Advice: When the Fur Flies

Prepare yourselves, humans. It’s that time again. The time you all dread.

It’s shedding season.

No need to glare. It’s not as if we do it intentionally. The stray strand of fur that you find in your lunch, or the one tickling your nose, or the one painfully trapped under your contact lens – we don’t put them there intentionally. (That is, provided you haven’t done something horrible and disrespectful to deserve it. You may want to rack your brains and be sure that you haven’t, and if you have, do something to rectify the situation immediately.)

It’s a simple fact of life that as the seasons change, so do our climate-controlled coverings. You don’t wear the same coat in late spring that you do in midwinter, so why would we want to? Unfortunately we can’t just remove the coat and hang it in the closet; we have to let it fall out hair by hair and then replace it by slowly growing in new ones.

We have a way of doing this. We lick off our loose, dead fur, either leaving it in tufts on your carpeting, or swallowing it to get it out of the way. After a while we remember that eating a lot of fur doesn’t do well for the stomach, so we bring it back up, usually someplace where you can step in it to remind you to clean it up.

Humans, however, have a better way of performing this task. You have nifty little devices called combs and brushes. They’re much better at removing dead fur, and quite honestly, they give a fantastic massage. By all means, bring on the combs and brushes.

In case you’re not sure which implement goes best with which cat, let me enlighten you. A long-haired cat, such as myself, will do best with a fine comb or a “slicker” brush (square with little hooked wires sticking out from it.) These go deeper to break up the tangles that are forming in our cozy undercoats. On the other paw, a short-haired cat, such as the insufferable Iago, finds better results from a bristle brush or rubber curry brush (similar to what you would use on a horse…come to think of it, the comparison is fairly appropriate.)

So do yourselves, and us, a favor. Bring on the combs and brushes. And have a happy Autumn.

Advertisement