Review (5/5): Tiny plastic covers on the bristles make it more comfortable for some cats
We have three cats with three very different coats. The black cat's coat is sleek, shiny, and seems to have fine little hairs. He barely sheds, and his hairs are short. He loves being brushed with just about any brush, for the interaction, the petting/grooming connection and the scratching action. However, he doesn't really need to be brushed.
Our medium-to-long haired snowshoe Siamese seems to have sensitive skin; she Hates being brushed near her achy back hips, and will complain and whip around to smack at you if you brush her very hard at all. However, she sheds a TON, and needs to be brushed almost every day, so she doesn't get clumps by her arthritic haunches (she actually gets dandruff flakes that her hair clumps around and knots up). She is at least 14 years old (we're not exactly sure), and just can't reach to groom her back end well, any longer. She loves being brushed around her head and neck though, even with our old "scratchier" long-tined brush. You can fill that brush 2-3 times easily, brushing her for just a few minutes, every day. This one, because of the tiny soft covers on the ends of the tines, doesn't seem to dig at her as much, and you don't have to brush her nearly as gently - meaning that you get far more of the clumps out when they are small and just beginning to build.
Our orange cat has extremely soft, short-to-medium hair, and you hardly notice that she sheds much. But when you brush her with the longer-tined, flexible but sharper-ended bristles of our old brush, you fill up the brush surprisingly quickly, and she lets you brush all over. So, she may be the only one that we continue to use the old brush on.
Our old brush sort of pulls the bristles into it, towards the handle, when you push the button on the back of it, to clean it off. The bristles disappear inside the brush, and you can peel the hair off like a little blanket and throw it away.
With this new brush, it is more like the flat base with holes around the bristle seats, comes forward, to the end of the bristles; when you push the button on the back, it pushes that base away from the handle. This may end up bending the bristles less, and keeping the brush usable longer. But it also doesn't compact the hair and make it just "peel off" in one fell swoop. It is more likely that you will leave some hair behind on the brush with this one. It is Worth the trade-off of it being slightly less easy to clean well, because our older, sensitive cat likes it soooo much better, and she is the one who really needs to be brushed the most. This brush is lighter, and feels less substantial than our old brush. Again, we will keep the old brush for the kitten. But this new one is perfect for Sagwa (the old cat), and I am very glad we tried it. If it does crack or bristles break off, because it seems less sturdy, I would buy another one just to keep her happy.