Effortless Cat Grooming: How a Deshedding Tool Keeps Your Feline Fluffy and Your Home Clean

Deshedding tools are amazing. They’re one of those rare kitty products that exist to make both you and your cat happy. You – because it’ll reduce the sheer volume of pet fluff turning into tumbleweed and floating around the house waiting for you to clean. Your cat – because kitties love the way it feels, and because they end up with far less hairballs the more you take off!

Win, win, win – the way I see it! The only regret I have is not using this tool more frequently. Though to be fair, Avery has the patience of a gnat sometimes and so just keeps walking away bored of sitting still for me to brush him with this thing. So I eventually do give up, probably far sooner than I should. Yet, I must say, I tend to get a considerable amount of hair out before I call it quits. Feast your eyes on this:

Kitty Cat Pet Grooming Deshedding Brush Tool – Amazon / eBay

That’s a heck of a lot of hair I won’t have to be sweeping up later!

For anyone who’s never had one of these tools before, know that, 1: They do not take hair out from the root (only remove cat hair that’s already come out at the root and is ready to be shed), and so, 2: They will not hurt your cat unless your cat’s hair is knotted and you brush too quickly/roughly (thus pulling the cat’s hair). If your cat’s hair is knotted, you can still use them without hurting your cat, just have to be much more gentle about it.

And now onto my tools of the trade:

• 1 Jar of kibble to be used as cat treats
• 1 Pet grooming deshedding brush (Anyone similar to the one I’ve got will do – doesn’t have to be a specific brand since they all work the same way. You can of course also get one like this, but having used both styles, I kinda prefer these as I feel they get more of the hair off. To each his own, though! And both types will work perfectly fine.)
• 1 Stack of hair that’s already been removed
• 1 Cute little kitty cat

Check, check, check. Oh there’s one more thing I guess:

• 1 Pair of sandals

Why do I like to keep these around? When Avery’s being brushed he often really likes to rub his face on something, and his favourite thing to do that on are slippers – so I keep these around for just that purpose. Now on to the procedure.

Step 1: Bribe kitty to come with some treats. You might think that if your cat has been fed recently he or she won’t be interested. My experience tells me otherwise. Apparently there’s always room for treats, even while you still have breakfast left to be eaten. Here take a look:

Catit Design Senses Food Maze – Amazon / Chewy

Still plenty left for him in his Catit Senses Food Maze. Going for the treats knowing full well that the meal will still be there when you get back; smart kitty!

Alright so step 2: Place your cat. Make sure he or she is seated or lying down.

Then step 3: Hold your cat and brush away. You can be gentle at first, but don’t worry about being rough if your kitty does not object. I’ve honestly never gotten anything besides more and louder purrs the more quickly and harder I’ve brushed this little one. Yes, he’s impatient, gets bored and walks away quickly, but you can tell he’s enjoying his time being brushed thanks to those loud happy vibrations.

But when he does, that’s when I – step 4: lure him back with the kibble.

Maybe that’s why he walks away (cause he knows that’s when he gets kibble) – oops.

So then bring him back and seat him down and then bribe him with the kibble. To show good kitty sitting nice is what gets the treats!

Alright, so you have a cute, cooperative kitty being brushed and sitting nice. What else is there to do besides just brush and brush away? Not much. There’s no wrong way to do this. I like to brush down, with the grain of the hair, but my husband brushes the opposite direction and Avery’s never seemed to care in the slightest. So long as kitty’s comfortable, that’s all that’s important.

You can brush wherever you want on a cat’s body. I brush Avery’s tail, which he’s fine with, but I don’t bother brushing Avery’s belly, since he’s not the easiest to get to lie down for long enough for me to brush his tummy adequately. If your cat loves being brushed and loves belly rubs, my guess is that he or she may really appreciate you grooming the tummy region. Brush a belly long enough and you’re almost certain to run into some little pimple-sized bumps along the sides of your cat – don’t be shocked when you do, these bumps are completely normal; they’re actually cat nipples, and they exist on both male and female cats.

Brush daily, weekly; however often you’d like. Adding a good grooming to a daily routine is something I was trying to do but kept forgetting: definitely do try my best to brush him at least once a week though.

Not that he needs it because at least he’s a short haired cat, and he rarely, if ever, gets hairball coughs.

But even though he’s a short hair – I still get plenty of fluff when I brush him, even if I do it each day. Again, just happy when I do it because that way it doesn’t end up all over the floor!

My particular brush has one of those buttons for you to press that’s supposed to help you immediately remove hair.

Truth be told, it’s kind of useless, and don’t bother to look for a brush like this specifically with one of these because it’s so easy to get the hair off the brush anyways. Kitty fur clumps together naturally and just can be pinched right off. Though I’m sure some people do use this part of the tool, I don’t really bother.

One other thing I would advise (if you can be bothered) is to be wearing jeans while you do this. Deshedding kitties is hairy business! You’ll get it all over your clothes if it’s made out of cotton, especially your pants, though sometimes shirts too. I’d also recommend you doing this on tile, wood, vinyl, etc. – basically anything besides carpet or a fabric couch – because it makes clean up so much easier.

(Edit: Diana Summers actually shared an even better suggestion with me on Twitter. She recommended using an old towel to brush your cat on – “I do it on an old towel so I can gather most of it to toss & fold up towel for next time >^..^<” – genius, Diana!!).

As soon as I’m done, Avery goes straight back to finish off his meal. Happy as a clam.

Job well done, kittykins.

Do you groom your pet with a deshedding brush tool? How often do you do it? Do you find it really helps in the keeping-the-house-clean department as well as the less-hairballs department? Let me know your experiences in the comments section!