[Tippiechick]

Originally Posted by awkward1

Would his name be Marley?



I use a Furminator religiously! I don't see how it can hurt an animal because it is not sharp at all and I have never had it pull out excess hair or leave bald spots. I don't even see how that can happen unless you are super zealous with the brushing or something. Maybe the public Furminator is different from the professional one. Mine resembles a flea comb but with the teeth closer together and has absolutely nothing sharp that could hurt a dog. Yeah, we used to pay a groomer to Furminate but now we do the job just as easily at home about 2 times a week. I have almost no hair on my floors, so yes, I swear by it. The groomers used to brush the dogs for 30 minutes total in two 15 minute intervals. I brush for maybe 5 minutes, that is all it takes to remove enough hair so that I don't get furry feet from walking around my house.

It's the same one. They can hurt a dog. I've seen it happen to clients that bought them from Petsmart and didn't know how to use them. They are modified clipper blades on a stick. Good for you if you know how to use it correctly.

I'm a kennel attendant at a vet's and we use and sell Furminators. To be honest, on short-coated terriers and pugs they don't seem to do much more than any other kind of rake, but for long-haired cats and dogs like shepherds, huskies and spitz breeds, they are amazing. Even at $60 a pop we sell them all the time, though mostly to shepherd owners.

The important thing to know when using it is that the important movement involved is the pulling ACROSS the fur - DO NOT bear down against the skin. As it IS much like a clipper blade, you do not want it scraping the animal's skin. We had one idiot at work push down too much when she was furminating a corgi and the poor thing broke out in a rash. http://forums.somethingawful.com/sho...readid=2948345

The owner of Groomingdales, Tricia Fox, said the FURminator is effective but only on short-haired dogs like Sam.

When it is used on long-haired dogs, the FURminator's teeth aren't long enough to pull any hair. In fact, Fox says it actually does more harm than good in that case.

"It rips their hair off. It's not healthy. It will break off," said Fox.

She added the brush can actually cause big problems if it's used on the wrong dog.

"They're selling these to owners of long haired dogs and people are coming in with knots or dogs that are matted," said Fox. http://www.abc-7.com/Articles/readne...leid=19163&z=2

Well I just have to butt my nose inhere again on this one. I have to give credit where credit is due though... th groomer who came up with this idea is quite clever and had one heck of a marketing person. As to the furminator... it is a 40 blade, if anyone thinks there is not a cutting edge they are wrong, on all metal blades, when they are sharpened BOTH the base and the cutter are sharpened... there is NO safe side. Way to many owners are going out and buying these tools and hurting their pets, and just so you all know... the directions to follow for using the furminator, great idea.... charge more because you are doing more work, but just in case any one cares to know the facts... you are merely razor cutting the coat... that is all, it produces alot of hair and it feels like it is all undercoat but you are also razoring/splitting the healthy coat too. BUT then you have a customer for life because they HAVE to keep coming back to keep up the treatments. I work with a lot of breeders, they would not touch this thing... now she has shampoo's and all the grooming stuff for you to go out an buy... a gimick is what it is and I feel rather old fashioned in saying so but what the heck are owners doing?... why did you adopt or 'buy' a dog that sheds and expect it not to some?

If you really want to know if a tool will be worth your money... talk to a breeder or show person... they will tell you the truth.
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