Quote: jennifer n. hack

The Furminator actually PULLS out their coat. If you brush the same spot too much, it will rip out all the hair and be uneven.

I have used the Furminator for about 2 years now and have two: one for my cats and another for my dog. It is a spectacular piece of equipment compared to the rakes, brushes, gloves that I have wasted money on. Nonetheless, what you say may be accurate if you constantly brush one area over and over again or with too much pressure. This happened to one of my cats - he was being groomed and decided to squirm into the Furminator after I had already passed over that area of his body a number of times, which pulled too much hair out and he walked around for about a month with a lot less hair on his side (not bald) than the rest of his body (from certain angles you were able to see his skin).

This is not a fault of the Furminator, but fault of the handler/owner (me). I was not paying full attention and over-groomed him. He also was getting brushed weekly and as a short-haired cat, probably not necessary. So, yes, used carelessly the Furminator, like any tool, can result in "damage," but it remains the preferred grooming tool by all of my animals and certainly lightens them up.

I havn't been grooming as long as you Cindy, but I tend to find it works well on ALL breeds, just depends on how you use it. For example I could never use it the same way on a GSD as a Sheltie. Long coated double breeds you kind of have to do a line burshing method where you pull the hair apart to form the line, and then quick short strokes from the skin out to pull the undercoat out. Not very much pressure at all or the blade will cut the top coat. Almost like your not brushing at all. It works great but because it's so time consuming line brushing I tend to just use a forced air dryer to blow out any undercoat and a slicker brush to finish it off.

Douglas, I just wanted to point out that this thread is from 2008... The dates is in the upper right hand corner. Just wanted to let you know folks might not still be following this topic.