What is a deshedder and why is it needed?

Probably, everyone who has a dog or a cat at least once dreamed that his pet would not shed. After all, animal hair can be found everywhere: on furniture, on clothes, everywhere — wherever you look. This causes not only aesthetic discomfort, but can also cause allergic manifestations. Few people are happy with this situation. In this case, the animals themselves suffer. For example, cats swallow wool, which causes them intestinal disorders.

And in this situation, deshedder becomes a real salvation. After all, this hand tool allows you to simply and painlessly for a pet rid him of the undercoat. And that means significantly reducing the amount of wool in the house.

Deshedder, or furminator as it is also called, is a great item for both cat owners and dog owners. It is suitable for both short-haired and long-haired breeds of animals. There is no definite difference between deshedders for cats and dogs.

Deshedder, due to the special design of the blades, easily reaches the undercoat of any animal, while not affecting live hairs and does not scratch the skin. Regular grooming using a deshedder allows you to reduce the process of seasonal molting by 2 times. It must be remembered that you should start using the deshedder only when the animal has already formed the skeleton and the adult molt has begun.

The difference between deshedders and ordinary slicker combs

Many may have a question — why is not a regular comb enough? What is so special about deshedder? Compared to a slicker comb, a deshedder has several advantages:

• Does not spoil the structure of the coat, gently and without harm removing dead hairs. The deshedder does not cut the hairs, but lifts them up so as to capture the fine lint from the undercoat of the animal. At the same time, living hairs remain absolutely intact and unharmed due to the unique arrangement of the blades and their sharpening.
• Deshedder, allows you to remove the dead inner undercoat. Unfortunately, conventional combs only go over the surface of the wool.
• Deshedder prevents the formation of tangles, because with the constant use of the deshedder, dead hairs do not accumulate, do not get tangled and do not cause discomfort to the animal.
• By removing the inner undercoat with a deshedder, the owner helps the pet cope with excess wool and improve its health. We must also not forget that, cats, when licking themselves, swallow a lot of hairs. This negatively affects their gastrointestinal tract and can cause intestinal obstruction.
• During the procedure, the skin of the pet is enriched with oxygen, which helps to improve the condition of the epidermis. The sebaceous glands begin to work more actively, which contributes to the uniform distribution of fatty lubrication. As a result, the coat of pets becomes shinier and smoother.
• Helps maintain cleanliness. The less your pet sheds, the less often you need to collect wool throughout the house.

Terms of use

Grooming is a rather lengthy process. It can take from 15 minutes to several hours, depending on the size of the animal and the thickness of its coat. Therefore, it is important that the pet is in a good mood and allowed to comb out completely. To do this, the animal must be fed and walked. You can also prepare your pet’s favorite toy to distract and soothe. Since not all animals tolerate hygiene procedures well.

To completely remove all traces of dead undercoat, you will need several approaches. During molting, you can comb the animal every 1-2 days. Further, it will be enough to comb out once a month so that your pet always looks well-groomed. In the summer, this procedure can be performed more often. Since the absence of excess hair will allow the animal to maintain normal heat exchange on hot days. Remember that always, first of all, you should focus on the condition of the pet and its need for this procedure.

How to choose a deshedder

If you decide that you need this device, then, of course, you should pay attention to some nuances when choosing a deshedder:

1. The quality of materials. The teeth must be made of durable metal, without notches and deformations. This is very important, because the hairs of wool should easily pass between the blades, without getting stuck between them and without causing discomfort to the animal.
2. The handle should be rubberized and have embossed inserts. Thanks to this, when working, the deshedder will not slip in your hand. After all, otherwise you can accidentally harm your pet.
3. Button for automatic cleaning of the comb from combed hairs. It is not required, but its presence greatly simplifies and speeds up the grooming process.

Summarizing

Regular and proper use of the deshedder will make life easier for your pet, improve its coat and save you from endless cleaning of fluff. And most likely, having tried a deshedder during a molt, at least once, you will no longer be able to refuse it.