PawSwing AutoComb – An Automatic Cat Self-Groomer (Review)

One of the hardest things about being a cat owner is grooming them. As any cat owner will tell you, they are often opinionated and uncooperative. Trying to get them to cooperate can be rather time-consuming, especially if you’re busy. PawSwing is attempting to solve this problem with their latest product. It’s an automatic cat grooming house called the AutoComb. The AutoComb is a state-of-the-art redesign for the everyday cat brush. Part of the redesign is combining it with an auto feeder. While that may seem an odd combination at first, it will all make sense in a minute.

The name might give the impression that the product will chase down your cats and comb them itself. But, that’s not quite how it works. In actuality, the AutoComb is a large box, a “cave” as they refer to it. It consists of an entrance surrounded by brushes that groom your furry friend as it enters and exits.

The first thought you might have upon seeing it is “There’s no way my cats are going to use that”. While it’s true some cats might be skeptical of it, the AutoComb does have the solution. This is where the auto feeder comes in. It delivers treats or dry food inside the cave to help encourage your pet to venture inside. In addition, the AutoComb provides a short training routine. PawSwing claims this process will help acclimate our furry friends to using it. The brushes are adjustable. This isn’t only for different-sized pets. It also works as part of the acclimation process.

First things first, let’s talk about assembly.

Just like most large products, the AutoComb arrives disassembled. For some products we’ve received, the assembly can be a daunting task. Thankfully, both the instructions and the assembly process were actually quite simple. The instructions consist of a poster filled with easy-to-understand images. There’s no thick booklet with pages of instructions in a bunch of different languages. They took a hint from Ikea and made the instructions plain and simple.

It took less than 30 minutes for one person to put the entire thing together. The only issue was that one or two of the images were a little bit hard to decipher. That, and maybe a few curious cats wanting to try it before it was ready.

The walls of the cave consist of a soft but rigid felt. They fit together with basic snaps like the kind found on clothing. The snaps feel solid and hold up well to our shake test. The cave weighs almost nothing when assembled. It was easy to move around and didn’t come apart.

The latch and cover located on the top of the cave feel sturdy and is easy to open and lock. The plastic on the front of the cave, the part that holds the brushes in place, is solid and feels durable. There are a few pieces to the cave entrance. The entrance has a section that can lift out and insert back in so that you can clean the brushes. It moves easily and feels secure when locked back into place.

The auto feeder fits onto the top of the cave. Unlike most of the auto feeders available, this one is rechargeable. It allows the AutoComb to move around to wherever you might need it. There are three buttons next to the screen. One, located on the side, is to activate the screen. The other two are for programming the timer and setting feeding times. Much like the assembly, programming was also easy. The feeder also seems to hold a charge for a long period of time. At the time of our testing, the battery only dropped about 5% in two weeks.

Also, there’s no subscription or parts that need to be replaced every few weeks. Something which can cause the price of using it to climb.

Testing

Now that we’re finished with the assembly and programming, it’s time to find out what really matters. What do cats think of the AutoComb?

In order to do that we’ve assembled a team of six cats. These cats have a range of personalities from brave to skittish, and they all have an opinion on it.

On our first test, the combs were retracted to provide the largest entrance possible. This is part of the training and acclimation process recommended by PawSwing. The process takes 12 days. Each day we are instructed to reduce the opening by one notch. Here’s what day one was like.

Curry

Up first is Curry. Curry is friendly but easily scared. New things usually make him nervous. While he will often check out a new toy or device, he is not always easily convinced to try it out. Curry also has moderate arthritis in his hips. It often makes climbing and crawling through openings difficult for him. So, Let’s see what Curry thought…

At first, Curry was curious and spent a long time sniffing extensively around the outside. However, once he realized that treats were waiting for him inside the cave he was eager to go inside. He entered the cave completely, ate his treats, and then came back out. He seemed unbothered by the brushes, albeit they didn’t have much contact with him for the first round. The included stairs allowed him to easily access the opening without discomfort.

Juliette

Juliette is our next tester. She is unique in that she is the only female in the group. She is also utterly terrified of her own shadow. Because she is a former stray, she does not trust humans at all. She tends to approach everything we ask of her as though it’s some sort of trick to harvest her essence. However, she loves treats. So much so, that she will forgo any fears she might have in order to get a few of her favorite tasty snacks. She too has some mild arthritis which does somewhat limit her movements at times. So what did Juliette think?

During the assembly of the AutoComb, Juliette was nowhere to be found. However, once all of the excitement died down and the room was quiet, she made an appearance. She seemed quite curious about the new thing that was sitting near one of her favorite sunning spots. Later in the day, she was spotted hiding inside and watching out through the entrance. It would appear that she needed no real motivation to enter through the brushes.

Boo

For our next cat we have Boo. Boo is the most adventurous, but he poses an interesting challenge in that he isn’t motivated by treats. Luckily, the cave has holes in which some of his favorite toys could be pushed through to lure him in. We did not need to though. His curiosity took over and he went inside almost instantly. He seemed to like the cave and it took him a while to come back out.

The one concern for Boo is that he sometimes mistakes things that aren’t litterboxes for a litterbox. We had some concerns that he might mistake the AutoComb for a litter box. Much to our relief, and thankfully not his, he has not used it for that.

Claude

Claude is extremely shy and isn’t motivated by the temptations of treats or toys. He is also rather meek and is often chased off by the other cats when they want something he has. Despite our best efforts, we weren’t able to convince Claude to give the AutoComb a test on the first day.

Zeke

Next, we’ll try it out with the newest addition to the pride, Zeke (AKA Big Boo). While Zeke has only recently joined the group he is the oldest of them. This leads him to play by his own rules usually. A true curmudgeon, we wondered how much effort it would take to convince him to try the AutoComb. As it turns out, not much. At first, he was as skeptical of it as the other cats were. At first, he ignored the treats being offered. However, he was seen climbing through the entrance of the AutoComb.

Colby

Colby, the final cat, is the wild card here. The largest of the six, he is a ragdoll cat. For those unfamiliar, Ragdolls are known for having long and fluffy fur. Quite often his fur gets matted and stringy. He’s also the most temperamental cat anyone has ever seen. He does not like to be groomed by a normal brush and will scratch anyone who tries. His mood switches from happiness and playful one minute to sulky and grumpy the next. These mood swings mean that getting him to cooperate can often be quite difficult. We were sure that because of his size, fur type, and temperament, Colby would be the best test for the AutoComb. Let’s see how it went.

Colby was immediately fascinated by the AutoComb from the moment the box was opened. He watched and sniffed everything every step of the way. It seemed like getting him to go through the entrance would be an easy task. Unfortunately, he was hesitant to go inside once everything was put together. The realization that he would have to do work to earn his treats seemed to sour his mood. He sat glaring into the cave for several minutes. The good news is that once he was done sulking he did, albeit reluctantly, climb through the entrance. He hung out inside for a few moments while he ate his treats, then he came back out. Later that day he was seen climbing in and out a few more times.

After the first day a night vision camera was set up. We wanted to see how the cats would respond to the AutoComb without any human interference. Let’s skip to day twelve and learn how things went for each of our feline testers.

It didn’t take long throughout the training process for Colby to fall in love with the AutoComb and claim it as his own. He has become somewhat territorial towards it. He has been chasing the other cats away when they try to get treats. With the entrance now at its smallest setting, Colby still has no issues climbing in or out of the cave. His fur does not snag on the brushes and they don’t seem to cause him any discomfort despite his size.

The AutoComb seems to be helping to keep him groomed quite a bit. Colby, is now looking his best. The matted and tangle fur is now soft and smooth. When we check the brushes there is a noticeable collection of orange fur on each of them. It’s proof that the device does work exactly as it claims.

Because the other cats have been intimidated away, we’ve resorted to other tactics. We’re now placing the willing participants inside the cave. We want to test how comfortable they are with the small opening without Colby chasing them away. None of the other cats exhibited discomfort or fear once inside. None of them had any issues trying to exit the AutoComb either. Although, they did get some rather dirty glares, and an occasional bap, from Colby as they exited.

Our Conclusion

The AutoComb by Pawswing does exactly what it claims it will do. It’s easy to assemble and durable enough to handle 6 cats. There’s been a noticeable difference in the appearance of the cats who have been using it. Their fur is healthier and the matting is gone. All in all, I would recommend this to any cat owner who has trouble with grooming their pet. Especially if their cat has long fur that gets matted.

Yes, the (MSRP) price tag of $329 might seem high at first. But, the average cost of a cat groomer is somewhere between $30 – $70. It seems like the AutoComb will quickly pay for itself, and appears to find itself on sale from time to time ($259 at the time of writing this).

Are you a manufacturer or distributor that would like us to test something out for review? Contact us and we can let you know where to send the product and we will try it out.