Felix, You’re A Hairy Beast: A Furminator Review

Little. Hairy. Beast.

He gets all tangled when you even look at him wrong. The WORST is under his arms, where the hair turns into one big hairball, like a ball of yarn. His ears get pretty matty to. Down near the ends,. Mama claims they are knotted in the exact same spots where I chew on them, but this is a slanderous accusation and I am innocent until proven guilty! (the Mama’s Note: No seriously. Look closely at the Felix’s ear’s. See how the right is like an inch and a half shorter than the left? Kolchak chewed the hair until it was a giant spitty knot. I had to trim it off. True Story.)

Shedding tools and brushes and combs and every kind of dematting tool you can imagine. We’re always looking for a great way to keep the Felix looking good, so we jumped at the chance to try Furminator‘s new line of grooming tools.

It’s pretty cool. They have developed a series of tools designed to work together as a part of a two-step grooming process. They even have a tool on their website where you can tell them about your dog and it will tell you what two tools are best suited for your dog’s size and coat. Neat, huh? We did it for Felix and here is what we got:

the Furminator Slicker Brush & Finishing Comb

To me, it was absolutely the star of the show. I know, I know. You’re thinking, “It’s a slicker brush? How special can it be?” Pretty darn special, actually. It’s flexible. Yeah, cool right? The brush is split into two sections and each flexes on it’s own.

I’ve never been a fan of traditional slicker brushes. They are so still and those bristle look totally uncomfortable, but the Furminator has solved that problem. The two sides of the brush bend and flex tracing the curves of your dogs body, brushing out the knots and extra hair, without hurting. Felix won’t let me touch him with a regular slicker brush, but he sat for this one with minimal fuss. (He wasn’t thrilled, but he didn’t try to bolt as soon as it touched his fur, which is a big improvement.) It’s also dual-sided, with a curved bristles on one side and a straight on the other. The curved side is great for brushing out tangles and knots, while the straight side is good for a quick tidy up.

(AKA every woofing day at Casa de Kolchak) Felix gets a lot of tiny mats that aren’t too serious, but annoying nonetheless. The thin pins were easy to work into mats, so I could gently pull them apart and the rounded tips made me feel better that I wasn’t going to accidentally stab him. It’s also handy fr a quick tidy up when Felix isn’t tangled or anything. It’s great for first thing in the morning when Felix gets a little messy. the Felix gets wicked bedhead.

The ergonomic handles made the easy for me to handle, but the fact that they were gentle on Felix was the really great part. Even though I can’t speak to the effectiveness of any of the other tools, if they work as well as the Slicker Brush & Finishing comb do, I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for great at home grooming tool.