do your cats hate getting brushed...

[newsguyatl]

as much as mine do?

jesse just loathes it... i literally have to hold his two front legs with one hand, while brushing with the other... in the meantime, he bites at the brush and makes quite a ruckus...

nikko's a little better (easier to manage at least) but he by no means likes it either.

i thought it was that the brush was possibly too rough, so i bought a softer one, and they still HATE it!

and it's bad for them AND me, because i don't like cat hair everywhere, so i brush them weekly...

i've tried the whole, giving them a treat afterwards and saying "good boy" when they calm down when i'm brushing them, but that hasn't really worked...


do your cats hate it? love it? any advice?

[Grateful for Hope]

1. I've had mixed issues with Jake and Spidey

At first, Jake loved being brushed and Spidey fought it strenuously. I was using a normal cat brush which I thought was maybe too rough for Spidey.

So, I went out and bought the Four Paws mitt (it has little rubber nobs in the palm and on the underside of the thumb).

It took a bit of getting used to, but now Spidey loves being "stroked" with it. Jake, on the other hand, will only let me brush him when he isn't doing something else...which is most of the time!

I like the mitt and recommend it.

[newsguyatl]

2. so the rubber nobs are enough

to get the hair out?

also, where do you get it?

[Grateful for Hope]

4. Yes, it seems to work well judging by

the amount of fur that ends up on the nobs.

I bought it at Pet Supplies Plus here locally, but, I imagine that it is available at most larger pet stores.

[NV Whino]

6. Little rubber knobby things on

mits or brush-like things are used by professional cat people on (primarily) short-haired cats--works better than a brush. My cats didn't like that either.

[NV Whino]

3. All of my cat have hated being brushed

except one who loved being vacuumed. Go figure.

[newsguyatl]

5. you've got to be kidding!

vacuumed?!?

:rofl:


now i'd LOVE to be able to do THAT, the neat freak i am!

[NV Whino]

7. Kid you not.

She was sitting on one of my extra wide window sills one day when I was trying to clean. She wouldn't move, so I said fine, and ran the brush attachment over her. She loved it and thereafter, I vacuumed the cat once a week.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. I once had a cat who liked to be vacuumed.

This guy:



He'd roll over on his back so I could vacuum his belly.

[Ranec]

22. Is this your cat?

http://www.stuffonmycat.com/index.php?itemid=209

[meow2u3]

9. Boots attacks the brush

If I keep brushing him, he starts to attack me!

[ccjlld]

10. Tucker loves it!

But then he is the only cat I've ever had who does. He does ocasionally think the brush is something to play with, but most of the time he just accepts it as his due. Here's the weird part, he likes it when I brush his fur the wrong way! That really helps get out the fur!

[Grateful for Hope]

11. Gotta love that Tucker!

What a sweet, beautiful boy!

[Lorien]

12. No, they all love it

especially Miro, who tries to shove the others aside when the brush is in hand. His tongue always sticks out when I brush him. :-)

[BrklynLiberal]

13. Those two lovers still make me smile when I see them together....

:D


The glove with the little nubbies seems to work the best for my cats...

[japple]

14. Both TIny and Oscar LOVE getting brushed. They didn't until I started

using a metal slicker brush. The whole time I'm brushing them, I'll tell them what beautiful boys they are and that they will be better cats when I'm through. I think maybe if you start off with a few strokes here and there and "talk them through it" for very short periods of time, they might get used to it. Good luck.

[demnan]

15. Mine have always liked brushing

Perhaps you need to make your strokes more gentle. First take your hand and with fingers outstreached reach through the cats' fur. This makes them a bit more used to the idea of being brushed.

Start with one of those blue rubber brushes and just lightly stroke them (if you pet them first for a while as mentioned, the brushing won't seem so different)

Zoom Groom:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=3334&N=2002+113032

I know the Zoom Groom pushes a lot of hair just out in the air - you'll just have to deal with that. It's messy but effective. Just keep stroking - get some hair out by hand if you can and they'll get used to you doing it with the brush.

[newsguyatl]

16. ok thanks everyone!

great advice, as usual.

:hi:

[Jo March]

20. Also, you can just sit in the floor and hold the brush out slightly

They'll come to you. "Hey, you're in the floor!" Keep holding the brush out. "Hey, why are you holding that out?" Sniff. Sniff. Don't brush them yet. Let them circle around a while. Sneak in a slick with the brush occasionally and then put the brush back down. Give lots of rubs with your hand and use the brush sparingly.

I had to start one of my cats off with one stroke from the brush followed by putting the brush down and letting her sniff it. Then, lots of rubs from my hand with no brush - left it lying in the floor with the hair still in it. Love, love, love with the hand and then one or two slicks with the brush.

It's a long process but she got a lot better when I sat in the floor. Eventually that was the only way that I could get her to let me brush her!

Good luck! :hi:

[ET Awful]

17. Mine both want to play with the brush.

It's hopeless.

That's okay though, they keep themselves groomed pretty darn well :P

[Lorien]

18. How about one of those self grooming combs?

They are usually shaped like an arch. The cat walks through it, then discovers that he likes it and keeps doing it.

[bullwinkle428]

19. Lucky would literally beg to get brushed several times a day!

She would hop up onto the coffee table in the living room and look at you with her "begging eyes", just waiting for you to start brushing. The brushing procedure would go on for several minutes, during which you could work both with and against the grain, as her British Shorthair coat was so dense. Once she decided she had enough for that session, she'd just hop off the table and start stretching and scratching her sisal pad. Lucy, her daughter, was actually not a fan of brushing for a long time. We'd have to hold her in one place to keep her from running off so we could complete the process. However, at some point, she realized that brushing was more first-class attention for her, and would jump up on the table as Lucky was being brushed, so we'd have to work the brush between the two of them...a few strokes here, and a few strokes there.

[nickinSTL]

21. my cat HATED it

he would bite and claw and struggle...it took 2 people to comb him, one to hold him down, and the other to comb.