You would start with the widest and deepest toothed carding knife and successively use finer and narrower models (just like sandpapering) to get the finer undercoat or in shorter more sensitive areas (i.e. head). You know when to stop working an area when you can no longer feel or see longer fuzzy undercoat and the outer guard hair is laying flatter. My favourite quality brand is the Mars Stripping Knives. They last forever, have a wide variety of sizes, work well in tight areas, do a great job with out harm or damage, and the pets enjoy it. They are less expensive than the FURminator.
The FURminator has a thinner blade, and therefore a sharp edge, with tiny teeth. It is designed in the form of a rake, with the handle perpedicular to the cutting edge. Yes I said cutting, as this tool can cut and scrape. The handle design being perpendicular encourages the user to drag and use too much force in order to stay in contact with the hair since the teeth are very tiny. The action means the blade is dragging at a 90 degree angle to the hair, so it is catching and shredding the hair, not combing.
The FURminator is deceptive because it looks like you are removing a lot of hair, but what actually happens is you are scrapping and shredding the outer coat and undercoat hair along the top dorsal, with little focus on the areas that actually have more undercoat, like the hind end and mane. Because the FURminator is indiscriminate by design in which hair is being removed, a user doesn’t know when to stop because hair will keep coming off until the damage has been done and bald/damaged areas are apparent.
I can always tell immediately when a pet’s owner has been using the FURminator. The hair is literally shredded and the hair cuticles damaged. Because of this, these pets tend to mat more easily, as ragged cuticles absorb more dirt and snag on one another. Underneath, the skin is red and scrapped. Sometimes the damage is so bad that only alternative is to trim off the damaged hair, throw away the Furminator, and start over.
I teach a lot of grooming, and my first rule for newbies is to use a grooming tool on yourself first to understand how it works, feels, and how much pressure or finesse to use. If it is a tool you wouldn’t want to use on yourself, chances are you shouldn’t on a pet. Keep in mind human skin and hair follicles are twice as thick as a dog, and a dog’s skin and hair is twice as thick as a cat. A cat’s hair and skin is a 1/4 as fine as humans which makes them especially prone to tearing and damage.
If you want to keep your expensive FURminator investment, I suggest you dull the edge, use minimal pressure in the dragging action, use evenly all over the body, and use frequently for a very limited time.
That article is absolutely the thing I have been hoping to find!
WOW just what I was searching for. Came here by searching
for my
Attractive section of content. I just stumbled upon your site and in accession capital to assert that I acquire actually enjoyed account your blog posts.
Any way I will be subscribing to your feeds and even I
achievement you access consistently quickly.
This web site really has all of the information and facts I wanted about this subject and didn’t know who to ask.
I’d like to thank you for the efforts you’ve put in penning this website.
I am hoping to view the same high-grade blog posts by
you later on as well. In truth, your creative writing
abilities has encouraged me to get my own site
now 😉
It is truly a great and useful piece of information. I’m glad that you
just shared this useful information with us. Please keep us informed like this.
Thank you for sharing.
I like the valuable information you provide in your
articles. I’ll bookmark your weblog and check again here frequently.
I am quite certain I’ll learn plenty of new stuff right here!
Best of luck for the next!
I’ve been browsing on-line greater than 3 hours as of
late, yet I by no means discovered any fascinating article like yours.
It is pretty price sufficient for me. In my view, if all web
owners and bloggers made just right content material as you probably did, the web might be a lot more helpful than ever before.
I’m truly enjoying the design and layout of your blog.
It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a developer to
create your theme? Exceptional work!
Magnificent website. Plenty of useful information here.
I am sending it to several friends ans also sharing
in delicious. And certainly, thanks to your sweat!
This is my first time visit at here and i am genuinely pleassant to read
all at one place.
Your style is really unique in comparison to other folks I have read stuff from.
I appreciate you for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess I’ll just bookmark this web site.
I together with my friends ended up following the great hints from your site and all of a sudden got a horrible feeling I never expressed respect to the web blog owner for those techniques. All the men were for this reason happy to read through them and now have unquestionably been having fun with them. Appreciate your simply being quite helpful and then for settling on certain remarkable tips millions of individuals are really desirous to understand about. My very own honest apologies for not saying thanks to sooner.
There are certainly quite a lot of particulars like that to take into consideration. That is a nice point to carry up. I provide the ideas above as general inspiration however clearly there are questions just like the one you convey up the place crucial factor shall be working in trustworthy good faith. I don?t know if finest practices have emerged around issues like that, but I am sure that your job is clearly recognized as a fair game. Each girls and boys feel the affect of only a second’s pleasure, for the remainder of their lives.
Way cool, some valid points! I appreciate you making this article available, the rest of the site is also high quality. Have a fun.
I believe this site has some real excellent info for everyone :D. “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
I enjoy the efforts you have put in this, regards for all the great blog posts.
Hey, you used to write great, but the last few posts have been kinda boring… I miss your super writings. Past few posts are just a little bit out of track! come on!
I like the valuable info you provide in your articles.
I will bookmark your blog and check again here regularly.
I’m quite certain I’ll learn lots of new stuff right here!
Best of luck for the next!
Hello there, You’ve done a great job. I will definitely digg it and personally recommend to my friends. I’m sure they will be benefited from this web site.
We stumbled over here coming from a different page and thought I might as well check things
out. I like what I see so now i am following you. Look forward to looking into your web page for a second time.
Some genuinely interesting details you have written.Assisted me a lot, just what I was searching for : D.
I visit each day some web sites and information sites to read articles, but
this weblog gives feature based writing.
Thanks in favor of sharing such a good idea, post is good, thats why i have
read it completely
I do love the way you have presented this difficulty and it really does supply me a lot of fodder for thought. Nevertheless, because of what I have seen, I basically trust as other commentary pile on that people today keep on issue and don’t embark upon a tirade associated with the news du jour. Yet, thank you for this exceptional piece and whilst I do not necessarily concur with this in totality, I regard your point of view.
Would love to always get updated great website! .
I’ll right away seize your rss as I can’t find your email subscription hyperlink or newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Please permit me recognise so that I may subscribe. Thanks.