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Sun 10 Aug, 2003 04:55 pm
Now, my cats are very decorative, in and of themselves - BUT - the FUR!!!!! Oy veh!
I brush, sweep, swiff, vacuum (and my vacuum REALLY sucks!), curse, despair, moan, shout and still fur is everywhere.
I have one of those velcroish fur removers for furniture, a special fur attracting sponge (great - but leaves it in little clumps that I then have to vacuum), a useless Enjo thingy - and prolly more things tucked away.
I have one of those fur-stripping soft plastic big toothed brushes - and it gets lots out - I LOOK like a furball when I have finished brushing the little beasts, though!
Any brilliant fur control gadgets and/or ideas? Before I turn into a furball and upchuck myself under the bed?
Hmmm. This might help:
Short of that (or shaving the cats), uh, hmmm, get carpet to match their fur? Seriously, when we had dogs, we had a very hard time vacuuming up their fur and the problem didn't truly get resolved until we were dogless for a good year or so.
Have 'em stuffed. That way they are both decorative and don't shed.
I'm actually halfway serious. I don't think you can have indoor cats without gobs of hair.
I have seriously considered a sphynx next time, Jes! But I think it untoward of you to bring up that wretched shaving thing again.
I KNOW you get gobs, Craven - though not as many as you live with - but I am wondering if there are cleverer/miraculouser ways of cleaning them up.
I and Oscar and Miranda are pointedly ignoring the stuffed comment - all looking down our noses with our blue eyes at you.....
(psssst - got the name of a good taxidermist....?)
hmmmmmm - well you could combine threads? throw lots of paint on the walls, shake the cats and VOILA your new wall covering!
No?
oh, well.
Bailey and Cleo were shaved of their top coats earlier this year. It helped a bit. Not much.
You mean, I SHOULD shave them? GASP!
My previous cat enjoyed being vacuumed, and it was waaaay easier...odd, but true.
He he, I jes do it meself. Take an unused pillow...
Given that you ARE a cat, just at this instant, you ought to be careful what you wish for! You are that very snooty cat, too.
Do cats have top and bottom coats the way double-coated dogs do?
Dunno beth, I jes start stuffin'.
From the bottom.
It's good excersise beth! They wiggle and whine a lot.
I started a topic once on corgi hair pillows, and I thought I was kidding. Apparently people do use cat and dog hair in weavings, yarn...harrumph.
I have simply adjusted my attitude to slough off doubtful frowns from others. My problem is not only that I have a great deal of animal hair rustling about on my wooden floors, but I am a non obsessive housekeeper now - after years of keeping everything spiffy, I'm over it. It isn't all so hard to clean up, except on the couch...but I don't want to do it ALLTHETIME.
Craven - we know you love the cats - in a toward manner, of course (!) - your secret is out - give it up.
But I hate the fur my very own self, Osso!!!
Mine are Siamese, Beth, I do not think they have a double coat - in fact, I am sure they do not.
And they shed ALL THE TIME - damn them.
How about sending them to someone else to vacuum them? Then you won't have to bear witness to their suffering, silent or otherwise. That is definitely my approach when it comes to nail clipping. Bailey carries on as if he's going to have a heart attack, which gives me conniptions. Cleo becomes the evil wolverine dog when you want to groom her nether regions. The groomer can put a muzzle on them, put a harness on, whatever - I know they're really being treated very sweetly at Jenny's, but I also know they're tiny Doggie Bernhardt's, and I'll pay to have the drama out of my view.
LOL! No, their terror at the mere sight and sound of the vacuum is way too much.
Do you mean send them to be groomed?
Great idea - but no way I could afford it.
I clip their claws too - they don't mind too much.
Yup, I meant - send them to the groomers. and in this specific case, a groomer who can vacuum cats (it seems to be a good technique for a lot of cats and dogs). Hmmmmm - I guess you can't give up - what, eating? - to save up for cat grooming. No. That wouldn't work.
cat shedding
I decided to leave my two Himalayan cats in California with a friend when I moved to Albuquerque last year. You've never seen shedded cat hair until you've owned one of the thick coat long hair cats. It broke my heart to leave madeleine and Eloise behind. I'm too old now to do the kind of cleaning required to keep a home free of cat hair, especially in high desert summer heat.
I now have a Bichon Frise puppy, a dog that doesn't shed. He just poops and pees on the floor and chews up everything within reach.
Hmmmm, maybe my cats weren't so bad after all.
---BumbleBeeBoogie