PRODUCT REVIEW: Shedzilla vs Furminator

Sharing a household with a medium-coated German Shepherd Dog/Beagle X, a Pug, a smooth-coated Chihuahua, and a very thick-coated Shetland Sheepdog, I'm constantly on the lookout for ways to reduce the amount of dog hair covering everything I own. Judging by the large number of options available to dog owners these days, I'm not the only one.

Recently, I tested two of the most popular de-shedding products on the market these days: Shedzilla and FURminator on our four dogs with mixed results.

Shedzilla by Oster Animal Care

purchased at: Wal-mart

purchase price: $19.97 + tax

pros:

* reasonably priced

* easy to use 

* comfortable grip

* very effective for removing undercoat in medium and long coats without removing guard hairs

* glides through even heavy undercoat

* teeth have curved edges to protect dog's skin

cons: 

* only comes in one variety

* ineffective for use on smooth-coated dogs

* unwieldy size and shape for use on dogs under 25 pounds

Furminator

purchased at Petsmart

purchase price: $37.99-$72.99 + tax

pros:

* comes in 10 varieties (toy, small, medium, large, and giant for both smooth and long coats)

* easy to use

* comfortable grip

* one-button hair removal

*very effective for removing undercoat

cons:

* expensive

* may require the purchase of several Furminators for multi-breed households

* sharp edges can scratch skin

* may get caught in thick fur and cause discomfort to dog

* sometimes removes more guard hairs than undercoat

Overall, these two products are equally effective. In a 10-minute grooming session, both the Shedzilla and the FURminator removed HUGE amounts of undercoat from the GSD/Beagle X and the Sheltie, much more than other products on the market such as a shedding blade, shedding combs, or slicker brushes.

However, neither product is the elusive permanent solution to the shedding problem; within an hour of using them, the fur began to fly again. However, if used daily during the heavy shedding seasons, both of them do reduce the amount of hair deposited on every surface of the home.

The Shedzilla would be my grooming tool of choice for all my dogs... if only it were available in a variety of sizes, so I could use it on the Pug and the Chihuahua. However, it is sized perfectly for 25-50 pound dogs. The GSD/Beagle X and the Shetland Sheepdog are not big fans of being groomed, yet both of them tolerated longer grooming sessions using the Shedzilla than with the FURminator.