How often do you vacume your scratching posts/cat trees?

[luckies4me]

I know this is a silly question lol, but how many of you even vacume your cat trees, and if you do, how often? I try to vacume (sp?) mine every time I vacume. It just keeps them looking nice and not so straggly looking.

[jazzcat]

I do mine about every 2-3 weeks but when they are shedding heavily I have to do it more often.

[luckies4me]

I hear you on the shedding!

Ewok has gotten so fluffy so fast and the past couple of weeks his fur is all over the house. I noticed a small mat under his armpit so I decided to give him a good brushing and then........a
B A T H! He hated to be brushed on his underside but doesn't mind the top part of his body being done. I didn't get a chance to get the mat out but figured he will eventually rip it off with that tongue of his. He did fine for the bath though, and I took pics of him all soaking wet, hehe. Oh the shame!

[ramanth]

I've never thought of that!

I only have an upright vaccum cleaner though.... I'm getting a smaller one soon, so I guess I'll give it a try.

[catcrazylady]

I just got the big tree and I have already vacuumed it once. It was already full of hair!!! I made the decision then that I will give it a once over at least once every few weeks. I use a small shop vac on the hardwood floors and furniture. It is the only thing I can find that can handle all of the hair that I have. It's great because I don't have to worry about bags or clogging. I just go along and suck up all the hairballs.

[moosmom]

I don't use a vacuum. I use a cheap bristle hairbrush which gets the fur off very well. I have an upright vacuum (Oreck XL) that doesn't have any attachments (that's why they give you a compact cannister when you buy it, which I didn't want). I find the hairbrush works much better.

[catnapper]

You mean the one they never use? Its become the family coat rack!

Either way, I vacuum it every few weeks - about the same time I hang all of the coats in the closet (whch by the way is mere INCHES form the scratching post.)

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by moosmom
I don't use a vacuum. I use a cheap bristle hairbrush which gets the fur off very well. I have an upright vacuum (Oreck XL) that doesn't have any attachments (that's why they give you a compact cannister when you buy it, which I didn't want). I find the hairbrush works much better.

Hrmm, that actually sounds a lot easier. As of right now I use my brush like attachment that comes with our vacuum, so I guess it's kinda like the same thing.

And thanks everyone. Now I know how to spell vacuum!

[Uabassoon]

I vacuum my cat tree around once a month or so. I try to do it more often, but I'm lazy and I forget.

[Tonya]

Our wicker laundry basket is Ron's scratching post, so never! lol.

[RedHedd]

Originally posted by luckies4me
I noticed a small mat under his armpit so I decided to give him a good brushing and then........a B A T H! He hated to be brushed on his underside but doesn't mind the top part of his body being done. I didn't get a chance to get the mat out but figured he will eventually rip it off with that tongue of his. He did fine for the bath though, and I took pics of him all soaking wet, hehe. Oh the shame!

I found a really knowledgeable clerk at Petco who sold me this dematting tool: http://www.petco.com/product_info.as...hedding+Blades
It's pricey but works so well; easily and quickly cutting through the mats without removing a lot of fur. My two aren't crazy about it, but it does the job fairly quickly and painlessly. Their fur-dos look and feel so much better now.

As for those pics of Ewok and his bath, where are they?

[luckies4me]

I used to be a groomer and in fact you know what works better? Those tiny little envelope openers with the blades. Their actually a lot safer to as they have a guide that avoids cutting ears and other fragile areas in dogs, I just don't have anymore.

Bath pics?!!!! Ok, let me resize them, hehe.

[mruffruff]

I use an old slicker brush on my cat trees (and all the other carpeted things in the cat room) every week. It works better than a vacuum at pulling the hair out of the pile.

Besides, I have an upright and it's sorta heavy!




Mary

[RedHedd]

Originally posted by luckies4me
I used to be a groomer and in fact you know what works better? Those tiny little envelope openers with the blades. They're actually a lot safer to as they have a guide that avoids cutting ears and other fragile areas in dogs

What a great idea! I have lots of those -- vendors are always sending me freebies!

[flippytale]

I also vacuum the tree each time I vacuum the rest of the house, about every two weeks. (I know I should do it weekly, but ye-gads, huh?) About every few months I get out the scissors and trim all the little threads they have pulled loose while shredding the post. It makes it look a lot better and not so bedraggled. Occasionally I will brush the fur off rather than vacuuming. Especially in the summer!