We Tested 23 Cat Brushes With Real Felines And Found 7 Favorites

For weekly maintenance of a cat’s coat, a brush with a head full of soft boar bristles provides a gentle glide that even the most finicky of cats will tolerate. The Mars Boar Bristle Cat Hair Brush is made with a sturdy, lightweight birchwood handle offering the control needed to delicately and efficiently brush through cat fur of all lengths.

It’s one of the softest cat grooming brushes we’ve tried and is suitable for use on cats of any age. If you have a senior cat, you may start to notice that self-grooming is becoming more difficult for them to manage. This brush can be very beneficial for keeping the skin and coat in shape by collecting dry skin flakes, dirt, and hair that has already been shed.

The brush is made to endure with easy-to-clean natural boar bristles. With gentle strokes once or twice a week, you can decrease the amount of cat hair found throughout your home, reducing cat allergens—all while helping your cat maintain a healthy coat.

One downside we noticed: while it excels for regular brushing, it lacks a bit when attempting to remove large knots of fur. We think it’s best kept to your weekly or regular maintenance brushings, to keep your kitty comfortable, and choose a different tool for the knots.

_{Dimensions: 7.25 x 1.25 x 2 inches | Weight: 0.32 ounces | Material: Boar bristles, wood}

The FURminator Hair Collection Dog and Cat Brush has uniquely designed bristles, spaced differently on each side, which create an electrostatic charge to attract and hold hair along with dirt, dander, and other small particles. The two sides of the grooming tool offer a different texture and we found it easy to adjust the angle by rotating the brush’s slim handle while grooming. Our tester cat seemed to enjoy this brush more than others we tried, as evidenced by her purring more loudly, and rolling onto her back after the brushing—a vulnerable position for a cat, which usually means they trust you.

The rubbery bristles are firm and and offered more productive resistance than other brushes we tested. And while it gently skimmed and collected loose fur, the brush never got stuck or caused any tangles

The construction felt sturdy, without any noticeable weak points. It’s small enough to fit into a small bag or purse if needed for travel, and it’s especially great for grooming small cats, too, as it can get to all of their little furry parts. The slim size and varied textures made it easy to reach all parts of the cat’s body, and were very effective at loosening hair during testing, accumulating a significant pile of it. On the downside: Fluff sometimes flies around while grooming with this brush, with some inevitably getting caught in fabric, eyes/nose/mouth, and other unwanted areas, as it does not hold everything it lifts. 

It was a bit difficult to clean because of its rubbery texture, and also because it doesn’t come with a release button to eject the hair. It only took about thirty seconds to wipe away most of the hair, but there were still a few stragglers stuck between the longest bristles of the brush. On the plus side, this brush can be placed under running water to get hair out and it dries quickly.

_{Dimensions: 8.9 x 4 x 1.5 inches | Weight: 6 ounces | Material: Rubber, plastic}

If your cat is prone to developing mats in their fur, a slicker brush is a necessary preventative tool, and we recommend the Hertzko Self-Cleaning Slicker Brush. The curved, flexible wire bristles are gentle on the skin but capable of getting beneath a cat’s topcoat where mats tend to form. It’s also excellent for removing dander along with loose hair to keep your cat’s coat as well-maintained as possible.

The regular-sized Hertzko slicker is easy to handle with a brush head that’s just under six inches across, providing plenty of surface area for efficient brushing. And one of the best features is the self-cleaning button. With a quick click, the bristles retract and release all the hair you’ve collected.

This grooming tool is ideal for both long- and short-haired felines, as well as virtually all dog breeds. The sturdy, comfort-grip handle is designed to prevent slipping and wrist strain.

_{Dimensions: 5.8 x 3 x 10 inches | Weight: 0.2 pounds | Material: Plastic}

The Burt’s Bees for Cats 2-in-1 Double Sided Pin and Bristle Brush is designed for the easy removal of debris and dirt, minimizing shedding and smoothing the tangles out of fur using both the soft hemp bristle side and firm pin side of the tool.

The wire bristles were perfect for brushing the fuller fur on the underbellies of our tester cats, and they loved stretching out to get a good scratching from the bristles on their necks and backs too. They also loved rubbing the sides of their chins and faces against the soft bristle side between strokes of the brush. 

We found that brushing with these in the direction of your cat’s fur growth is most comfortable for them. Also, the soft hemp bristle side is best for daily use, while the wire bristles are good to reserve for detangling mats and removing debris. The brush is also constructed of bamboo and recycled materials, too, making it eco-friendly as well as adored by our felines. 

_{Dimensions: 2 x 3 x 8 inches | Weight: 2.5 ounces | Material: Bamboo, steel, hemp}

This brush is comfortable and easy to use, with a handle made sturdy with firm bristles that aren’t too stiff. It moves smoothly through a cat’s coat, and the bristles seem perfectly spaced to capture the loose hair.  It’s a nice size for gripping, and has a handy release button that stands out as the feature we liked most.

The release button helps eject the hair that has accumulated on the bristles, which is a highly satisfying experience, like simply peeling off a layer of hair after a good brushing session. You just push the button with one hand to eject the collected hair and enjoy the satisfaction of pulling off the hair with the other hand. Not much hair is left behind after this ejection occurs, making post-grooming clean-up a breeze.  While the button itself works well, it doesn’t feel very strong or durable— but it’s not likely to break before the rest of the brush is worn out. 

The brush’s bristle surface is a little wide for a smaller cat’s head/face and other small parts of their body, but works great on the body, and would likely be fine for a medium/large or longer, lankier cat’s grooming needs. If it were a tiny bit smaller, more of the cat’s body could be groomed more efficiently. 

Our tester cat loved it and tucked herself into a neat little purring loaf to show her appreciation while being brushed with it. There’s also a nice loop on the handle, so you can hang it up for storage.

_{Dimensions: 8.5 x 4.17 x 2.17 inches | Weight: 5.6 ounces | Material: Stainless steel, plastic}

This brush has an easy to hold ,ergonomic, non-slip plastic handle design, and two sides: one with 9 arched stainless steel teeth for dematting, and the other with 17 for deshedding. (The side with 17 teeth pulls out noticeably more hair). Shaped like a mini-rake, it works well on the main areas of a cat’s body where the fur is thicker. It had a little trouble when brushing the head area and legs, due to the thin layer of fur in those areas, and its less-than-gentle metal bristles and construction. It also worked great when used at the right angle, but the angle was not automatically detected when brushing, requiring some work to find. 

Available in two sizes and several colors, this brush is durable with sturdy bristles, and a handle made of hard plastic. It had no issue brushing through mats and thick fur, and due to its substantial and sturdy quality, it can grab more hair with fewer passes of the brush. It also does a great job of detangling and dematting along the way.  It’s also easy to clean, as the hair, once grabbed, stays on the brush until the groomer removes it. When using this brush regularly, there is much less hair in the vacuum cleaner as well. 

Most important of all, our tester cat seemed to really enjoy it, staying around for a good five minute brushing, which is fairly rare for her, as she is prone to getting easily overstimulated.

_{Dimensions: 6.6 x 3.9 x 2 inches | Weight: 4 ounces | Material: Stainless steel, rubber}

For cats sensitive to grooming, grooming gloves such as HandsOn All-In-One Gloves may be the best option. Incredibly easy to use with sturdy, yet flexible, bristle “nubs” with rounded ends, these gloves are highly efficient for removing excess hair and massaging the skin for improved circulation. The gloves themselves are stretchy, comfy, and form-fitting to the hands, making them great for cats that get skittish around new things or shy away from larger, harder brushes. They work on animal coats of varying lengths and textures.

The gloves are especially effective for loosening dead hair and dandruff hidden underneath the smooth top layer of your cat’s coat, leaving the coat thoroughly smoothed out and shiny following grooming. Our tester cat loved rubbing her face and chin against the gloves’ nubs, and seemed proud of how sleek and smooth she looked after being groomed. 

The grooming went remarkably well, however, the cleanup was a little bit difficult, because the hair doesn’t pull out neatly together in a group or “nest” like it would when cleaning other brushes. Rather, the hair sits on the surface of the gloves, due to the rubbery nubs being short, and ends up being quite a messy ordeal. However, the gloves are well-loved by both our tester kitty and their human, due to their massage-like effect, ease of use, and appeal for skittish or finicky cats.

_{Dimensions: 7.5-8 inches (medium) | Weight: N/A | Material: Nylon, pvc}