Cat Deshedder
6 Materials
I could easily afford to purchase one of these but it is so much more fun to have made this myself. Having mentioned in my 'intro', I like making items from things I have around the house or something that I picked up really cheap at the Dollar Tree. So while, what I DIY may not be perfect or to a commercial standard, it generally works well and as Frank Sinatra sang, 'I did it my way'. LOL
Completed deshedder sprinkled with Cat Nip to help my little man get used to it. Love it eventually (I hope) Total Cost $7.00 and a lot of fun to make!
Everything purchased at the Dollar Tree. I did end up using TWO of the brushes. These are a bit hard to find at the Dollar Tree. Do Note: Not every store carries the item that you may find in another Dollar Tree.
This is a placemat that I used for the base covering of the deshedder. I wanted to cut the foam poster board a bit smaller than the placemat and I also wanted two of the foam poster board for strength and stability.
This is 'our' Mr. Burb, he really enjoys helping me when I start new projects. I think he thinks that he is the Supervisor as he tries to take crafting items out of my hand! Here we are cutting the foam poster board.
Mr. Burb didn't last long in his Supervisor duty as he saw something outside the patio window and he left me alone to complete the rest of this (HIS) project.
I used Gorilla Glue to join the two base pieces of foam and DIY'd some grocery items for weights! If you HAVE NEVER used Gorilla Glue, this stuff can be 'deadly'. It looks fine when you apply it but then it EXPANDS! Be careful 'where' you use it. Also you can remove it (if you get it on your hands) with rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer-if you get it in your hair (on the back of your head-and I have no idea how I did that) scissors are your only option.
Now it was time to glue the placemat to the foam board. This time I used Loctite GO2 Glue. I like this glue, while it is not an 'instant' glue it works well.
With everything dry and feeling solid, it was time to glue these glass 'do-da's'. I have no idea what to call them but I am sure others do. I did this to give the base some weight. Two packages of these glass 'do-da's' were just shy of two pounds in weight. This time I used Mod Podge as a glue, as the Loctite GO2 would have run short, and I had this left over from another project. I was impressed, stuck quickly and well!
This was a bit of a mess to finish. I started with the one brush. Thinking that it was going to be too short in height I used the second. I fastened them together with a cute little yellow rubber ducky. Well that didn't work, it was WAY to tall. So I took that apart and since I had already broken the handle off, I put the two of them together to make a thicker brush (deshedder). I tied them at the top in the middle. Worked really well. I had purchased the cloth trivets and used them at the base, before putting the metal of the brush through the foam. This was a bit of a process too. I struggled getting the cloth of the plactmat open enough for the metal wire to 'get to the other side'. I used the Loctite GO2 to glue down the trivets and to glue the metal to the trivet and placemat. Once dry, I turned it all over (and YEA!, nothing fell off) and I used Gorilla Glue to fill in the hole made by the metal of the brush. This was a time where the Gorilla Glue was perfect for the job. Once dried, I sprayed the deshedder and trivets with Cat Nip spray, and sprinkled Cat Nip on the placemat. Cat Nip can be refreshed at any time.
Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 4 comments
-
Thank you, this was really fun to make. He hasn't used it yet, just poked around it a bit, but I think that he will 'get there' eventually. He is finally using the Play House that I made him (which also has a deshedding door). He is a sweet heart but not good with changes or new things.
-
I can't wait to make it
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?