My cat is shedding so much! What to do?

If you brush or comb the cat (which many cats enjoy, if done gently), that will gather a lot of the loose fur, and leave her looking and feeling silkier too. Of course you and the immediate surroundings are going to get rather furred in the process, though doing this often caN limit how much is scattered at a time.

But a furry pet sheds fur. Some breeds shed less, or less obviously, but realistically if you can't cope with this then keeping a pet may not be appropriate for your lifestyle.

One thing that will help is bathing your cat. Some people freak out about this, but I bathe my cat a few times a year. He's an indoor/outdoor cat. He likes to roll in the dirt and most of the time he cleans it off, but sometimes he's just dirty or mangy looking. Then or when he's shedding, a good bath will help him enormously. Not only does it get a lot of loose hair off, it also seems to cause the other hair that's starting to come loose to go ahead and let go more quickly. That way most of it is gone all at once, instead of shedding a little here and there over the course of weeks. Lastly, a bath will also simulate grooming by your cat, which will further help get rid of unwanted hair.

As for the bath itself, I don't know how confident you are, but it's really not that big of a deal. The key is prep and trickery. I prep throughout the year by randomly carrying my cat into the bathroom. With the water on or off, it doesn't matter. It just makes them comfortable with the setting. If they want down, that's fine, set them down and let them run off. On the day of the bath set yourself a couple of towels and the shampoo at the edge of the tub. Get the water adjusted to the correct temp and preferably you'll have a hose sprayer, but a plastic drink cup works almost as well. A helper is useful.

Carry the cat into the bathroom and have someone or yourself shut the door in case a wet, pissed off cat gets away from you. As you get closer to the water, they'll begin to panic and want to get down. This juncture is critical. Don't try to pull the cat away from your body and force it into the tub. You'll need a blood transfusion. Instead, let the cat down in a natural manner. He'll start to shift his feet under himself to run off, instead of into your flesh. Let your hands slide under his arm pits then "swoop" him up and quickly onto the floor of the tub. Granted I've only ever had the one cat and he's not a giant butthole, but once his feet are on the bottom of the tub he's never tried to claw me. He might try to get away or jump out, but not claw. I keep one hand on his shoulder blades and rinse and soap with the other. I can have him bathed and rinsed in under 5 minutes. It seems to take the fight out of him.

After he's bathed and rinsed, drying him is another important step (important if you don't want to get shredded). Don't try to pick him up and swaddle him like a baby. I once had a family member want to do that for the poor putty-tat. I told them not to and they lost a shoulder when they didn't listen. They still want to get away. Instead, run your hands from his neck to his tail, squeegeeing him while his feet are still on the floor of the tub. Then throw a towel over his whole body and fluff him dry. While he's covered, perform the armpit swoop out of the tub onto the bathroom floor. You can probably use one more towel and fluff him again. After that, open the bathroom door and stand back. He'll take care of the rest. Prepare to be pouted at for a while, but on the bright side, he'll smell like baby shampoo or Piña colada (FURminator shampoo) for almost a week.

Once he's fully dry, I'd follow up with multiple short sessions with a FURminator deshedding tool. I use it on mine once every few weeks and strip massive amounts of hair off. The ad says that using it once a week reduces shedding by 90%. He really likes it if I do it lightly and even rolls over to get his belly and chin done. I have to use a little more pressure than he likes to do a really good job, so short light sessions on a regular basis are probably best. Good luck.

Google "furminator" and order that comb, it makes a load of difference but you will need to comb him or her regularly.

There's a brand new product on the market called FurZapper. I've been using it for months and it works like I've never seen. It doesn't stop shedding but it certainly solves the nuisance of shedding.