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You're not imagining it. The furry family are well, a lot less furry right now. And it only takes one quick look at the couch, your bed or your work clothes to see exactly where it's gone.
So here's why spring signals the great fur fall...
Did you know? There are two big shedding seasons. In mid Spring and mid Autumn. But they're both triggered by the same thing.
It's the sun. And to be more precise the hours of daylight. Your little wildcat or wolf in disguise detects the longer days as summer approaches and ditches the winter coat...pronto.
But two other surprising factors accelerate the shed!
First of all, it's the increasing humidity.
Dogs and cats both shed more on hot and humid days as the need to stay cool trumps everything. Without the ability to sweat, dumping fur helps.
The other factor?
It's stress. A surprise huh! But take your little buddy to the vet or be out of the house for more than a few hours and that extra cortisol in their body means they'll drop more hair than you might expect.
So how do you stop the shed hitting the fan?!
Brushing, raking and mit rubbing each morning are all incredibly useful at helping to collect the hair that would ordinarily be shed during the day.
Oh and you might need that vacuum on permanent recharge. Your floors, couches and beds will be constantly covered.
Running a loop of tape around your hand (sticky side out) and brushing your hand across couches and doonas can also be surprisingly effective!
And for the cats in the family, obviously the more hair shed, the more they swallow with every lick during their grooming sessions. You can avoid that uncomfortable midnight alarm clock by understanding how furballs work and how to prevent them - check that out here
While treats help for cats, the best way to dislodge all that loose hair for dogs is with a good wash and brush. The mass of hair you collect will tell you that!
It's not easy but shedding season is at least manageable. Oh and if you're the parent of a non-shedding 'oodle, here's a quirky fact. Their coats may not drop in spring, but the speed of their hair growth almost doubles. Crazy!
