Published by: Ingrid King. Last Updated on: February 1, 2023 by Crystal Uys
Grooming your cat on a regular basis has many benefits:
- A grooming session can be a relaxing bonding time for you and your cat. If your cat is not immediately receptive to grooming, start slow, and gradually increase the time you spend grooming. Eventually, the calming, repetitive motion of brushing will have a relaxing effect on your cat (and you!).
- More grooming means less shedding, and less cat hair around the house.
- Grooming increases circulation – it’s like a mini-massage with some of the same health benefits as a massage.
- A grooming session is an ideal time for you to run your hands and eyes over every inch of your cat’s body. This may help with early detection of diseases such as lumps and bumps, skin issues, or parasites.
But you’re not going to reap any of these benefits if you don’t use the right tool. There’s a wide variety of grooming tools on the market, ranging from grooming gloves to brushes to de-shedding tool. The newest tool on the market is the ShedMonster deshedding tool.
According to the manufacturer, the ShedMonster is good for all shedding breeds, and removes shedding fur while carving through mats and tangles. Its stainless steel teeth penetrate deep into the coat while its smooth edges provide massaging contact against the skin.
I like the design and ergonomics of the product. The short, thick handle is very comfortable and makes it easy to manipulate the tool. I’m always a bit leery of grooming tools with sharp edges or points, so I first used the product on my own skin, and it felt smooth and glided easily. Allegra and Ruby didn’t seem to mind the way the ShedMonster felt, but I didn’t get any hair out of either of them. Now that’s not unusual – they barely shed, and even when I brush them with a slicker brush, which they both enjoy, I get almost no hair out of them.
I wanted to give this product a fair shot, so I passed it on to several of my cat clients. The reviews were mixed. Some cats really loved it, some didn’t like it at all. It removed hair well for cats that had a history of shedding a lot, but it didn’t remove much hair from the average shedders. None of the cats in my “test group” were long-haired, but I’ve seen several reviews online that state that the tool works really well for long-haired cats, including one from fellow cat writer Dena Harris.
If you’ve tried other grooming tools and aren’t getting the results you want, this is probably worth a try, especially if you have a long-haired cat. At $19.99, it’s a good value, and it comes with a free five-piece deluxe grooming kit. For more information about the ShedMonster, and to order, click here.
If you’ve used the ShedMonster, I’d love to hear what you thought of it.
This product was sent to me for review by the manufacturer. I am not being compensated for this review.
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About the author
Ingrid King is an award-winning author, former veterinary hospital manager, and veterinary journalist who is passionate about cats.
I don’t understand something. The manufactures website only has one brush for sale. Yet Amazon has two different SKU’s. One for med-long coat and one for short coat. I don’t understand where this other product came from and the manufacture hasn’t responded to me for over a week!
http://tinyurl.com/6ncg47x
http://tinyurl.com/7dxkmzk
I just bought a ShedMonster at Wal-Mart for about $9. There is a picture of a short hair cat on the front of the package, but it doesn’t specify for short-hair or long-hair. The past few days I’ve been grooming one of my cats (the one that sheds more; a black short-hair) with just a small plastic comb with close-together tines (one of our “people” combs we don’t use) and that seemed to work well. Not sure if the ShedMonster didn’t get as much hair because I had been combing him the past few days… I used it on my other cat who’s calico and it seemed to get a fair amount of hair out of her, which previously using a comb didn’t yield much. So, I guess I like the ShedMonster… IF I feel like taking the time…AND trying to grab all of the fly-away globs of fur. The fur has to be removed from the tool quite often. So, it works, just not the WAY I’d like it to. Haven’t decided if I’m going to return it or keep it based on these things….. I really WANTED to get a Furminator, but it’s a bit pricey…
….continuing my post…. I did cut the package so it might have specified short-hair or long-hair. I threw that part in the trash though…. I just felt the need to clarify that, lol. 😉
Well, no one ever replied so I went ahead and bought both.
The long hair version says nothing at all and has a golden retriever on the picture. The short haired model has a choco-lab on the picture and specifically says for short hair.
The only difference between the two is the short haired model has twice as many prongs (?) so they are closer together.
My lab doesn’t have her undercoat right now so I can’t really say how well they work but they did take out a little and did so very easily. My lab hates to be brushed as I think it hurts her and I’m afraid the local groomer might have been way too ruff with her so all in all she hates to be brushed. But with this she seemed very much more at ease.
Thanks for sharing your experience with the ShedMonster, Renae. Sounds like a “maybe” at this point 🙂
Thank goodness none of our cats shed much but they love the old-fashioned wire brush. I’m curious how it will sell compared to the Furminator. One of the reasons I’ve always loved Siamese is their minimal shedding.
My two really like the slicker brush, too, Layla. It always surprises me, because it sure doesn’t feel good against my skin!
Any idea how it compares to the Furminator? Pulitzer is short-haired, but he has the thickest densest fur and he sheds like crazy; he even gets mats! Four short-haired cats, four different coats and a drawer-full of grooming tools!
Sally, I don’t get much hair from my two with the Furminator, either, but they just don’t shed that much. I used the Furminator on Amber and Buckley, and it certainly got a lot of hair out of them. Maybe someone else who has used both tools on the same cat can weigh in.
I was sent and reviewed their grooming tool for short haired cats, it removed nothing. I usually do get hair from Cody on just his normal grooming comb but with this one zip.
That’s interesting, Caren. Since the feedback from my testers was so inconsistent, I wonder whether it depends on the type of coat a cat has (not just long or short, but thick, thin, etc.)
I think you have a good point
I was sent the one for short haired cats, Cody has short hair and his wire comb
perfectly removes fur. (I had even photographed the difference on my blog)
When I touched the end you brush with it was dull
Completely dull.
That wouldn’t remove anything and it didn’t
I know they have different types for different types of fur
so maybe it is just the one for short hair that doesn’t perform
as promised.
It looks like an inexpensive version of the furminator. I’m wary about the blade with the furminator. I will look in the petstores, though, and see if this varies from the other. I prefer the greyhound type combs for long hairs and the slickers for others. As always, Ingrid, thanks for “shedding” light on another kitty product!
Terry, the blade on the ShedMonster is not nearly as sharp as the one on the Furminator – it doesn’t have any “teeth,” just rounded edges.