Top 7 Best Cat Brushes (We Tested Them All)

Hey guys, it's Mallory here with All About Cats. In this week's video, we're going to be taking a look at the top seven best cat brushes on the market. Before we go into our top seven recommendations, I want to talk a little bit about why you might want to brush your cat at all. After all, cats are more or less self grooming, right? They're capable of cleaning themselves, and for the most part, you don't really need to brush or clean them. But brushing your cat can be beneficial in a couple of different ways. So for one, brushing your cat regularly is going to help to reduce the amount of hair that is shed and distributed around your house. And secondly, brushing your cat regularly can be good for their skin and coat. So you're distributing natural oils across their coat helping to keep it nice and shiny and healthy. That leads me to the third reason why brushing can be beneficial for some cats, which is the fact that it kind of acts as a massage, especially if you have the right type of brush. I was recently talking to our team's cat behavior expert, and she noted that regular brushing, assuming that your cat has the right personality for it, can really help to reduce their stress. When I was trying out the brushes included in this review, for example, I noticed that Wessie's attitude seemed a lot better after brushing. It certainly seemed that he was feeling a lot happier and more relaxed after a brushing session. So stay tuned to learn all the details about my top seven recommendations and which of these brushes I think is going to work the best for different types of people and cats. Now our first recommendation is the Safari self-cleaning slicker brush. The reason why I chose this wire bristled slicker brush as our top pick is because it's so versatile and so effective in multiple ways. So you can use this brush for just about any cat. Whether your cat has a short, medium, or long coat, you're going to be able to use this brush to kind of detangle and increase the shine of your cat's coat. When I was using this slicker brush with my cats, I found that while Forest was pretty reluctant to be brushed at all, Wessie absolutely loved being brushed with the Safari slicker brush. Even though at first glance, it might look like these wire bristles might be irritating, I think that Wessie really enjoyed the way that they felt on his skin. I brushed my own skin a little bit with them and they're definitely not particularly harsh. I know that some cats who are a bit more sensitive have an issue with slicker brushes like this. So it just depends on your cat's personality. For Wessie, however, this seemed to be a really comfortable and enjoyable brush. The brush did an excellent job of collecting excess hair from Wessie's coat, and it made sure that the hair stayed on the brush head. And then it's really easy to remove it from the brush and discard that hair in the trash. Overall, I found that the Safari slicker brush was very effective. It did exactly what it needed to do in removing loose hair from my cat's coat. And it also seemed to be an enjoyable brush for my cats to use. It costs $14.95. So it's a tiny bit more expensive than some other brushes, but still a relatively affordable option. Our next recommendation is my favorite rubber brush. And it's one that you've probably seen around or heard mentioned by other cat guardians. It's called the Kong Zoom Groom. It has these widely spaced, fairly flexible rubber teeth that kind of massage your cat's skin while moving through the coat to pick up loose hair. Again, Wessie had a much more positive attitude towards being brushed and I think he really enjoyed using the Kong Zoom Groom. It's a really gentle choice that can be a good option for more sensitive cats. And it kind of massages your cat's skin as it goes along. My biggest gripe with the Kong Zoom Groom is that it doesn't really do a great job of collecting the hair. So you're going to be going through your cat's coat and then you'll see the loose hair just kind of collecting around near the base of their tail. And you're going to have to pick that off of your cat's coat in order to fully remove it. Overall, though, I really enjoyed using the Kong Zoom Groom. It seems like a gentle and effective choice that is going to appeal to a wide variety of cats. Our next recommendation is our top pick for long haired cats, especially those who are prone to developing mats. The GoPets two sided de-matting and de-shedding comb addresses multiple aspects of this problem encountered by long haired cats. The rounded edges of the comb that are actually touching your cat's skin are blunt, and they aren't going to hurt your cat. But the comb also has these stainless steel blades. And those blades are going to help to cut through the beginnings of mats like little tangles, as well as fully formed mats. So you can use the de-shedding side of this brush as a preventative tool. And then you can use the de-matting comb in case any real mats form. Since both of my cats have short coats, I wasn't really able to get good firsthand experience with the GoPets two sided comb. But I have read a lot of reviews from people who do have long haired cats and have used this product. And for the most part, they're positive. Aside from a few scattered reviews complaining that the blades aren't quite sharp enough to get through mats. I have read some complaints about hair getting stuck to the handle. And I encountered an issue with gel seeping out of the handle. So it seemed that during transit, the handle had been nicked. And this gel that makes the handle nice and soft was starting to ooze out. I haven't read a lot of customer reviews saying that they experienced the same thing. But it is worth bearing in mind that if you do accidentally nick this handle, you could have some oozing and you're going to want to either replace it or patch it up with some tape in order to prevent that from happening. At $29.99 this brush is a little bit more expensive than a lot of the other products on the market. So our next recommendation is labeled as the best brush for bathing. It's the Glandex Fur Bliss multi use brush. So this is a really soft rubber brush that looks and feels a little bit like a sponge. As the name suggests, this is a multi use brush. So they say that you can use it for bathing, for general grooming, and you can also use it to remove hair from your furniture and clothing. So one side of the brush has these soft silicone nodules that kind of dig into your cat's coat and help to massage their skin as you brush them. It's a very, very soft, squishy, very gentle brush and is going to be a good option for cats who are kind of uncomfortable with more harsh, rigid brushes. It's going to work best for short haired cats because it just doesn't have the teeth to get deep into a long haired cat's coat. Again, this brush is recommended for bathing as well as regular brushing. So on the opposite side of those brushing nodules, it has what it refers to as shampoo reservoir cells, which are intended to hold that shampoo or soap in the cleaning tool as you're going across your cat's body. And even if you aren't going to be using this to bathe your cat, you can also use it for a dog in your household. So it's a good flexible option that works for a wide variety of pets, as well as a wide variety of uses. Again, they also say that you can use it to remove hair from other surfaces around your house. I tried using it to remove some hair from a t shirt. And while it was somewhat effective, I can't say that it was any better than using a typical lint roller or a piece of tape in my case. Now as for my experience using the Furbliss, I found that my cat Wessie seemed pretty comfortable using it and that it did remove some hair from his coat. That being said, it really wasn't the most thorough brush. I don't think that I was pulling out as much loose hair as I was with some of our other recommendations. And somewhat similarly to the Kong Zoom Groom, it didn't do that great of a job of keeping the hair on the brush so that it could easily be picked up and then thrown away. One interesting feature of this brush is that it's made from medical grade silicone and is 100% dishwasher safe. So that makes it pretty easy to maintain. So overall, based on my experience and reading customer reviews, I would say that this is a good pretty flexible product that can be used for a variety of purposes. It's going to be a particularly good choice if you have a short haired cat, especially if they're rather sensitive and not all that comfortable with more rigid brushes moving across their skin. At $18.99, I think that the Furbliss brush is a little bit more expensive than it needs to be. But then again, I know a lot of people really like this product, and it might be justified for certain people. Now our next recommendation is going to be a particularly good option if your cat is uncomfortable with new and unfamiliar objects coming down towards their body. If your cat tends to be scared of brushes, then a grooming glove like this one could be a good option. So our top recommendation in the grooming glove category is the Hands-On Grooming Glove. There are a few things about this glove that are really a step up from the competition. And the first area where I think this grooming glove is special is in its sizing flexibility. So it comes in five different sizes, meaning that you can actually find a glove that's the right size for you. That's pretty rare among grooming gloves, which seldom come in more than one size, and are often either big floppy mitts or way too small for larger hands. And getting that good fit isn't just beneficial for you, it's going to make your cat's experience better too. Brushing your cat with a glove that fits well is going to feel a lot more natural, a lot more like a normal petting session. Another way that the Hands-On Grooming Glove is going to feel a little more natural for your cat is the fact that you get two gloves. A lot of other grooming gloves come in packages with just one glove or mitt, so you're only able to pet your cat with one hand, which isn't always natural. Sometimes you're going to want to go hand over hand, and the Hands-On Grooming Glove allows you to do that. I find that both of my cats really seem to enjoy being pet with the Hands-On Grooming Glove. It's pretty effective and removes quite a bit of hair, especially compared to other grooming gloves on the market. I'd say the biggest drawback of the Hands-On Grooming Glove is the fact that the nitrile palms tend to crack over time. But other than that, this seems to be a pretty well-made product that should last you for a while. The Hands-On Grooming Glove is available in two colors, so you can get it in either black or green, and it costs $24.99. Our next recommendation is the best de-shedding comb you've probably heard of it. It's the Furminator. The Furminator is famous for doing a really outstanding job of removing your cat's undercoat. So again, the undercoat is that soft, fluffy hair that's closer to your cat's skin than their topcoat. So the undercoat is a really important part of your cat's coat. You don't want to just get rid of it. But there are some benefits to this type of de-shedding tool. Removing some of that undercoat can help to prevent matting, especially if you have a long-haired cat. It can also reduce the amount of shedding around the house. And finally, it can kind of help to keep your cat cool in really extreme summer heat. As expected, I found that the Furminator worked quite well to remove a lot of that undercoat. With only a few little strokes, I was already removing quite a bit of hair. It also managed to do a great job of keeping that hair collected on the brush head, and it didn't send a lot of hair flying around the room or onto the surface of my cat's coats. The only downside of the Furminator is that if your cat doesn't have a particularly thick undercoat, or if you get a little bit too aggressive with brushing, you certainly remove too much of that undercoat and reduce the overall integrity of their healthy coat. The Furminator is available in a variety of different sizes intended for different types of coats. I use the small one made for short coats and it costs $29.95. Our last recommendation is a little bit different from the others on this list that isn't really intended to maintain your cat's coat. Instead, it is a flea comb. If you live in an area where your cat may be affected by fleas, either during the summers or throughout the entire year, you're going to want to have a flea comb in your arsenal. And if you're going to get a flea comb, I would recommend Safari's Flea Comb for Cats. Now this is a classic, it's a single road flea comb that seems to do an excellent job of extracting fleas and flea dirt from your cat's coat. It receives almost entirely positive reviews. There really aren't that many people complaining about a bad experience with the Safari Flea Comb. Fortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to use this in a real flea infestation scenario, but I have run it through my cat's coats and they seem to be comfortable with the way that it feels. At $4.67, the Safari Flea Comb is a relatively economical investment in your cat's health. So that's it for our top seven recommendations for the best cat brushes you can buy. I hope that you saw something here that you think will work for your cat. But if you would like more recommendations, you can check out our article on the top 10 best brushes on the market. It goes in depth on all of the brushes reviewed here, as well as three other recommendations. So check out the link in the description in order to visit our best cat brushes buyer's guide. While you're in the description, you'll also see links to all of the products mentioned in this video so you can check them out and learn more for yourself. So thank you so much for watching this video. And again, I hope that you found it helpful. If you like this video and you're interested in more buyer's guides, product reviews and information on all things cats, please go ahead and subscribe to the All About Cats channel and hit that notification bell so you'll get the news every time we release a new video. Thanks!