I have two cats and one of them sheds like crazy. There is cat fur everywhere. Having an open plan kitchen does not help either. The fur is on the kitchen bench as well.
I have a robot vacuum that I use once a day and it does help, but I am just wondering if having an air purifier will help with this issue. Any cat parents have any suggestions on how to keep the cat fur under control?
Good idea. I will give my cat $10 to go and get a haircut today.
That’s gold.
In all seriousness though, do you flea treat the cat? Sometimes I forget to put revolution on mine and then he scratches more and drops more fur. Occasionally the fur will build itself up into a ball and roll across the floor like tumbleweed.
Flea treatment happens once a month. I might try brushing him more often
It's not a cat!
get small hair into your lung and suffer!
Thanks for the heads up.
Give kitty lots of brushes to try and get the loose fur out, either outside or in an area you can immediately vacuum afterwards if indoor-only such as an apartment
Thanks, will give this a try.
Is it just now or is this a constant thing throughout the year?
If it's a 'now' thing - it might just be a seasonal so I can't imagine a humidifier will help. All that will do is add moisture in the air - the cat will still have to shed.
I have two cats and one of them sheds like crazy.
If it's significantly (abnormally) a lot - it might be a good idea to take them to the vet. It could be stress related, food allergies or something more serious (hopefully not but).
If they are siblings, they should technically have similar shedding patterns
Is it just now or is this a constant thing throughout the year?
The cat that's shedding is just over a year old and has been shedding a fair bit. We give him science diet for his age.
BTW, I was asking about air purifier which is different to a humidifier.
mb - it does too. I'm not sure why I thought I read humidifier lol
I have 4 cats around a similar age (it was an accident lol), 2 of them have long hair and shed a decent amount but it's never enough to get onto my kitchen bench (open plan, daily-alternate day robot vacuuming as well). All cats are different, but to me what you are describing sounds pretty excessive
My older cat that I grew up with had a hair loss issue. We took him to the Vet and was able to narrow down the cause to stress (when my mum went to work) and we were able to make some adjustments for him.
I have friends with pets that have grain sensitivities and hair loss was a sign.
I suppose my point is that it could be a lot of things and that perhaps a check up at the vet wouldn't hurt
Air purifier will help a tiny bit, but not as much as you really need though. You're best to brush the cats twice a day with a pet brush for a few days to remove all the loose hair and then daily from there on to keep the loose hair at bay.
LOL, no.
Get another robot vac or a Dyson animal vac. Or better still, get a pet that doesn't shed shit loads of hair.
definitely brushing should help :)
I have a corgi and his fur goes everywhere.
I've got a dyson v10 animal, dyson purifier and i do brush him :)
You could get one of those sticky lint rollers to pick up loose hair off him. Cats seem to like being brushed with them, but I don't know if it's good or bad for cats. Maybe it could take off too much hair.
Ok. Never tried lint roller on cats before… Will be interesting
Wet your hands (or when they are already wet) run them over the cat and the hair will stick to your hands. Your cat will love you more too.
Stop the flea treatment.
Why?
I have two cats, also roomba every other day. Can confirm the air purifier is amazing with the cats! Allergies and air quality is incredible
What do you use to brush your cats?
I use the defurminator which works well.
Air purifier will help but it doesn't totally solve the dander / fur issue. Get yourself a Furminator … game changer for us at least in regard to the amount of fur our boy drops each day. https://www.furminator.com/products/deshed/cat.aspx. Carpet / rugs are a bad idea as the dander / fur accumulates in those items. So we vacuum daily (with an LG CordZero HandStick), brush him at least every second day outside with the Furminator. Then a bath at least once a fortnight to condition skin / coat. Last but not least check diet and flea treatment as they can have a negative effect on dander / coat.
Bath the cat? That would require a tremendous amount of safety gear I imagine.
Furminator looks good.
Bathing the cat is I don't want to try. The cat goes ballistic and scratches everywhere. Maybe I can wipe him down with a wet towel.
we shave our cat on no.4 just before summer and do another around xmas which has drastically reduced hair and hairball issues along with a couple of brushes a day. We leave legs, tail and head full length. Her fur is nearly full length again so timing works out well as it gets cooler. You want warm bedding in the sun for those cooler days in summer.
Also have a furminator but hardly use it. It kinda cuts the hair and thins it out marginally and doesnt seem to make much compared to a brushing.
We also brush outside although if you do it on a balcony it may not blow away
All depends on cat breed and hair, but I brush my cats daily with a self-cleaning slicker brush like this one from Woolies. Self cleaning just means you press a button and can slide all the hair off, rather than trying to pull it out between the bristles.
My short hair cat is so much worse than my medium hair for shedding, so I also use a Furminator on him regularly. Just enough so that when I use the slicker brush I am not getting brushes worth of hair out every time. If it's moulting season this is more of a chore. I wouldn't use the Furminator on my medium hair cat as I feel it would snag her delicate hairs and hurt.
For getting knots out of longer hair cats you can use what's called a greyhound comb, it's a stainless steel comb with rounded tines so it's gentle on their skin.
You can also use something called a Kong Zoom Groom brush to loosen fur, this is a silicone brush which you rub/brush on their coat and fur comes flying off. I don't really like it as it is a very messy process and you need to hunt down all the hair later, and brush the loose hair off your cat as well. However the flat side is great for getting stubborn hairs off furniture, they just stick to it.
A battery operated lint roller handheld vacuum thing like the Fur Daddy (that name!) is good for getting hair off clothes, soft furnishings and furniture. I find it's more effective than vacuuming these kinds of household items as the hair sticks to the lint roller but stubbornly stays in place otherwise.
Then for carpets and floors, I vacuum once a week and use a robot vacuum in between when I remember.
This doesn't really answer your question about air purifiers! But just for cat hair in general, I've found keeping on top of grooming, then spot cleaning cat hair as you go and keeping up a regular cleaning schedule (eg with lint roller and vacuuming) is the best way to keep the floating cat hair level down.
Thanks for the input and link to the brush. I should definitely brush my cat more often.
Ugh. I read this just after having my cat on my lap. Bloody fur everywhere. Seems like a lot for this time of year. I'm wondering if it has something to do with the excess humidity (in Melbourne) They seem to be able to produce it on demand sometimes. You brush and brush and more just keeps coming. I dont have any answers, sorry. Cat hair is annoying.
Every time I brush 100 bits of fur out of my cat, he grows another thousand. It's like some kind of strange dark magic.
Bloody fur everywhere
Same situation at my place. My clothes have fur, there is fur flying and getting onto kitchen bench and food. Cat doesn't seem to care about the dining table and jumps on it whenever it feels like. I am trying to control this by spraying a bit of water on its face when he jumps onto the table. Fur is on the floor, carpet… Just about everywhere. Robot vacuum does catch a fair bit but then there is more that comes.
Brushing the cat is one thing that I need to do more. I will try that and see if it makes any difference at all or not.
What about one of those robo vacuum cleaners
Get one of those bald cats like Rachael had on friends.