Product Review: Pet Zoom Self-Cleaning Brush

The Pet Zoom Self-Cleaning Brush is a wire slicker brush with a special feature. Push the button in the handle and the base of the brush lifts and pushes the collected fur off the bristles. Each bristle has a soft tip for gentle brushing on sensitive skin. This is an As Seen On TV product, my husband bought a whole set on Woot.com

Photo by Erin Koski

As someone who brushes dogs as part of my day job, I can say that I use slicker brushes more often than anything else. They work on pretty much every coat, and are amazing for getting out mats. That said, I don't use them on dogs with thin single-coats because they are too scratchy on the skin.

I do use them on low-shedding poodley doodley coats, but I am also aware that slickers really only brush the top of the hair. To find the hidden tangles, I need to run a fine-toothed comb through the coat, part the hair until I find the mat, and then attack that with the slicker brush. A slicker brush can make a matted and tangley long coat look beautiful on the outside while hiding all the nastiness underneath, which isn't terribly useful to anyone.

Brisbane is not crazy about slicker brushes, but he's mostly ok with this one because of the plastic tips on the wire bristles. I use this brush on my cats more than anything else. When I had pet finches, I used to use the Pet Zoom brush to harvest kitty fur to give to the birds to make nests. It did a reasonable job, but I eventually started using a Furminator brush because it was so terribly effective. I could brush bald spots on my cats with that thing and they would still be begging for more. The Pet Zoom is far less efficient at removing hair, but it is also much more versatile. The Pet Zoom is easier on the skin than the Furminator, and safer to use with no chance of ripping off a scab, mole, or nipple (yikes!).

Pros: Easy to collect fur off the brush. Plastic tips on bristles make it more gentle on skin than a standard slicker. Can be used on low-shedding coats.

Cons: Not a terribly efficient de-shedding tool for every coat. Plastic tips fall off bristles after a while. Self-cleaning option only works until one bristle is bent, then it will never function properly again.

Bottom Line: The self-cleaning part makes this brush prone to failure, so I tend to prefer sturdier products with a longer lifespan. If you are gentle with your grooming products, this one should work just fine. If you, say, turn the brush over to a classroom of kids so they can take turns brushing the class bunny, it might not survive. Good thing we bought two...

Have you used a slicker brush on your pets?