Maine Coon Grooming Basics

I am new to Maine Coon ownership. I have recently bought the new Furminator to help with shedding, a matting comb and a flea comb.

I am told to keep mats from forming and to keep his hair in shape, I need to groom him every day - at least once or twice. But I have had a lot of people say that using the Furminator everyday is bad and can irritate their skin. People tell me that I need to only use a slicker brush during my grooming sessions and only use the Furminator 2 times a week or so.

I want to know what your thoughts are on this and what your ideals of Maine Coon grooming is.

Thank you.

My Buddy is a rescue coonie and had bad fur probs. I have had these dealt with at groomers and vets. Since I have followed the advice I was given on here and groom a few times a day in short bursts. I don't use a furminator or any other costly brushes etc. I admit I use a nit comb on Buddy, not much to attack, can hide it in my hand during cuddles and no more knots. Others will have their own ways of dealing

A word of caution, the furminator is addictive you get carried away, Hectors tail is starting to come back to its former fluffy duster now! A quick going over once a month or so is all I use it now. Apart from that I use a slicker and I am also a nit comb user too.

My three only get random grooming with their "normal" comb (a Furminator Kitten comb) and a more studied brush about once a week. I only use the real Furminator on them occasionally. Maybe because they don't go out and they groom each other - without furballs yet, thankfully - they seem to be quite well fluffied up without knots. Only actually found one proper knot on Bertie so far and none on the other two at all.

But yeah, the Furminator only occasionally to remove dense hair - a normal comb just to keep the fur smooth and detangled.

I only use a normal cat-comb on both Storm and Benji, Benji is knot-free but Storm gets them in his armpits. Trying to comb him without a fight is a challenge though, either he gets overly playful and ends up scratching your hand to pieces playing "catch and kill" with the comb, or if you distract him and comb him he gets annoyed when he realises what you are up to :p

I used the furminator only once on one of mine & hated how it left the coat feeling & hated even more the feel of the new coat growing back so it was banished from the house.I have an assortment of combs,a good plain stainless steel with open teeth one end & closed the other,great for a quick comb through that is more of a bonding fun session than anything else a moulting comb that gets in & removes dead hair for "that time"of year & good old slicker brush that they love because it seems as if the fierce looking teeth on that stimulates the skin for them,I very often just gently go through their coats with that when they are laying on my lap of an evening & they purr like mad,of course when it comes to getting ready for shows it is used with a bit more vigour. I have also got a de matting comb but with curved teeth not flat,that is what I used on China rip after the disaster with the furminator with lot better results,only cat that it is used on now is daughters black boy when he comes for his hols,he is the only other cat in the group with a dense coat that matts like China's used too.

I'm not a big Furminator fan either for the same reasons.

Plus, if you are not careful you can go from

http://www.sonic.net/~claudel/bubba-fuminator-02.jpg

to

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_f98opUNuVX...hynx%2Bcat.jpg

in a heartbeat... :rofl:


Seriously, if anyone wants the one in the Bubba picture, PM me with an offer. I'm in the States, so postage could be an issue....


MC Elvis loves the dog brush, so I wont be needing it.

So what you all are saying is that the Furminator removes more hair than it should and irritates the skin?

I think that depends on two things, no three things:

1. How the users uses the brush. I have not yet mastered it, but I am very careful and I tend not to rebrush the same area more than a couple of strokes

2. There are a *lot* of fakes on ebay (and Amazon Marketplace). These fakes may - not, are! - of secondary quality and may work differently. I think one way of telling is if the brush came in a proper sealed retail blister pack with paperwork then it may be real, if it just came on it's own maybe in a plastic bag or box then it's probably fake.

3. The cat - even between my three brothers each has quite different hair density and "bounciness" - so only two get the Furminator from me...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ggonkin

So what you all are saying is that the Furminator removes more hair than it should and irritates the skin?

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You do have to be careful because yes it can take out a lot more than you intend but I found on the cat that I used it on when the undercoat started growing back it
just made the whole feel of the coat wrong,weird to explain really but if felt coarser which in turn made the whole coat seem to have a harsher feel,plus I am sure her coat came back denser than ever,MC's should have a good undercoat anyway thats why now I stick with less invasive methods although at this point in time with Shimba his undercoat is a case of "If only he had...."