Choose from Five Options

• $23 for grooming for a small dog ($45 value)
• $33 for grooming for a medium dog ($65 value)
• $42 for grooming for a large dog ($85 value)
• $49 for grooming for an extra large dog ($105 value)
• $49 for grooming for a cat ($105 value)

Deshedding Services: Getting to the Bottom of Fur

Pet grooming can improve the cleanliness of your home as well as your favorite critter—take, for instance, deshedding treatments.

Most cats and dogs shed constantly, and cleaning it up can be an endless job. To help reduce the amount of pet hair floating around your home, groomers offer deshedding treatments—which some claim can reduce shedding by 60%–80% more attractively than shaving all but a pet’s left hind leg.

There are many different deshedding methods, but most treatments follow a similar trajectory. The groomer does an initial combing or brushing to inspect the animal’s coat and work through any tough mats that have developed. Then the pet gets a shampoo-and-conditioning treatment with products made for helping loose fur move along. A powerful dryer blasts the fur, taking with it lots of loose tufts. Finally, most groomers also use a special deshedding tool. Devices such as the Furminator use a comb to push through the topcoat and draw loose undercoat hairs against a stainless-steel edge and clear them away.

Although not all animals shed seasonally (shih tzus don’t, for instance), those who do release their undercoats either several times a year, in the case of rabbits and many dogs, or constantly, in the case of most cats. Deshedding treatments seem to especially benefit cats with hairball problems, who may ingest up to an ounce of fur daily when self-grooming. And every animal with hair sheds to some extent. For all pets, helping the shedding process helps keep hair glossy while putting an extra set of eyes on their overall health and making sure they haven’t gotten any secret tattoos.