Reducing shedding questions

[bdmonroy]

I'm new to this site, and I have a problem with shedding. I have 3 cats all older cats 5 years and up. They are domestic short hair cats but they still shed a lot.  I have tried everything.  How often should I brush their hair? Do you recommend baths?  My older cat is male (Morris) and he's on a specific diet for Bladder problems, so I feed that to the other two (Sandy and Tangerine) the same food he eats. They are indoor cats and i only brush them once a week.  What can I do besides changing their diet?

 

[molldee]

Brush them once a day instead of once a week.

 

[emandjee]

I have tried everything.  How often should I brush their hair? Do you recommend baths?  My older cat is male (Morris) and he's on a specific diet for Bladder problems, so I feed that to the other two (Sandy and Tangerine) the same food he eats. They are indoor cats and i only brush them once a week.  What can I do besides changing their diet?

What is "everything"? 

I use the Furminator brush on my two DSH a little more often now, about 3-4 times a week due to the warmer weather. I also have the slicker brush and ZoomGroom brush, but I hate removing the hairs off those. It also didn't seem as effective as the Furm. I never give baths; baths can dry out their skin further, and unless they are really soiled, it's totally unnecessary. I don't think most cats love to dip in the water, either.

On another note, it's one thing if a cat is on a special Rx diet due to a medical condition, but I'm not sure it's a good idea for healthy cats to feed on it as well. Can you specify what formula they are currently eating?

 

[bdmonroy]

They are currently eating Royal Canin Urinary SO. I'm going to look into getting them the furminator.  I use the ZOOM brush and it works fine but hair just keeps coming off. I'm going to try to brush them more often.  I just need to make time for that which I honestly don't. 

 

[emandjee]

If they're on dry food, I'd try introducing them to some wet food. Moisture can help dry skin, if that's what your cats currently have. Incidentally, I think you may want to talk to your vet about how appropriate it is to feed Rx food to your healthy cats? I know prescription diets like RC S/O have ingredients to purposely make a cat's urine more acidic to prevent crystal formation and help keep the urine pH of the diagnosed cat balanced. Feeding that to a healthy cat with normally healthy pH urine levels? I'm not sure...it could potentially cause urine to become more acidic than normal, causing oxalate stones that no diet feeding can dissolve but one that involves surgery to physically remove, and thus very costly and stressful for everyone! I also think it could be cheaper to feed the other cats regular, more nutritious cat food than RC at the price you're currently paying for. Hope you at least talk to your vet...

Wishing all your cats wellness and less shedding, too.