You can do useful things with cat hair that is lying around the house; floating against skirting boards, on the bed, on sofas and chairs, you name the place, it is likely be there. You’ve probably eaten quite a bit of it over the years. Cat hair that has been shed by a cat tends to get everywhere. Cat hair shedding can be minimized by regularly grooming your cat. We know that. The Furminator is the tool of choice. Groomit is another one. Incidentally, there are no non-shedding cat breeds.
If the Furminator is good for collecting loose hair from a cat, a Bizzy brush is good for collecting it from beds and furniture. This is a velvet brush and the grain of the velvet picks up cat hair extremely effective. Once on the brush the hair can be removed by pushing the brush against a carpet with the grain of the velvet. The hair balls up on the carpet and can be picked up. Now that I know of some uses for loose cat hair, these balls of hair will put to use.
Incidentally, the Furminator, itself can be used to collect loose cat hair from upholstery, so says Caroline a regular contributor. Thanks Caroline for these ideas.
Crafted Cat Hair Products
For interested people, beautiful cat hair products can be crafted. The book below is the definitive work on this:
For the Birds
Crafting products from loose cat hair doesn’t really appeal to me but this does: balled up, collected cat hair can be used by birds. I like this idea. It is creating a partnership between predator and prey and the human is acting as the intermediary. Wonderful concept. The idea is to place balls of cat fur next to the bird feeder. Birds building nests should collect it to line the nest to provide insulation, comfort and warmth. When do birds build nests? It varies a lot; from February through to September with March and April being the more active months. When I try this, next year (2014) I intend to put some cat fur out with the bird feed around March and throughout the summer and see what happens.
The Ultimate Natural Free Homemade Cat Toy!
You probably know this one. I wrote about it years ago but it is very clever so I’ll repeat it! This is an “invention” of Zach Scott in America. He has made a video. Using the Furminator or some other effective cat grooming tool you simply ball up the hair into a cigar shaped wad (it binds together very effectively and naturally) and that is the toy. Done and dusted in about five minutes. Cats seem to be interested in the smell and shape of their own hair. My cat will sniff it and eat it! Until I stop him.
Other Uses
There are other uses for this natural resource. Wads of cat hair have been used as booms to pick up oil from oil spills. I am sure there other uses which are yet to be devised. I suppose it could be used as padding for cushions and such like. Perhaps not. Do you have any ideas for recycling cat hair?
Conclusion
A nice aspect of recycling loose cat hair is that a lot of people see cat hair as a nuisance, something to get rid of as soon as possible. If it can be used and put to use – particularly to help nesting birds, for example – it turns a negative into more of a positive. I like that.
Photo: Sean and Lauren on Flickr
Kimmie, do you have some photos of examples of your work that contains cat hair?
Thanks Kimmie. I have amended your comment as desired.
Hi
I have read these posts and article with interest and have a suggestion. I am a felter, I make scarves and jewelry out of wool and pet hair…etc.. If you gather the hair and roll it in the palm of your hands, keep rolling until it forms a hard ball, you can then use it like a bead by putting a jewellery pin through it and attaching it to a bracelet or necklace, you will always have your pet with you.
Well, this is something I haven’t seen an article on at POC.
This New York artist draws cats using her cats’ feces, urine, and fur.
Now that’s recycling!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/11/siobhan-meow-transgender-cat-poop-paintings_n_2278193.html
Hair is a dead substance. I think it is made of keratin which the same substance (a protein) that makes nails and a cat’s nails. It lasts for ever almost. A great memento because it is exactly the same as it was when your cat died.
I like the idea of the birds getting the fur to use in their nests as warm bedding, that’s something nice that cats can do for birds after all the bad press they get for supposedly trying to wipe out the entire bird population. And I can sympathise with Marc and carolneale, I still have a bit of Felix’s beautiful ginger fur somewhere, after we’ve lost any of our much loved cats I’ve always hated getting the hoover out and gradually bit by bit over the weeks removing all traces of them as the fur they’ve shed is hoovered up. I’ve found at work that quite often bereaved families ask for a little bit of hair to be snipped off for them to keep (wish I’d thought of that years ago when our mother and then my husband John died) there must be some connection between this and us wanting to hang onto beloved fur. Another good way to clean up fur from furniture and carpets is to put a rubber glove on and wet it then brush it over the fur, it comes up in balls and is easy to pick up.