Pet hair!

Maya

Veteran

I came back from picking up my laundry to find THIS:

http://img.photobucket.com/alb.....G_0985.jpg

in my bottom drawer!

It's shedding season, and my gray and white kitty is sleeping on my black velvet pants! Ahhh!

Anyway, what's the best way to de-fur a lot of clothes at once?

17 years ago

General

12 replies

Latest reply was from Maya

Ana

(website)

Veteran

Oh Naughty Kitty! What is kitty's name?

Oh man, this is really tricky. I have always lived with animals, and fight this constantly. I've actually banned our cats from our bedroom, but if I had a dog, he would still be allowed in, hee hee (yes, I'm a dog person married to a cat person). That has helped. I am thinking you don't want to do this though, so pet hair will have to just be part of your life. Maybe you can at least keep the kitty out of your drawers/closet.

As far as de-furring goes, you can *try* putting the items in the dryer with a damp towel and an anti-static dryer sheet. This helps a little, but isn't really perfect. Plus, some of the items may be delicate and you wouldn't want to do this with those. I hate to say it, but I think you're going to have the bite the bullet and de-fur by hand for optimal results. I use on of these 3M Pet Hair Rollers with Scotch (I actually buy them in bulk). It's basically a giant roll of masking tape, but works way better than the rubberized ones you can supposedly reuse. You can buy them at Walmart or Target, etc:

http://www.3m.com/us/home_leisure/petcare/

P.S. I found this commercial on Youtube while I was looking for the pet hair rollers. This is my life:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYEuAv1RUpM

17 years ago

Steph

Veteran

Oh, Maya, what an adorable kitty. We have this problem as well (fresh laundry is my cat's favorite thing, next to Greenies). I haven't found a good way to get hair off of a lot of stuff at once. The only thing that works for me is sticky rollers. Time-consuming, but ultimately worth it. My favorites are the ones Hartz puts out, but I haven't seen those anywhere recently.

17 years ago

Tanya

Veteran

Maya, I just wanted to say how much I envy you on your kitty! As I've said on Ana's thread, both my BF and I love cats and want to have one but he's allergic So we agreed that once I get my Ph.D. we'll start saving for one of those ridiculously expensive hypoallergenic kittens!

17 years ago

Maya

Veteran

Kitty's name is Toulouse (I usually just call her Lucy). I had to take a picture of her in there cause she's just so darn cute. It makes it so hard to be angry at her!

How allergic is BF Tanya? I know a few people that get around it by vacuuming religiously, taking allergy meds, and keeping certain rooms off limits to kitty (something I apparently can't seem to do, but you must know that I'm notorious for not disciplining my childr...er, cats). Well I envy your waistline and you envy my cat, so we're even :p haha

I don't mind getting normal amounts of fur from petting her or letting her sit on the couch, but I have to draw the line at rolypolying in my clothes! I will try one of those sticky rollers. That sounds more promising than what I have tried (I basically "wax" my clothes....take some masking tape, press it down, and rip off the fur). I guess I was hoping for a magic potion that zaps the fur out. This is going to be so time consuming =\

I'm glad to see you tolerating your cat person well Ana. I need to find someone who can tolerate my kitty obsession.

Steph, I think the key is letting the clothes cool off before letting kitty near them. There is nothing a cat loves more than a warm soft spot.

17 years ago

shannon

Active Member

I love your kitty! I can't have them either because DH is allergic also. My parents had the families 4 cats forever. My brother and I both left ours behind when we moved out. Anyway, they all up and died pretty much at once. I think they were all heartbroken when another died. So, no kitties in my life at all anymore. I do have a Golden Retriever though. Talk about shedding!!! I discovered the Furminator. It's a pretty expensive brush, but man does it work. I think the little ones for small dogs and kitties are a better price but my big one was $50. It won't help with the fur that does get on your clothes, but it helps reduce it dramatically.

17 years ago

Maya

Veteran

HA, I'm so amused that you mentioned the Furminator Shannon. My mom has been obsessed with it since she saw a commercial for it. With your recommendation perhaps I should try it.

17 years ago

Tanya

Veteran

Maya, BF is very allergic so the only other option would be for him to regularly get allergy shots which are pretty bad for one's health so we decided against.

This is completely of topic but I love cats so much that I constantly look at their pics on internet. Are you aware of this website http://www.cuteoverload.com/? It is my second favorite website of all time (after this one of course And I am dreaming of this kitty http://www.lifestylepets.com./ Look at the gallery!

17 years ago

Maya

Veteran

Aww that's no good. I hope you get your hypoallergenic kitty! I used to be allergic when I was little and I remember crying for days after the Dr. told me no cats allowed. Luckily I grew out of it.

And yes, I visit cuteoverload religiously. Animals and fashion are the two loves of my life, so YLF and CO are two of my favorite websites.

I used to look at cats on petfinder.com before I got my kitty. That one is a beauty!

Ha, I just noticed I have an ad for http://www.lucy.com. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that I posted her name on a fashion website.

17 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Beautiful putty-tat! Nice recommendations and I’m sorry about everyone’s allergies. ( I go to cuteoverload regularly too btw). I’ve had pets all my life and cannot imagine a life without them. I’d drug myself to high heaven if I was allergic. Jasmine and Rosie complete me and they celebrated their 8th birthday today. My puppies are growing up.

Greg is highly allergic .That’s why we have hypoallergenic Yorkies. They don’t shed and there is therefore no pet hair to worry about. And our dogs have no boundaries in their house (that we happen to live in too).

But if they did shed, I’d be blogging about how to stay stylish in home of pet hair, because pets are worth the extra effort.

17 years ago

christie

Active Member

My husband is also extremely allergic to cats. When we first moved in together, I had to give up my beloved Pantani: http://flickr.com/photos/popps.....otostream/ (we have her shaved in the summer, and this is when it is growing out).

After a couple of years, I couldn't take it anymore. Pantani had been with me for about 5 years pre-hubby; she was my baby. My mom took her for three years when I went to law school, but I missed her so much.

So he agreed to give it a shot. We kept her out of the bedroom and off of the furniture he sat on. He didn't pet her at all for awhile. Then, little by little, he started to pet her. At first, he would always wash his hands immediately afterward. Long story short, she now sleeps with us and he doesn't wash his hands. If he pets her and touches his face, he still sneezes, but it's much better. (This was gradual. She's been back with us for 3 years now).

Funny thing is, he is still super allergic to others' cats. When we go to friends' homes who have cats, his allergies go crazy after a short time, even if he is sitting on a hardwood chair.

I had heard other people say that they built a tolerance to cats, but I didn't think it would happen with my guy because he is super allergic. He can't be in a cat person's home for more than about 15 minutes without going crazy. But, there you have it. Now, I have both. She just turned 12 in February. Love her.

17 years ago

jessikaowl

(website)

Member

Hi there!

I have this problem as well (black AND white cat = hair all over every colour!) and keep a 'lint licker' or something similar near my door and a lint brush (non-sticky) in my car!

I have banned my cat from my room as well but he still gets in there and just SITS on everything, lol

17 years ago

Maya

Veteran

Oh Christie, what an adorable fluffball you have. It would break my heart to part with my girl. I have heard of people developing a tolerance for specific pets, and also that those exposed to animals early on have less of a chance of developing allergies, so it's true that tolerance can be created but only if you have the desire for it. I imagine it isn't fun. I have allergies and they are intolerable some days.

I'm with Angie. I'd be on every drug conceivable. I had been asking my parents for a kitty since I was 5, and finally 17 years later they relented!

Happy birthday, puppies!

17 years ago

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