Thursday, June 14, 2018

Comb Hither



My holidays are time off from my job, not from work. During my three weeks, I am kept busy with a number of chores that, while I could perform them during a Saturday or Sunday, would take up the majority of what little free time I have on those days. If they take up the same amount of time on my holidays, it seems much less tragic, as I have more time available.

The biggest chore is always the cleaning of the cat-trees. I feel like it should be a communal task, like the scouring of the White Horse in Berkshire, when whole villages would gather to clean up and uncover the ancient carving of the horse cut into the turf. Unfortunately, my fellow villagers are four-footed, furred and expect me to do all the work. Which I do.

But this year the chore was made easier, thanks to the advice of a fellow cat-blogger. In the past, I have used the wet rubber glove method. But Mary Anne, at Feral Cat Behavior (http://www.feralcatbehavior.com/), suggested I use a curry-comb on the trees. This is a hard-tined comb - perhaps it even qualifies as a brush - that is normally utilized on horses. In my case, I dampened the surfaces of the tree in question (to keep the hair from flying away) and combed them out. It’s still hard and time-consuming work, but it does not take as long as the other method, nor do I think is it as strenuous an action. In any case, I am indebted to Mary Anne for the tip.

The big job of cleaning the cat-trees is done. Now the beasts can get busy with the simple task of undoing it.

22 comments:

  1. I can only imagine what a mission it is, as every week when I hoover I marvel at the amount of fur that Pops discards in a week.

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    1. Fortunately, except for the cylinder-house cat-tree, most of the surfaces are flat and inflexible, so it is not actually difficult, just time-consuming and laborious.

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  2. Oh, thanks for the tip! I vacuum mine, but the comb sounds a lot easier and more efficient.

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    1. The vacuum would still be good for sucking up the loose, small bits the comb pulls up to the surface but doesn't pull off.

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  3. Hm. I took a leaf from your book and I did get my one cat tree cleaned. Oh, it looks so much better. But I use the rubber glove treatment on it. Works beautifully. You have so much to do with your troupe there that I think that great suggestion of the curry comb fits the bill. Mine is a single tree so much less time consuming. Now I am curious. Do you take fur out of the cups too? I only do a cursory job at that part, the cups, knowing full well it will be re-furred heavily by days end. I get some of it, but it's not clean as a whistle. Should I, I wonder?

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    1. I'm not sure what you mean by 'cups'. Do you mean the bag-like beds that some cat-trees have? All of mine have flat, inflexible surfaces, except for the cylinder-house cat-tree. Everything gets combed and brushed. That's why it's an annual chore, and not more frequent.

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  4. Humans are servants to cats, there is no other way around it!

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  5. I must admit the tree doesn't get cleaned very often (or well) as I just use the vacuum. I'll have to at least try, the rubber glove treatment. It sounds like it will work better.

    Have a great weekend!
    Eileen

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    1. I do find both the damp glove and the curry-comb to clean deeper and more than the vacuum.

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  6. To add to what Eastside Cats said - "Cats were once worshiped as gods, and they never let us forget it."

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    1. You'd think they'd let me off; I'm descended from Saxons, not Egyptians. My ancestors worhsipped carved stumps of wood. They are much less demanding.

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  7. guyz.....noe wear in thiz post did we reed wear dad asked PURRMISSION ta kleen de cat treez.....uh, yea....ore did we mizz sum thin heer ~~~~ ☺☺♥♥

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    1. Don't worry; the beasts are already hard at work putting the newest layer of fur down.

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  8. Having a livery yard there is no shortage of curry combs here, and I wonder why I never thought of that. I always used to vacuum the cat trees.

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    1. I think the comb takes out a lot more hair, and loosens whatever can be taken up by vacuum. This is why I like being connected to other cat-people: there are always good ideas to be had.

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  9. Thank you for the tip, I will try this.

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    1. I still use the damp rubber glove, but mainly to finish the job. The comb was a time-saver.

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  10. I had no idea they made a tool for that, thanks for the great tip!

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    1. I found mine at a western wear shop, the kind that mainly sells clothes for people who want to look like cowboys but which cowboys don't actually wear while being cowboys.

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  11. One labourer and five supervisors. This brush is an excellent idea and seems very effective in getting the job done.

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    1. One to five; that's about the ratio here, all right...

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