Grooming tools

During springtime, if your kids are like mine, they think they are helping by bringing in all the pieces of dead grass, leaves and mud they can find. They usually do this after I have vacuumed just to prove how helpful they are. I cannot help much with that issue but I can give some insight on how to keep the amount of shedding hair down.

CANINE TOOLS:

Despite what you see advertised and in stores, the average pet owner only really needs two or three grooming tools to keep your pet in shape in-between groomings. You will not find many professional pet people with even half as many tools as the “experts” say you should have or work better than the rest

First thing you need is a very good slicker brush, for those of you who might not be aware of what that is, see photo above. It really does not matter what type of breed you have, every pet can benefit from one.

Secondly, if you have short hair kids, such as, Labradors, German Shepherds and the like, you will need two things.

The first is a short tooth rake, The other is a stripping blade. Word of caution here. Use the rake very gently in short soft strokes so as to not “burn” the skin. Use the stripping blade until most of undercoat is gone. Over use it and you will have a dog with bald spots!

FELINE TOOLS:

This is really simple. In 31 years of working with animals I have never found anything better to work on cats than this special comb. It is called the Untangler, it is the only comb on the market that the teeth rotate. Again, short, quick strokes and you can follow up with a small slicker brush to catch any hairs you missed.

For either dog or cat, take a fabric softener sheet and lightly go over them once. It keeps the static down, hence the hair all over the floor.

The idea of brushing is always best done, now that the weather is nice, outdoors. The birds also love to make nests out of the hair.