How to comb a cat correctly and with what? What to do if a cat vomits hair?

Do you need to comb your cat? How to do this correctly and how often? What brushes for cats can you buy on Aliexpress?

A “side effect” of keeping a cat indoors is the fur it leaves everywhere when it sheds. Scraps on the floor, furniture and clothing are unaesthetic, unhygienic, and harmful to the health of the owners. There is a solution to the problem, and it does not lie in regular cleaning or, especially, in placing a pet. The cat needs to be brushed so that it “sheds” faster and does not fray its fur.

Do I need to comb my cat?

Shedding is a natural process that usually occurs annually in cats. The animal's coat should be completely renewed in spring and autumn. Depending on the length of the coat, hairs fall out:

tufts in long-haired cat breeds
individual hairs evenly in short-haired cat breeds

Brushing is a mandatory grooming procedure for a cat that sheds.
In summer and winter, the cat’s fur also sheds, but not in such large “portions.” There are also pathological conditions that cause the animal to shed, for example:

avitaminosis
stress
skin allergies
dermatological diseases
indoor air is too dry
Frequent bathing with the wrong shampoo

IMPORTANT: Not all fallen fur remains in the apartment and irritates the owners. A significant part of it settles in the cat’s stomach after it decides to clean itself up and lick itself. And healthy cats lick themselves all the free time they have left from sleeping, eating and playing. Fur in the stomach causes the animal to experience discomfort and can cause serious health problems.

The frequency of brushing and the type of brush depend on the breed of the cat and the length of its fur.
Regular brushing will help the cat shed its hair. The advantages of the procedure are that:

The cat will not eat the fur. You won’t have to remove it from his stomach later.
You won't need to clean the house as often.
Combing is also a massage. Due to the acceleration of blood circulation in the vessels under the skin and, accordingly, the acceleration of metabolism, the cat's new coat will grow healthy and beautiful.
Combing is a kind of preventive examination, during which you can identify fleas, scratching, and other skin pathologies in a cat.
The procedure is pleasant for the animal itself.

But if you do the combing incorrectly, you can harm your cat. To prevent this from happening, you should consult a veterinarian about what exactly, how often and how to comb a cat of a particular breed.

Why does a cat shed?

Many people who have never owned this animal have a question: why brush a cat, since stray cats do an excellent job of doing this on their own. In fact, any animal sheds, it’s just that “vagrants” live in the fresh air, and seasonal climate changes help strengthen their coat. Probably, many of us have noted that healthy indoor cats have beautiful fluffiness.

Animals that live permanently in an apartment often suffer from a lack of vitamins; their coats and skin dry out in the winter due to the influence of heating devices, and in the summer due to air conditioners. Domestic cats shed much more intensely than indoor cats all year round, and seasonal shedding generally turns into real hair loss.

Another factor that affects the amount of hair shed is the breed of the animal. Domestic cats are mostly purebred animals, artificially bred by humans for the sake of their beautiful fur coat, so the fluffier the animal, the more attention it will have to be given.

How to comb out fur and undercoat from a cat during shedding?

Cat fur and human hair differ in their anatomy and structure. An ordinary hair comb will not work for a cat; it will not be able to remove dead hair and will only create static electricity that is harmful to the animal. You should purchase a special cat brush or massage mitt from a pet store. Its configuration depends entirely on the breed of the pet and the length of its fur.

Brushes and slickers for cats.

IMPORTANT: Regardless of the type of brush, there is an important point to consider. In no case should the teeth be completely metal, so as not to torment the animal with electric shocks, or sharp, so as not to scratch its skin.

You can buy brushes, combs and slicker brushes for cats on the extensive online site Aliexpress, in the section “For Home and Garden / Products for Pets / Cat Care”.

Furminator from Aliexpress.

You can brush your cat while shedding:

Furminator. This professional brush for cats and dogs is a rectangle with teeth mounted on a rubberized handle that is easy to hold. The Furminator helps the animal shed much faster, as it effectively combs out the hair and undercoat that have become dead. The device also produces a massage effect, accelerates the cat’s blood, and evenly distributes its protective fat layer. Your pet's new coat grows healthy and beautiful. Suitable for cats with any length of pile and density of undercoat. Helps get rid of tangles.
Brush - mitten. This is a rubber or silicone mitten with pimples or teeth, which, when placed on the hand, the owner will be able to comb or massage the cat, even if he is not enthusiastic about the mandatory procedure.
Pukhoderka. This flat comb can have teeth of different lengths and thicknesses, sometimes curved. The longer the cat's fur, the longer and more frequent the teeth of the slicker should be. It is important to remember that you cannot “tear” matted fur and tangles with a slicker, otherwise the animal will suffer.
Scallop. A cat's comb typically consists of densely spaced teeth of varying lengths. It is convenient for regular use during shedding and is also suitable for combing out fleas.
Double sided brush. On one side it has teeth for combing, on the other - elastic artificial or natural bristles for massage.

Brush-mitten from Aliexpress.

Silicone brush for combing from Aliexpress.

Cat slicker from Aliexpress.

Comb for combing cats from Aliexpress.

Types of wool: what are they?

It is especially important to comb pets with long and fluffy hair, but Sphynx cats are not necessary.
The main classification of cats according to the length and thickness of their coat:

short-haired;
long-haired;
semi-longhaired;
bald.

Especially often you need to comb the Scottish cat, Persian, Angora, British cat, as well as the Munchkin and Bobtail. It is not necessary to comb a short-haired cat; it is better to use a special glove for this purpose. A Sphynx kitten does not need to undergo this procedure at all, since it has no fur. There are breeds that have a large undercoat, they are noticeably fluffy and look like plush. It is better to comb such cats frequently and thoroughly, as they are more susceptible to tangles.

How to comb a short-haired cat?

Grooming a cat with short hair is quite simple. They do this twice a week. Needed:

bowl of warm water
wide-toothed comb or furminator
massage mitten or double-sided brush

Brushing a short-haired cat with a mitten brush.

Before brushing, it is better to run a hand dipped in water through the cat’s fur. Then the fibers will not fly away.
Use a comb or fuminator to comb the cat's fur. Sometimes you can hear that combing is more effective against hair growth, but in this case there is a risk of damaging the undercoat.
The procedure is repeated with a massage brush, which will also collect the remains of combed hair from the animal’s fur coat.

What are tangles

Lost hairs that remain on the cat's body can become tangled with each other, with growing hairs, and form into dense lumps - tangles.

Basically, the cat's undercoat falls off - the lower layer of hair, which is responsible for thermoregulation. In long-haired breeds such as Siberian, Maine Coon, Norwegian Forest, Persian, Angora, Neva Masquerade, the undercoat is highly developed. These breeds require regular brushing.

First, lumps form in the armpits, inner thighs, and groin - where friction occurs during movement. Then on the stomach, back, tail, behind the ears. When neglected, the hair clumps together, covering almost the entire body. There is also a risk of getting a complete ball of felt when the owner tries to bathe a cat whose fur is matted.

How to comb a British cat?

A British cat is brushed not only during shedding, but also 1-2 times a week throughout the winter. The fact is that during this period she develops a dense undercoat, sometimes tangled into tangles.

For the procedure you need a brush - a slicker with thin and densely set metal teeth. There should be metal tips on the tips of the teeth so that they do not scratch the animal’s skin.

IMPORTANT: A regular powder brush is not suitable for the British. If the undercoat is damaged, the fur of a purebred cat will not seem plush.

How to train an adult cat to brush

Combing is an important procedure. During seasonal molting, your pet's hair begins to fall out profusely. While washing, they may swallow large hairballs, which causes digestive problems. Combing allows you to get rid of dead particles, excess hairs and lumps.

If your pet loves this treatment, you're in luck.

Animals often do not like to be brushed. The cat can escape from the hands, accidentally scratch or bite the owner, so you need to get used to the comb. It is easier to train a small cat, but older cats take a long time to adapt, so you should introduce a cat to a hairbrush gradually.

A cat often vomits hair: what to do?

As already mentioned, during shedding the cat “eats” a certain amount of fur. In his stomach, it falls into lumps - bezoars. If there is little hair, the bezoars are small, they successfully pass through the intestines and are excreted in the feces.

But with heavy shedding, hairballs can grow to large sizes, cause discomfort to the animal, and cause partial or complete intestinal obstruction.

Hairballs in a cat's stomach worsen his health.

IMPORTANT: If a cat eats fur during shedding, he can remove it from the stomach in another way - through vomiting.

A single vomiting of hair is considered physiological and does not pose a danger to the animal. The cat just needs to regurgitate the fur from its stomach to feel better.

If an animal vomits several times a day or for several days in a row, this is a pathology that requires contacting a veterinarian. Only a doctor can determine the cause of the condition.

Perhaps the cat, due to stress, fleas, or too dry air in the room, sheds too much and, accordingly, swallows too much hair. But sometimes frequent vomiting indicates the presence of diseases of the animal’s gastrointestinal tract.

The cat vomits to cleanse its stomach of hairballs.

Frequent hair vomiting can be prevented by:

Groom and bathe your cat while shedding.
Give the cat special food. Cat food manufacturers produce lines of products for long-haired cats, which, among other things, help cleanse the stomach of bezoars.
Give the cat grass. Street or walking cats find grass on their own, along with which they regurgitate fur. Owners of pet cats can plant grass for them from seeds or buy it already sprouted at a pet store.
Give the cat some paste. A special paste is given to the pet during the molting period on its own or along with food. It is sold in a tube. As a rule, a single dose is a 3-5 cm strip of paste. The product has a meat or cheese flavor, cats eat it with pleasure.

IMPORTANT: If after using the products the cat is still vomiting hair or white foam, eating poorly, behaving lethargically, and rarely goes to the litter box, he should be shown to a veterinarian.

Types of cat furminators

Before purchasing the best version of the device, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the characteristics of common brands. Among the many varieties of furminators, the most popular are:

Furminator Ink is an original product manufactured in the USA. It has two manufacturing options: Classic and Deluxe, their differences lie in the automatic and manual collection of combed wool. This is the most expensive and reliable device, which has a shock-resistant ergonomic handle and self-sharpening teeth. Its working surface does not require replacement for a long time. The new model of the device is equipped with an automatic cleaning button for removing removed hair. The cost is 1.5–2 thousand rubles.

The original Furminator Deluxe is easy to use
Trixie, this comb (Furminator) is produced in Germany by a German company with 40 years of experience. Gently combs thick fur without damaging the skin. There are three versions of the device for animals with different undercoat thicknesses. With this comb you can comb medium to long hair. The work surface is made of stainless steel and has a plastic handle with a rubber grip. Due to the structure of the teeth, only dead undercoat is pulled out during operation. Costs from 800 to 1400 rubles.
Foolee (France), such devices have a bright, unusual design, a variety of colors, and a comfortable handle with a special curve. The device is effective in operation and removes 95% of shedding hair. The Furminator is available in four sizes (from XS to XL), the choice depends on the weight of the cat. Its cost is from 1300 to 1700 rubles.
Hartz, this device is used for combing Scottish cats. Has metal teeth. The set includes a brush for combing. The model is equipped with a protective cap, a rubberized handle with a button for cleaning the blade from wool.
Hello pet, a simple and effective device. This is a modern self-cleaning device. It has a stainless steel body and a rubberized plastic handle. Produced in Taiwan. The device is made of metal. It has frequently spaced metal teeth, which allows you to gently comb out the cat's fur, skipping the guard hairs. The three models offered have different comb modifications. Reduces shedding by 90%. Recommended for cats with long hair. Excellent value for money and quality. Cost 1200-2300 rubles.

The Hello pet furminator for thorough combing of fur reduces shedding by 90%
IPTS, one of the most popular types of trimmer combs (furminators). It is intended for British cats, has a relatively low price, and excellent quality of hair combing. It copes well with thick undercoat without causing pain to the cat. Frequently spaced teeth allow the hard guard hairs to pass through, while the soft hairs of the undercoat cling to the numerous notches located along the entire length of the comb teeth and are pulled out of the wool. The disadvantage is the fairly frequent need to change blades (at least once every two years). For expensive models they change much less frequently. Approximate cost: 1-2 thousand rubles.

There are no particular differences in the design of furminators produced by different companies. They are based on a blade with teeth and slots (patented).

Furminator selection

The correct choice of device determines its effectiveness and the time spent combing the animal. A high-quality device cannot cost less than 1 thousand rubles. It must be packaged in a box or sealed in plastic. The packaging must have a hologram of the manufacturer.

The device is selected depending on the following factors:

type of animal's hair: if the average hair length is less than 5 cm, you need a furminator for short-haired cats; if the hair is longer, then you need to purchase a device for long-haired animals;
comb width: devices are available in sizes 6.5 cm for cats weighing more than 4.5 kg and 4.5 cm for animals weighing less than 4.5 kg.

The devices available on the market vary greatly in size. They are presented in the following options:

X-Small, blade width 3.3 cm. Used for kittens no more than 4-6 months old;
Small is used for cats weighing less than 5 kg, with a blade width of 4.5 cm;
Medium - for animals weighing 8-10 kg, blade width 6-7 cm;
Large - this device with a wide blade from 7 to 10 cm is used to comb out large cats such as Maine Coons.

In addition, devices may differ in their design. There are two types of devices: classic and deluxe. They are distinguished by the materials used and the shape of the handles. The first type has a less convenient handle, without a button for removing hair, so it is removed from the blade manually. The high-quality deluxe design features a comfortable handle with a hair release button.

It is also necessary to take into account the length of the animal's fur. For those with long fur, devices that have long teeth and are marked Long hair on the packaging are suitable. For short-haired breeds, choose furminators that have short teeth, and the packaging bears the inscription “Short hair”.

When choosing the best option for such a universal comb, it is better to opt for the original device. The Classic models of this brand are suitable for home use, while the Deluxe models are used by professional groomers.

A number of manufacturers produce devices with replaceable nozzles. This makes it easier to care for different breeds of cats (short-haired and long-haired). The comfortable handle of the device is also of great importance when choosing it. Since combing is a labor-intensive procedure, you need the handle to fit comfortably in the palm of your hand and not be short, wide or thin, otherwise the process will be unpleasant.

Why are tangles dangerous?

Matted fur is harmful to your cat's health:

Pets become irritated and stressed.
Under a dense clot, the skin does not breathe, which threatens to overheat the body.
In the absence of ventilation, areas of redness and irritation of the skin occur. Weeping eczema, suppuration, and dermatitis may appear.
Hair that has bunched up in a ball pulls the skin, causing serious discomfort to the pet.
Dirt collects in tangles, which makes them much more difficult to untangle.

The cat tries to fight the matted fur by tearing it with its claws, and in the process injures the skin. An attempt to lick also aggravates the situation; the hairs stick together and become even more tangled. Lumps moistened with saliva become a favorable environment for the development of microorganisms and pests.

In addition, the animal can get caught in the mat on objects, causing itself pain. The cat will remember that touching matted fur is painful and will not allow you to untangle or cut out the tangled knot calmly.