fur I have ever felt, but this time of year, she sheds so much!