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Does anyone have any experience with either the Furminator or the Groominator brush?

Hawkeye is a longhair, quite possibly half Maine Coon, and she has a dense undercoat. A wire brush doesn't cut it, nor does a Zoom Groom. Ava is a medium-hair with a fine undercoat, and she's too sensitive-skinned for a wire brush.

We definitely need a brush that's going to be good for them, since it's going to start heating up here soon and I don't want either of them to mat up. (Hawkeye is more prone to it.) A lion cut is out of the question for various reasons, partly having to do with the fact that Hawkeye will plot our deaths and partly because Ava will throw a temper tantrum the likes of which the world has never seen. (Another part is rough play; none of the cats set out to injure, but they play hard.)

Any suggestions are welcome, preferably under about $25.

Edit: Thanks, everyone! I went with the Furminator.

lillyho

Meta Plückebaum (German, 1876-1954)
The furry friends
(charcoal, pastel and gouache on paper)

источник:
http://www.christies.com

archersangel

10 facts about cats

the first one is about a cat that was sent into space. more on her here.

Current Mood: thirsty

lillyho

Life is good!

Nikolay Kulyigin*

*Label on a bottle with an inscription "Valerian".

lillyho

Mary Pavlova

rosefox

Hi all! I'm hoping you can help me out or at least reassure me about some cat-introducing issues I'm having.

( background )

TLDR: Java is 15M and opinionated, Sam is 8F and doofy and skittish. Their primary interaction is Java trying to lick Sam's head and Sam shoving him away. (Think a teenager yelping "Dad, you're embarrassing me!".) Otherwise they're generally friendly, but not super-close. After seven years in one place, which was the only home Sam has ever really known, my partner Josh and I and the cats just moved to a new apartment to live with my partner Xtina. The cats seem to be coping pretty well with this.

( They are coping less well with a new feline housemate. )

Is the transferred growliness totally normal? Is this just Sam being a doofy, anxious cat? Any suggestions for how to proceed with further introductions, and how to encourage Sam to play nice with Java in the meantime? Many thanks for any help you can offer!

Current Mood: worried

dragonfly

Thanks to

archersangel for the warning about Purina. I also wanted to ask my question as a post instead of a reply to her post. So here it is:

Does anyone know if the producers of Science Diet have made recent changes to their formulation, or how I could find out? I have two thirteen-year-old cats who have eaten nothing but Science Diet their whole lives. Not always the same variety of Science Diet (hairball formula, senior cats formula, adult cats formula, etc.) but always Science Diet. Suddenly they don't like it. I did make the possible mistake of putting down some diabetic food from my vet since one of them has developed diabetes, and now they know there is some other kind of cat food in the world. But they are very clearly telling me how they don't like the Science Diet any more. I wouldn't put it past the manufacturers, who used to have a highly respected product guaranteed to provide a cat with all the nutrition he/she needed, to quietly change the formulation to something cheaper and less nutritious. But I don't know. It could just be my cats.

archersangel

a bunch at consumeraffairs.com

if you or someone you know has had problems with the products do what this woman did;

I posted a complaint on this site on December 21, 2011. My cat got deathly ill perhaps from eating Purina Kit N Kaboodles. It's taken me 3 weeks to make contact with Purina, they're not aware of the comments on this website. They said they'll mail me a kit for me to send them a sample of this bag of cat food to be tested. Please if other people think they have a bad batch of pet food, call Purina at 1-800-778-7462 to file a complaint and get the food in question tested. Purina can't recall pet food if the complaints aren't made with them directly.

Ann of Westerville, OH1/11/12

i mentioned this in a comment a few days ago & thought i should post it in case people missed it.

Current Mood: worried

archersangel

I have never chosen a cat before. I have been chosen by the cat, or by people who offered us a cat. Or a kitten was weeping up in a tree on Euclid Avenue and needed to be rescued and grew up into a fourteen-pound grey tiger tom who populated our neighborhood in Berkeley for blocks around with grey tiger kittens. Or pretty golden Mrs Tabby, probably after an affair with her handsome golden brother, presented us with several golden kittens, and we kept Laurel and Hardy. Or when Willie died, we asked Dr Morgan to let us know if anybody left a kitten at the veterinary door the way people do, and she said it wasn’t likely because it was long past kitten season, but next morning there was a six-month-old in a tuxedo on her doorstep, and she called us up, and so Zorro came home with us for thirteen years.

After Zorro died, last spring, there had to be the emptiness.

Finally it began to be time that the house had a soul again (some Frenchman said that the cat is the soul of the house, and we agree). But no cat had chosen us or been offered to us or appeared weeping in a tree. So I asked my daughter if she’d come to the Humane Society with me and help me choose a cat.

the rest of the story

found via

cofax7

Current Mood: blah

egret

My catsitter sent me this link to an article about walking your cat on a leash, so I thought I'd share it.

I am pasting the text of the article under a cut below, for those without access to the NY Times website.

( Nine Lives One Leash by Stephanie Clifford, Dec. 29, 2011 )

egret

This is not any kind of official recall, but I wanted to share the link because of my own experience.
I found this thread on Natural Balance while browsing the Catster forums. My cats had been eating Natural Balance lately so naturally I was interested. I followed the link given to this independent consumer complaints page about Natural Balance. I have no idea how reliable that consumer complaints site is. However, one of my cats has recently had some of the symptoms described; the symptoms cleared up about the same time that I ran out of Natural Balance and switched to something else. I had not made the connection between the food and the cat's digestive issues because I thought it was a stressed out reaction to holiday upheaval. One of my cats had diarrhea that smelled beyond awful, but was eating and alert and acting normally otherwise. My other cat was fine. Both cats are fine now. It could all be a coincidence, but these unofficial complaints from the internet are unnerving, so I am sharing them. I had run out of cans of Natural Balance, but I discarded the rest of the dry food that I had.

As far as I can tell, Natural Balance has not recalled anything since June 2010.

Resource: The American Veterinary Medicine Association has a pet food recall watch page.

Again, the food could be fine; this is not a recall. But I thought it was worth mentioning especially since it affects a brand generally considered to be a wholesome food.

x-posted to own journal

softestbullet

For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.
For he rolls upon prank to work it in.
For having done duty and received blessing he begins to consider himself.
For this he performs in ten degrees.
For first he looks upon his forepaws to see if they are clean.
For secondly he kicks up behind to clear away there.
For thirdly he works it upon stretch with the forepaws extended.
For fourthly he sharpens his paws by wood.
For fifthly he washes himself.
For sixthly he rolls upon wash.
( For seventhly he fleas himself, that he may not be interrupted upon the beat... )

Christopher Smart, from Jubilate Agno

This is the cutest thing I've ever read. :D

(via perversetoamiracle)

linen_shine

My cat would like to meet уou :). She is British, but from Russia :) *So sorry me my English, it is bad, I know. She is 8 years old.

baggyeyes

This is Spot. She was named this for the light colored spot on the back of her head. We can't see that spot anymore. You see, when she was just a couple of weeks old, her fur was slim and trim. Now, at roughly 8 week later, her fur has taken on a 1980s feel. Or maybe 1970s.

This is Little Bear, so named because her face looked so much like a bear cub at birth. She demands hugs, food and quick access to her litter dish. Not usually at the same time, though.

sugarkitty

Hi!

Errr.....I suppose I just have a bit of an unusual story I'd like to share with other cat lovers and hear their thoughts about it.
( Cut because its a bit long... )

Current Mood: worried

lyorn

One of these days I need to take the cats to the vet for their shots. Now the cats are very sweet, but also very sneaky and agile, and very hard to get hold of. Getting them in a box to take them to the vet will be hard the first time, and might become impossible after that. So, for the last week, I have been playing the Box Game with them every evening. ( Read more... )

bigfoot

NEED OUR HELP

Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support

Japan Cat Network

-------------------------------

More Good News From Japan: Woman And Cat Reunited

bigfoot

I like this breed of cats and I like to show some pics of my siberian cats.

Lusyena (11 years, mom, right) and Firka (2 years, daughter, left).

(Some more Siberians in my blog.)
( some more pics )

azurehart

I've started off the New Year with a visit from the local police. Not because of a loud party or drunken behavior... although really there wouldn't be enough brandy in the world to make up for this.

Anyway, day started as normal as it ever does around here. Got up, packed a lunch for my Mother (she works weekends), took the dogs out, then came back to feed my cats. The rain had let up, so after the cats ate, I let Homeboy and Sweetie go outside.

Homeboy immediately slipped his collar off, and was running around in the front yard. I went out to try to catch him to put his collar back on and...

HB: Freedom! *runs around as if possessed*

S: It's wet out here! Why is the grass wet?

Me: Homeboy! Come here!

HB: I can't hear you! *dashes behind the rosemary bush*

S: My paws are wet! Why are my paws wet?

Me: I can see you behind the bushes Homeboy. Get out here!

HB: Whee! *runs around catching invisible mice*

S: Every time I step on the wet grass, my paws get wet...

Me: Homeboy! Get over here and put your clothes on! What would the neighbors say if they saw you running around naked?!?

At this point our new nosy neighbor's face popped up over the top of the fence, looking rather startled, but I didn't think anything of it. I finally caught Homeboy, put his collar back on, and went back inside.

Thirty minutes later there is a knock on the door, and when I open the door I see one of the local police officers on my porch.

Me: Hey Phil* (he's the young cop that had to pick up the naked jogger), what's up.

Cop: We had a report of a naked gang member running around in your yard.

Me: Say what?

Cop: Yeah. Seriously what is it with you and naked people anyway?

Me: I could ask the same since you always seem to be the one they send out on these calls.

Cop: Look we can't have people wandering around nude. The call said that it was someone known to you since you were outside talking to this naked gang member.

Me: Alleged naked gang member.

Cop: *just stares at me*

Me: Look, there wasn't any one running around naked in my yard. I was yelling at my cat trying to put his collar back on.

Cop: What???

Me: My cat. No collar.

Cop: Then why would someone...

Me: My cat is named Homeboy. I may have been yelling his name.

Cop: You're kidding me.

Me: Would I lie to an officer of the law?

Cop: *sighs* Somehow this isn't how I pictured my life when I decided to go into law enforcement.

Me: Not everyone can be Starsky and Hutch.

Cop: Who?

Me: *sighs* Look are we done here, or do I have to go to court to explain my cat's nudist ways?

Cop: No, were done. I don't know how I'm going to explain this call out, but we're done. I'll talk to the neighbor about filing a false report, and hopefully that will be the end of it.

My Life = Stranger than Fiction.

(* Name changed to protect the dorky)

azurehart

Two of my cats (Sweetie and Homeboy) are outside pets, but I do confine them to the garage at night and when the weather is bad. Yesterday was nice and sunny, so the cats got to go out for a while. Homeboy immediately found the fat jay that's been stealing kibble out of the food dishes and chased him into the garage. The following is the crazy that went on after that.

The Cast: Homeboy (HB), Sweetie (S), Bird (B), and Me *waves*

HB: *chases bird into garage* KILL! KILL! KILL!

Me: *leaps out of the way* What the...

B: Oh chit! *flies up into rafters*

HB: KILL DA BIRDIE! *runs around garage as if rockets were strapped to his butt*

S: *wanders into the garage* Hey guys, what's going on?

HB: KILLING DA BIRDIE! *tries to become air born, fails miserably*

Me: Knock it off you nutt!

B: Oh chit, oh chit, oh chit!

S: *looks every where but up* Do you hear a birdie?

HB: *attempts flying tackle of bird*

Me: *leaps out of the way*

B: OH CHIT!

S: I could swear I hear a birdie. Hey Homeboy, do you hear a birdie?

HB: My Birdie! KILL DA BIRDIE!

Me: Oh for the love of... *gets broom, manages to shoo bird outside*

B: Flee to the sky!

S: I could have sworn I heard a birdie. Oh well. *goes outside to sun herself on top of BBQ*

HB: Darn it Mom! I almost had it! *goes outside to sulk*

Later...

B: *sees Homeboy, swoops down on him* I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE! DIE FELINE SCUM!

S: Birdie! *preforms slap-shot worthy Olympic athlete, knocks bird back into garage*

B: OH CHIT!

HB: *rockets back into garage* Thanks Sweetie! KILL! KILL! KILL!

Me: How is this my life?

S: There it is again! It sure sounds like a birdie. Do you hear a birdie?

B: ...being of sound mind but endangered body do hereby bequeath my collection of shiny stuff to Bob the crow...

Me: Oh for... *throws quilt over cats, opens large door*

B: Freedom! *flies out, careens off car before flapping to safety*

HB: Darn it Mom! Birds are for noms! Why do you keep rescuing my lunch?!? *sulks*

S: I could have sworn I heard a birdie....

Current Mood: amused

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cats lovers unite!

(no subject)

Cats in paintings

some facts about cats

Cats in paintings

Cats in paintings

Introducing kitties

Science Diet changes?

issues with purina pet food

how ursula k. le guin chose her cat

NY Times article on leashwalking your cat

possible issue with Natural Balance cat food?

A cat poem

:)

Day of the kittens

The Mystery Cat

Getting the cat into the box

not only humans...

meet my siberians

Now they're trying to get me arrested...

My Wild Kingdom...

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