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Originally Posted by Doody
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I'm very, very curious about the Furminator. You see them in pet shops and well lots of other places as well. They are expensive! I'm very tempted to try one.
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Wow, they ARE expensive, but did you look at the customer satisfaction rating on Amazon? It's like 4.5 stars for over 1800 people. That's pretty dang good. And they have them on sale right now for 50% off. I'm going to try one. I'll let you know how it works. I ordered the medium one (and got free shipping). That way I can use it on my dogs too.
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Originally Posted by ewizabeth
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Make sure you wear protection though.
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Most kittys don't enjoy having this done. If you have some thin leather gloves you might want to wear them too. Kitty will get all worked up but will feel better when you're finished.
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You're telling ME! Ouch. Gloves would be good. An "I love me" jacket for cats would be even better.
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Originally Posted by Kitt
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He also was used to me cutting his six toenails on each foot from the time he was little. So that probably helped as well so he behaved better. Sad to say he's gone now. Lived for 18 years.
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Kitt, that is sad. I had a female who lived for almost 18 years--she was about 1-2 months shy of her birthday. I mourned for quite a while.
Swipes takes care of his nails very well. He's constantly grooming them. I probably should clip them, but he's pretty good about only scratching on his post (or on the carpet).
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Originally Posted by Blessings2You
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Our vet told us NOT to use scissors, because the skin can actually kind of grow into the mat, and once they get nipped it can get infected.
There's a way that you can actually work the mats sort of loose and then just pull them out. The first time I tried it on Cindy, I thought "I'm pulling her hair out by the roots, she is so going to bite me", but of course, I wasn't pulling the rooted hair, just the mat.
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B2, that's what I'm afraid of. The mats are so close to the skin and I can't tell if I'm grabbing skin and fur or just fur. I'm afraid to trim down too far.
If I gently pull Swiper's hair, I can dislodge the loose stuff. But he doesn't like that either. I do it all the time with my border collies--pull out clumps. My girl border is awesome. She'll sit there and let me pull out fur to my heart's content. And she's so much more comfortable afterwards. But Swipes.... well, I'm not so sure that'll work with him. I DID manage to get one clump up like that, but that was a fluke.
Oh.... and if I pull stuff off him and set it on the floor near me, he quick grabs it and EATS IT!!!
. . . I DO feed the boy. He gets Natural Balance cat food--why? because he started eating the dog's Natural Balance food and still does. In fact, when I didn't have my dogs for a few days, Swipes sat by their bowls and subtly informed me that he wanted dog food.
. I'm telling ya, he thinks he's a dog.
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Originally Posted by braingonebad
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How I get my animals used to things, clippers, the nail clippers, brushes, etc...
It sounds like a lot of work, but it's more work to fight with them every time. Often this process only take 3-4 days, but it can take a couple weeks or more with the really stubborn ones and ones you train once they're older.
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That sounds like it might work, Brain. I'm probably going to have to look into a clippers too. And Swipes is STUBBORN. He KNOWS he's being bad, I get close to him and he backs down, but when I turn my back, he goes right back to it. I've given up trying to keep him off counters. Now I just keep him off my kitchen counters when I'm cooking stuff.
I've
never had a cat like him. He's VERY Maine Coon-like but I don't think he's a Maine Coon. He just has the personality traits of one.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I'll keep you posted on how the Furminator works when I get it.
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