The Perfect Gift For Anyone With A Longhaired Dog: Millers Forge Adjustable Pet Comb!

The Good: Surprisingly durable, Variable settings are helpful, Easy-to-use, Relatively inexpensive.
The Bad: None that I have been able to find.
The Basics: The Millers Forge Adjustable 2-in-1 Pet Comb is an exceptionally resilient pet comb which makes cleaning and maintaining longhaired dogs a snap!


As my days of helping out at the pet store came to a timely and cheerful end around this time last year (yea!), I found myself happily contemplating some pet products that I have had a lot of experience with. Chief among these - so much so that it is actually surprising that it has taken this long for me to write about it - is the Millers Forge Adjustable 2-in-1 Pet Comb. This is a device that I used every day for the two months while I worked at the pet store and we've had the same Pet Comb (I am told) for over a year and a half! Right off the bat, this ought to indicate that this is a product that is ridiculously durable. But as I was combing out the Pomeranian today at work, I was daydreaming and thinking that people looking for gifts for dog owners would find this to be the ultimate gift for owners of small dogs with long hair.

Small dogs with long hair, like Pomeranians, Yorkies, Lhasa Apsas and Shiatsu, suffer, at least in confined conditions like kennels, like their hair getting crusted with their own crap. Seriously. Small dogs will get poop in their hair, even if they can run around. But even if they aren’t just rolling in their own dung, small dogs with long hair (lapdogs) require daily maintenance. For that, the Millers Forge Adjustable 2-in-1 Pet Comb is ideal. In other words, even outside an industrial setting, this can be exceptionally useful for pet owners.

So, what is the Millers Forge Adjustable 2-in-1 Pet Comb? Simple: this is a plastic and steel device used to comb animal hair. Why does one need a special comb for that, you might ask? In addition to not wanting to mix up which comb is for people and which is for pets, the Millers Forge Adjustable Pet Comb has features that make it easier to pass through animal hair without tugging the poor animal’s hair out and causing them pain or their eyes to pop out (which some of those little dogs, it seems is a possibility!). That is where the “adjustable” part comes in.

The Millers Forge Adjustable 2-in-1 Pet Comb is an eight inch long plastic device with two parts fused together. There is the head and the handle. The handle is a ¾” in diameter, four inch long, hard plastic rod with minor ribbing which allows one to maintain a grip on it easily, while bare handed or in gloves. At the end of the handle is a hole which allows one to hang the comb up. The handle is very easy to hold and feels good in one’s hand as they work it over the head and body of the dog one is using it on. I’ve never had the handle – despite its simple shape – feel anything but fine in my grip.

The handle is connected to the four inch head and this is a two and one half inch wide (about ¼” thick) plastic and metal assembly. The plastic casing is about an inch and a quarter wide and the metal tines extend about the same length out of that. There are tines that extend from the head at 1/8” intervals and they are permanently affixed there. But then, there are secondary teeth which may be extended out of the plastic casing using a very simple button found on the head. Sliding the button down toward the tines causes a secondary row of teeth to descend between all of the permanent teeth. Using this, the comb becomes a finer comb with spaces every 1/32”, which is much more useful for grooming.

Why, you may ask, does one need an adjustable comb at all? Experience – days and days of working at the pet store! – has illustrated to me that longhaired dogs get knots, burrs and turds in their hair remarkably easy. What is the easiest way to get those different conditions out? Combing the dog’s hair! Passing the comb through first with the tightest setting, though, can pull the dog’s hair and leave the poor dog in pain. However, by using the more separated comb first, one may work through the knots and burrs or easily flick canine fecal matter off the dog’s hair (using the finer setting initially can actually work dog poop into the dog’s longer fur!). Then, one may simply flick the button – which locks the secondary tines in place – and more elegantly groom the dog’s hair.

But longhaired dogs are like humans in regard to maintenance of their hair: the more one combs it, the easier it is to manage. As a result, the Millers Forge Adjustable 2-in-1 Pet Comb may actually be a part of a dog’s daily regiment to maintain a clean look and general health of the dog. My experiences showed that this worked best when one used the permanent tines (the more spaced ones), combed the ends of the dog’s hair, then went back over the hair from the base of the hair and combed the hair out. Then, after one has combed the dog’s hair out, going back over the entire dog with the finer tines out leaves all breeds of longhaired dogs looking cleaner, shinier and managed.

Bigger dogs with long hair, like my cocker spaniel, seem to do fine with just being treated with a slicker. But I could see this device working for finer maintenance and getting out burrs or hairballs that are stuck in her fur.

Either way, the volume of experience I have crammed in with this should not be discounted; the Millers Forge Adjustable 2-in-1 Pet Comb endures and having used this on over fifty different dogs (personally) and having had the same one go through probably a thousand before that, the fact that not a single tine has bent or broken on this is extraordinary. Furthermore, as someone who is not much of an animal person, I was relieved to discover that none of the dogs I used this on objected to me combing them out. In fact, one little dog (I swear, it actually likes me!) seems to enjoy the time I spend maintaining it daily, jumping over its kennelmate when it is time to get groomed.

So, if I like it and the animals like it, it is pretty much a perfect pet product!

For other pet maintenance products from Millers Forge, please check out my reviews of:
Small Shedding Blade #520c
Nail Clippers
Large Slicker Brush

10/10

For other pet product reviews, please be sure to visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2010, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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I Find Mitzie's Fur Around, So The Millers Forge Large Shedding Blade Isn't Working!

The Good: Durable, Easy to use, Relatively inexpensive
The Bad: Does not seem to remove dog fur the way it’s supposed to.
The Basics: A surprisingly disappointing product from a great company, the Millers Forge Vista Shedding Brush does not work as well on dogs as I would hope.


Having used a shedding blade on my cats (click here for my review of that!), I decided to pick up a shedding blade for Mitzie, my geriatric cocker spaniel. It’s not that I don’t like taking forever to get limited results with Mitzie’s slicker brush, but I figured a shedding brush might make shorter work of it for me. I went to Millers Forge for their Vista Large Shedding Blade in the large size.

Sadly, unlike most Millers Forge products, this is not an impressive grooming tool in terms of its functioning. The slicker I use on Mitzie seems to remove quite a bit more than this.

The Millers Forge Vista Shedding Blade is a single-sided shedding blade designed for dogs and horses. The Vista is a loop of metal (the actual blade) attached to a leather handle. The tool is over eleven inches long and the metal loop is 4” in diameter (at its widest) by half an inch tall. The metal loop is only a few millimeters thick and it is made of steel. This basic shedding has teeth on one side of the steel loop and a flat side on the other.

The shedding blade is best analogized as a saw blade that has been dulled and made into a loop. If one pictures a blade from a hacksaw or reciprocating saw and can imagine one that has been dulled quite a bit and made into a loop, you’ve got what this looks like. The loop is then attached to a 4" leather handle, which is little more than a reinforced strap. This is a more awkward grip than many would like.

Use of the tool is exceptionally easy. Simply set the shedding blade on the dog's fur and draw it back through the fur as if you were brushing their hair. The dog's loose and already detached hair comes right out and collects on the blade, in theory. Unfortunately, while I’ve had great results with my cat, the larger one for Mitzie does not seem to yield the same results. Instead, after fifteen minutes of brushing Mitzie with the Vista Shedding Brush, I accumulated only one small handful of Mitzie’s fur. As an objective test, I then used the slicker brush on her and I filled that brush twice in the course of five minutes.

As a result, the Millers Forge Vista brush might well be a quality brush, despite the somewhat uncomfortable grip on the handle, but my experience is that it is not the right tool for the job, at least for a medium-long haired dog like a cocker spaniel. And while Mitzie might like the attention, I tend to prefer results!

For other animal care products, please check out my reviews of:
United Pet Skunk And Tough Odor Eliminator
Millers Forge Nail Clippers
Millers Forge Large Slicker Brush

3.5/10

For other pet care products, please visit my index page for a concise list by clicking here!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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Loathe Finding Cat (Or Dog) Hair Everywhere? Stop It Early With Millers Forge Shedding Blade!

The Good : Easy to use, Durable, Inexpensive, Blissfully uncomplicated
The Bad: None that I can find (though I'm not wild about the handle)
The Basics: Easy to use and clean and made of durable materials, the Millers Forge small shedding blade can eliminate excess cat hair from cats easily and safely!


As Spring evolves into summer and summer evolves into autumn, I had been finding more and more animal hair all over the house and it was beginning to trouble me. This was until my wife, who knows everything there is to know about pets and worked at a pet store for a while, came home one night with an enthusiastic smile and a new shedding blade from Millers Forge. For those who have not read any of my reviews which would inform them of my animal saga, with my wife came her geriatric cocker spaniel (Mitzie), who now lives in peace, love and harmony with my two cats, Brillo and Gollum. Brillo is a corpulent Siamese who used to be an indoor/outdoor cat who is now deathly afraid of anything beyond the front door. Gollum is a little black cat with giant eyes who appears to enjoy nothing more than eating human food, chasing his toy mouse and tormenting Brillo.

Brillo, being a more sedate cat, has been less and less comfortable as the heat has risen in our second-story apartment in suburbia. We would see him mercilessly scratching himself and more often than not find large tufts of cat hair in odd places. Since my wife picked up the shedding blade, Brillo has been happier - both for the comfort of having less hair and the attention he gets. We've been happier about not having pet hair everywhere, so this is very much a product where everyone in the family wins from picking it up!

The Millers Forge #520C Shedding Blade is a double sided shedding blade designed for cats and small dogs. "Shedding blade" sounds infamous and intimidating, but in fact, this is an easy-to-use device that is is very simple and remarkably safe. The 520C is a loop of metal (the actual blade) attached to a leather handle. The tool is barely over seven inches long and the metal loop is 2 5/8" in diameter by half an inch tall. The metal loop is only a few millimeters thick and it is made of steel. The basic shedding blade is one that has teeth on one side of the steel loop, but the Millers Forge #520C Shedding Blade has teeth on both the top and bottom.

The shedding blade is best analogized as a saw blade that has been dulled and made into a loop. If one pictures a blade from a hacksaw or reciprocating saw and can imagine one that has been dulled quite a bit and made into a loop, one may easily envision what this product looks like. The loop is then attached to a 3 5/8" leather handle, which is little more than a reinforced strap. In fact, the only drawback of this product is that for those who have big hands, this is a slightly more awkward grip than many would like. That said, this is pretty much the perfect tool for cat hair control.

The shedding blade has little wavy teeth that are so dull that I could not cut myself with this tool be drawing my thumb over the teeth (not recommended; I'm a professional reviewer and this was part of my rigorous testing!). One suspects that the worst one could do with this is scratch themselves or their animal and the finer teeth on the other side of the loop are unable even to do that. Stepping on it is more likely to shock a person than seriously injure them as well.

Use of the tool is exceptionally easy. In fact, this is an idiot-proof cat grooming device. Simply set the shedding blade on the cat's fur and draw it back through the fur as if you were brushing their hair. The cat's loose and already detached hair comes right out and collects on the blade. About a dozen head to tail brushings of Brillo filled the blade easily and cleaning the blade off was as easy as wiping it off and spinning the hair into a little ball. Yes, this is how Tribbles are made, I suspect! Going against the grain (tail to head) nets clumps of hair even faster and within minutes, one will have a cat that is lighter, less likely to shed, and has a glossier, healthier-looking coat (because all of the dead or dying hair has been removed from the cat).

While this might sound painful, Brillo absolutely loves it and keeping his coat clear has left him with more apparent energy to fight Gollum when the little cat jumps him. The finer blade seems to be good on more sensitive areas, like the top of the head and neck. Brillo does not flinch when I use it on him. Mitzie, our cocker spaniel, likes the attention and the brushing from the shedding brush, but because the teeth are designed for shorter hair of cats, it does not remove nearly as much hair from her as it does from the cats.

Gollum lets me use the brush on him only when I trick him, but its functionality is as good. For those who likely spend hours petting their cats anyway, this is a great device as it can eliminate the hair that would accumulate on one's person or their furniture before one pets their cat. The unmentioned benefit to this shedding blade that I quickly discovered was that it can be used to clean hair off furniture as well! The fine tooth side of the blade may be drawn over rugs or sheets to collect the cat hair that has accumulated there!

It is hard to ask for more! This tool helps owners spend quality time with their animals and promotes better health and owner/pet connections while eliminating one of the biggest reasons owners loathe having animals!

For other pet grooming product reviews, please check out my reviews of:
Millers Forge Nail Clippers
United Pet Skunk And Tough Odor Eliminator
Millers Forge Large Slicker Brush

9/10

For other pet product reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2010, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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A Very Average Pet Care Product: Millers Forge Large Slicker Brush For Dogs Is Adequate.

The Good: Durable, Generally works
The Bad: Does not do as much for straightening/cleaning out dog’s fur as I would like
The Basics: A useful, but not indispensable, product, the Miller’s Forge Slicker Brush for dogs works well, in a limited capacity.


Having used Millers Forge products almost exclusively as a pet owner and a worker at the small pet shop my partner and I used to work at, I have seen a number of their products in use. They have a reputation for durability and quality.

That reputation continues to be a founded one with the Millers Forge Slicker Brush. We recently purchased the large slicker brush for use on our geriatric cocker spaniel, Mitzie and I have been using it on her for the last three weeks. The Millers Forge Slicker Brush is a quality tool, but it is one whose function is somewhat limited by its design.

The Millers Forge Large Slicker Brush is a black plastic and metal slicker which is basically like a hairbrush for dogs. But on the head of the brush, there are rows and rows of bent metal tines made of steel instead of the stiff bristles of a brush. These tines are best likened to staples which have been unbent and are sticking out of the head. The head on the large slicker brush is approximately three inches wide by two inches tall. The tines are a half inch tall and extend perpendicular from the head, like a normal brush. The head is attached to a four inch plastic handle.

The handle is molded to the head and as a result, my experiences have been that the brush is unbreakable, at least when brushing through a dog’s fur. If one were to use this in a way that would fracture the handle from the head, one assumes the animal it was being used on would be hurt in an audible way. To date, this has been durable and none of the tines have broken off the head either!

Use of the slicker brush is easy. When your pet is calm and stable – laying down often works better than having the dog stand – simply grab the handle of the brush, gently press the head to the animal’s fur and pull downward. The slicker brush is designed to straighten dog’s hair leave them looking groomed and more presentable. It also helps pull out fur that is no longer attached to the dog and my experience has been that it is better at the latter than the former. After going over Mitzie with the brush, she only looks mildly more presentable, though the head often is filled with fur (which may then be removed by the user by simply pulling the clump out from between the tines).

Mitzie only stays presentable until the first time she rolls around after using this, so it is not the best grooming tool on its own for a cocker spaniel, but it does keep her fur clean and free of mats, as well as offering decent bonding time between us.

For other pet maintenance products, please check out my reviews of:
Millers Forge Nail Clippers
United Pet Skunk And Tough Odor Eliminator
The Chin-Chiller

6.5/10

For other pet product reviews, be sure to visit my index page to check out my complete listing by clicking here!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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Miller's Forge Has A Real Pet Grooming Winner With Their Pet Nail Trimmer Set!

The Good: Durable, Comparatively inexpensive, Good medical protection for small animals, Easy-to-use.
The Bad: None that I can find!
The Basics: A perfect pet care product, the Miller’s Forge Pet Nail Trimmer (5”) is strong enough for professional use, but smart enough for personal pet care use!


Miller's Forge tends to get high marks from me for their pet grooming products. The reason for this is simple: more than any other brand, I have found that Miller's Forge creates tools intended for use on pets that are made with quality and durability in mind and the comfort and safety of animals are taken into account with the product design. Their products are tough enough to be used by professional animal-care workers and inexpensive enough to be appealing at the consumer level. They offer the perfect blend of value and efficiency, which tends to create perfect animal-care products. That is exactly where I come to the Miller's Forge Pet Nail Trimmer.

The Pet Nail Trimmer is a small tool kit from Miller's Forge that is designed with the idea that professionals might not be the only ones using it. As such, the kit comes with the nail clippers, a replacement blade and a vial of styptic powder. The latter is what insures that those inexperienced with pet maintenence do not inadvertantly kill their pet. I found that remarkably reassuring because I have very little experience with animals; my wife has taught me most of the pet care and maintenence tricks and warnings I know.

Rather important when it comes to pet nail trimming is not cutting too deeply. My wife and I have a dog, two cats, and a rabbit and with all three, there is a soft, fleshy part of the finger or toe beneath the curved nail that, if cut into will cause the animal to bleed profusely. It is like the difference between trimming the white "lip" edge of the nail and chopping off the end of one's finger. The difference with animals like dogs, cats and rabbits (and, I am told, birds) is that the nail is hollow and curves outward to end in a claw. By holding the nail up to light, one may easily see where the end of the nail is versus the actual digit of the animal. Avoiding cutting too deeply is essential when clipping the nails of an animal and with guillotine-style nail trimmers, a novice could easily miss the end of the nail and hurt their animal.

In my case, I came to the Miller's Forge Pet Nail Trimmer when I noticed that my youngest cat, Gollum, was walking around sticking to the rug. Virtually everytime he took a step, he would get caught on the carpet. While Brillo uses a scratching post for his forepaws, Gollum will have none of that and even with his claws retracted, he was catching on the carpet. Thus, I knew it was time to trim them. My wife had bought the Miller's Forge Pet Nail Trimmers months prior and I saw Gollum's nail problem as my chance to truly test them out.

The Miller's Forge Pet Nail Trimmers are a 5" long (3" wide at the base of the handles when they are not being squeezed) double-handled trimmer which operates on squeezing the two handles together. When one squeezes the handles, a single blade pushes upward and anything caught between the blade and the guard gets sliced off. The Pet Nail Trimmer is made of solid, stainless steel and it contains a spring which makes this very much like a pair of pruning sheers (for gardening). On the solid handle (the one that does not move) the top features a metal loop screwed in. This is where one places the tip of the dog, cat or rabbit’s nail. When the other handle, the spring-loaded one, is squeezed down, the carbon steel blade slices by pressing forward and slicing the nail between the flat metal loop and the blade. This clips the end of the animal’s nail and makes a flat cut surface that the natural movements of animals will cause to quickly dull. Thus, within a few steps of having the nails clipped, the animal will stop getting caught on rugs, screens, etc.

Outside pets fidgeting while using, the Miller’s Forge Pet Nail Trimmer is exceptionally easy to use. Ours have been in service for over six months and the blade has not dulled at all. That means with an average of once a month use on eighty nails each time, the blades hold up excellently for wear. When the blade does get dull, the Pet Nail Trimmer does come with a single replacement blade. Having used these in the brief time I was employed at a pet store last year, I can attest that even in industrial settings, one is likely to only have to change the blades about once a year. And with such use, the spring does not give out. The pair I used at work had been in service for two years, so this is certainly a durable product.

Replacing the blade is simple enough as the Miller’s Forge Pet Nail Trimmer comes with instructions, though one needs to have a screwdriver (not included) to open the trimmers up and replace the blade.

What makes the Pet Nail Trimmer ideal for personal home use, however, is the inclusion of styptic powder. While professionals might know how to properly trim animals’ nails and they ought to have adequate protections if they do trim too deep, private pet owners might well lack such experience. As such, the styptic powder becomes the best friend of a pet owner who accidentally trims the tip of the digit when they slice the nail. The styptic powder is essentially a clotting agent and it acts almost like salt on a wound to quickly block off the source of bleeding. They have styptic pencils for humans when shaving so they may quickly clot and this works on the same principle. If you trim too deeply (poor Rowe, our rabbit!) the styptic powder may be liberally doused on the wound and the powder hardens to basically cap off the nail and stop the bleeding. Yes, while trimming Rowe’s nails, I had need to use this because she flinched (it was my first time!). What makes Miller’s Forge’s styptic powder such a great asset is that it comes in a small vial and the easiest way to apply it is to simply stick the wounded digit into the top of the vial, flip it (with the animal’s digit inside) over and it applies exactly enough to stop the bleeding! And it works. Within fifteen seconds of the first sight of my rabbit’s blood, she was clotting. Untended, these type of wounds can be fatal because animals do not naturally clot at the tips of their digits, so this is literally a lifesaver. Including it with the Pet Nail Trimmers is a huge boon over all of the competitor’s products.

In summary, the Miller’s Forge Pet Nail Trimmers are easy to use, durable and comparatively inexpensive. For $10, one is likely to replace their animals several times over before they have to replace the Pet Nail Trimmers! A perfect pet care product worth the attention of anyone who has animals with claws and nails!

10/10

For other pet grooming products, please check out my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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