Cats-----and shedding
 

Anyone have any advice on how to limit cat hair shedding (other than a taxidermist)?????

Any oils or anything I could add to his food to lessen shedding?

As much as we clean (ok, wife cleans) , there are inevitably kitty tumbleweeds. I am wondering if diet would help.

He normally eats science diet dry adult only.

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

This may not look like much but I guarantee it will solve your problems. You can brush your cat bald with this if you did it for long enough. I got mine at a local pet store.


http://www.arcatapet.com/fullsize/4260.jpg

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

Vacuum cleaner :haha:
but seriously, my mom had a cat that shed a lot! and bought a shedding mat that she put in the cat's favorite spot, the cat loved and it and seemed to leave alot of her fur there. Was maybe 18" X 24" white and like a very very mild velcro.

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

I'll have to look into a mat.. I haven't thought about that. Currently our large persian rug seems to be the ideal shedding spot...

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

These things are all effective....but you will just have to live with some hair...the cost of having a domesticated mini-tiger in the house. I love my cat.

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

Same here... he is 7 now, and sitting on my lap between me and the keyboard right now.... his personal mission to make typing challenging.

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

Exact same thing here - on my lap while I GIM/surf - just like every Sunday morning....my gal is about 13 or so - she is in great shape - we took here in as a stray so not exactly sure on her age....but she is still going strong and seems no different from when we first got her. She is a typical american short hair generic cat.

We had to put her partner down last summer.....was the hardest thing I ever had to do. He was a big guy - about 20 lbs and pretty fit - he was a longhair. Beautiful! Shitloads of hair....

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

That will be a VERY bad day for me as well.


Two things are an eternal mystery to me:

1. How can a cat generate so much hair.
2. How can a chicken generate an egg shell every day.

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

Have a longhair and it is amazing the fir that
comes off that cat in the springtime, When he
gets brushed out, Have to brush or the fir mats
of epic preportians happen.
.
Better than half of the cat disappears!

Poof---gone!

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

Take advantage of the supply of hair and use it for cordage.

http://www.primitiveways.com/cordage.html

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

It is a bit of a challenge to shovel that much calcium into a hen. At one time I heard that some ranchers were feeding their layers cement, as in concrete, to harden the egg shells.

As for cats, well, you're the one who wanted a cat! Cats are good for nothing. Very good.

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

Can't really prevent the shedding - the animal grows a new coat every year.

Most of the shedding is in spring/summer, depending on where you live and how cold/hot it gets. Giving your cat a daily brushing with one of those brushes that have the short, closely spaced plastic tipped bristles (pet stores have them) nips the problem pretty good, and the cat usually loves it besides.

R.

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

chickens get calcium for eggs from their bones, food should be adequate replacement of calcium...do not let your chicken's engage in any contact sports...:36_1_25:

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

Mine shed tons... and tons... and tons. I don't love it, but deal with it happily, it is the least I can do for my old men! Always remember... no outfit is complete without a little cat fur!

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

I have a pure white Maine Coon (plus 2 short haired cats) and dark stained concrete floors: lots of kitty tumbleweeds that form kitty snow drifts when the windows are open.

Our vacuum sees heavy use...

Try a good quality canned (wet) food: we were told by a reputable source that dry cat food almost always leads to some dehydration in cats. We saw a definite improvement in the health of their coats when we switched to wet food but the white one still produces (and sheds) a mind boggling amount of fur!

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

I've had a good deal of success with the FURminator brush

A bit pricy, but does a tremendous job at hair removal

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

Cats are cool. We lost our favorite this year to a tumor; he was 9. We have Russian Blues and they don't shed very much.

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

For shedding a daily brush will help, although this time of year shedding should be minimal. They should be growing their winter coat now rather than shedding it.

By the way, cats are a plague on local wild life. They are everywhere and they kill everything from toads to birds to rodents. They may be the most invasive species of animal there is in the USA.

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

My little tiger was declawed front and neutered (poor guy) pretty early, and is kept inside so the dogs don't eat him.

So the only things he has ever been a threat to is the indoor plants and a few errant spiders.

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

Techguy,

House cats are not a problem. I like cats, but ... I also like the other critters. Cats instinctively kill anything that moves that is smaller than them. Garter snakes, tree frogs, song birds, hatchling birds in the nest. It is a massacre out there. No one should ever feel sorry when the SPCA puts down feral cats.

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

I see that your cats like to boogie!

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

How about a hairless cat...

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

I never heard any way to minimize shedding, other than getting a bald or lower-shedding breed.

The best brush I've found for getting out dead hair is the Furminator anti-shedding brushes. It was kinda pricey ($35) but works fantastic.

The massive fur-pile photos you see on the Furminator site are not staged; you really can comb that much out of a pet like they show.

One last note: on straight-haired cats and dogs, the normal Furminators work great.
A relative tried to use mine on their curly-haired dog, and it grabbed too much. There might be a different brush for curly-haired animals.

-end-

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

Cats are gods.If god was shedding in your living room,you wouldn`t mind.My cat is dead,I still find a bit of his hair and I wish he would shed again but it`ll happen only in the next life.

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

I love my fur-babies.. your post brought a tear to my eye as I had to put my babie Allie to sleep just a week ago yesterday. God that was sooo hard.. she was around 12/13 years old. I rescued her from a local bar where patrons would abuse her. Amazing how animals love unconditionally.

anywho.. here's a picture of my fur baby.. RIP

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2536/...46867c17_o.jpg

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

sorry, alliecatkatie

that is bad news

Re: Cats-----and shedding
 

For true feline nutrition and the healthiest cat you can imagine, you need to feed them raw meat on bones. I actually alternate between high quality dry food and raw bones. (Just make sure the dry food's #1 ingredient is some kind of real meat, and not a "byproduct")

This is actually cheaper than cat food if you do some shopping: I can get bags of chicken thighs/legs from walmart for $0.50/lb.

Check this out: www.rawmeatybones.com

And don't discount the brush I posted above. I know it doesn't look like much but I absolutely assure you it works better than any other brush on the market, and it's only $6 or so.

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/5158/img0932w.jpg