apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

A simple rubber glove used to wash dishes does the trick. Put it on and wipe down your furniture. I find it works better than a vacuum, uses nothing but elbow grease (excepting the purchase of the rubber glove but that's going to last years), and gets all the little hairs that tend to stick in the material.

While the squeegie thing and rubber glove work famously at removing the pet hair the real culprit of allergic reactions is the pet dander-skin flakes. Gotta suck the dander out or wash the dander out, sorry.

good post. the sticky roller sheets are all that seems to do the job for me, and every sheet that goes in the trash breaks my heart a little bit. i'll try the rubber mitt method.

I recommend the Furminator. It's a special brush that removes the loose undercoat while leaving the overcoat in tact. They're a bit pricey, but they get off WAY more fur than any brush, comb or mitt I've ever tried. I have 4 cats, and I furminated all of them and there's hardly any fur dropped around the house now, and no dredded hairballs. Works great on short and long haired cats. They have a dog version too.

I second the Furminator. Check out the photos on their site. amazing.

http://www.furminator.com/

I third the Furminator. Every single person I know of who has ever bought one has never had a bad word to say about it, including me. Plus it has a lifetime guarantee, so if something bad did happen, you can replace it for free.

Also, add some oils (like Halo's Dream Coat which has a proper balance of Omegas or any type of supplemental Salmon Oil you can buy at a Pet Store) to your cat's diet and make sure it's on a good food (Evo, Cal. Natural, Halo, Innova, Fromm, or a raw diet like Primal, just to name a few). This will cut down the shedding more than a brush ever will.

Re the Furminator, consider buying one on eBay - they are far more expensive at the pet store.

Oh, and I vacuum up the pet hair. With 2 golden retrievers, I have to vacuum every day just to not be buried in fur so it's part of my routine to catch the couch when I do the floors.

Um... works wonders. I'm not entirely sure why people even use the "round stick with removable tape" versions. It's not a lint brush! It's just sticky TAPE!

Eddie Bauer sells what is called a sweater stone. Amazingly it removes cat hair from anything, the sofa, my duvet, my pants, works better than a lint roller. Also works for removing pills off of sweaters.

In the same vein as the rubber glove - if you have any bits of that nubby rubber shelf liner (the same stuff is sold as rug padding too) it also works well. I save scraps, use them to get up the cat hair.

The furminator is excellent, but it can be over-used.

I was too enthusiastic upon first purchasing it, and managed to strip off too much of my cat's undercoat. Yes, it took a lot of brushing to do it, hours and hours worth over the course of a couple of days. Yes, I am embarrassed at my enthusiasm.

Poor thing. It took several months to grow back.

The rubber glove works great, but the tape roll still wins for dealing with clothing. I've never found that the glove or squeegee worked as quickly when I'm running out the door and I just sat down on my (non-de-furred) sofa with my black pants on. Grrrr.

I LOVE my pet hair magnet!! and the furminator!! and my dyson animal vacuum cleaner!! and i'm done with the !!

Thanks everyone for chiming in, so many great ideas, I'm getting the rubber glove out now (ew).

I totally recommend the Furminator also. I have a short haired cat and a long haired cat and I get equal amounts of hair out of them. It's fantastic!!!

If you need to give your animal an actual bath however, I usually bring them into the tub with me when I'm done taking a bath. They fight a whole lot less when the water isn't running and I'm pretty much level with them, also less likely to get loose from my grip! You have to use SOME water but it helps with the allergies. Then I just shower off.

Oh noes! The link I posted got eaten by the internets.

I was suggesting this lint brush: http://www.amazon.com/Helmac-Magik-Brush-Sided-Pic-Up/dp/B000QRFNGS/ref=pd_bxgy_k_text_b

I have 3 cats, a furminator, and a leather couch. Fantastic combination! (so long as you train your cats not to claw)

I use a shed 'n' blade on my cat and the furniture. Sometimes I take the --- whatever that little rubber dust broom is called to get in the crevices. Cheap, stuff I already had, never need to replace.

http://www.amazon.com/Sweepa-Remover-Brush-Evriholder-Products/dp/B0002VQKYW

It's like this, only that says it's actually for pets.. doesn't work on the surface, but mine is a different brand and has those rubber tips sticking out the sides and the top also. Very good for getting fur stuck between the seat and the back of my chair, where she likes to sit.

I also use a lint brush on some velvet or velvet-like material I used to cover my kitchen chairs. I know those lint rollers are popular but I have never liked using them, even on linty clothes. The brush is superior.

The Furminator worked great for one of my cats. As for the other (evil) one... I still have the scars to remind me of that failed endeavor.

I have a Yorkie. They don''t shed :)

A barely damp sponge works just fine.

do any of these work on hairy husband hair on the bathroom floor?

For the husband I use the magnet cloth. It picks up anything.

I use the sweepa. The small sweepa works great on upholstery and clothes. My cat's brush is just a sweepa-type brush with slightly different shaped bristles. In a pinch, it works to get fur off clothes and upholstery too.

I never found those sticky-tape lint brushes to be all that good at removing pet hair, but the rubber bristles are!

I'm all about the Dyson. Option 2 is lint brush, loads of sweat, AC cranked, fridge opening and closing with refilling of glass of iced water, and loads of energy wasted.

I have a rubber brush I got at the grocery store. Not only can I use it on the largest, furriest cat known to mankind, but after I use it on him, I can use it on the couch to get the extra hair. The only issue I have had with it so far is that there is no trap for the hair so I end up running around chasing hair dust bunnies around my hardwood floored apartment.

alternative to the sticky brush is go to the hardware store and get a roll of 3" wide masking tape. You can use it like a towel behind you to get your back, the back of your pants, etc. Still something to throw in the trash, yes, but more economical.

I have a pet fur remover sponge that works wonders. It pulls up the fur quite easily, is easy to wash, and is inexpensive. I’ve had mine for three years and it’s still working well. The sponge I have is similar to the this one on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Bramton-Hair-Lint-Remover-Sponge/dp/B0000V78B8

Great solutions, but it is ironic to me. Having a pet is a first world problem and absolutely not "green." I have a cat, so I'm not advocating no pets, but it is ironic.

What about using cat-fur repellent fabrics? I know the slip cover on my current Ikea couch is pretty good for that, in which it doesn't trap fur and is really easy to vaccuum. Some fabrics are just awful for catching fur and getting it woven in with the threads.

Anyone have any experience with those type of fabrics so I can avoid it in the future when and if I need to replace my couch?

I just use a lint brush. Wipe it off the couch, pull it off the brush. No waste except for the pet fur.

The cat is absolutely adorable! I used to have cat that shed too much that's why I got rid of her. (just kidding) I had to vacuum. There's absolutely no way I couldn't avoid it.

Love me . . . love my cats. Love my cats . . . learn to live with cat hair. None of my monsters likes to be brushed or combed; guess they weren't well socialized as kittens. My husband has allergies. But my cats were here first and he knew it.

I have a short hair cat. I brush him vacuum the couch. Sometimes I use lint rollers. It doesn't bother me a whole lot, and if your couch looks like the photo above, maybe you just need to clean more :P

The rubber glove or furminator are great ideas to look in to.