FURminator Inc. is a Fenton, Mo., company that makes the above de-shedding tool for dogs and cats. Groomers and pet owners have been snapping up FURminator's products, which now include a waterless shampoo that is designed to mask offensive odors.

Kevin Manning / st. louis post-dispatch

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Dogs and their shedding are welcome in the headquarters of FURminator Inc., tucked behind a golf course in a Fenton, Mo., office park. Clumps of dog hair, in fact, are the company's reason for existence.

Five years ago, Angie Porter, owner of the Groomingdale's pet spa in St. Louis, was constantly beseeched by pet owners who were frustrated by shedding. From the swirl of unwanted hair and consumer demand came FURminator, now owned by Porter and her husband, David.

The company markets a "de-shedding tool," a simple, rakelike apparatus that extracts dead hair and, the company says, leaves a clean, healthy coat of fur. The 18-employee firm has racked up sales by expanding from grooming offices into major retail outlets and riding a wave of U.S. spending on pet products.

From $50,000 in sales in 2003, the year after the company was incorporated, the outfit jumped to sales of $10 million last year.

Spending on pet products like doggie de-shedders has been growing "at a crazy rate," David Porter said in a recent interview in his office, where two patent certificates hang on the wall. The energetic CEO apologizes for talking fast, but he's got a story to tell.

The tool's prototype was part of a clipper blade connected to a crude handle. It was tested on a beagle owned by Angie's aunt. Later, the Porters assembled the tools in Groomingdale's basement.

The first customers were groomers and veterinarians, with the product positioned as an industrial tool. "We really wanted to get the endorsement of the professionals," David Porter said. "This was a tool that was developed by a groomer for a groomer."

The company's tools appeared on QVC in 2004, and sold so fast that the Department of Homeland Security contacted the company to check into the rapid influx of cash into its bank account, David Porter said.

From those beginnings came more de-shedding tools, including a big one for horses, along with shampoos and pet snacks. The company's focus evolved into an emphasis on targeting pet owners and carving out shelf space in retail outlets.

In the course of about a year, retail outlets have become the company's largest source of sales. Petsmart Inc. has carried FURminator products since February of last year, said Tim Petsch, FURminator's vice president of marketing and sales. Petco Animal Supplies Inc., the San Diego-based retailer, followed in November, he said.

"We're constantly on the prowl for innovative new products that can help our customers raise healthy, happy pets," Phoenix-based Petsmart said in its 2005 annual report, which featured the FURminator de-shedder.

FURminator's recommended retail price for a tool with a 1.75-inch blade — the company doesn't call them anything so prosaic as "brushes" — is $35. For a 4-inch tool, it's $60.60.

"When it comes to your pet, when it comes to shedding, price is no object," said David Porter.

Not exactly, said Joe Felish, who sells FURminator tools, shampoo and treats at the Glendale Pet Shop in Arizona, a shop that he has owned for nearly 38 years.

Response has been "very good," Felish said, but "it would sell more if it was less costly. . . . You start talking price and (customers) say, 'Maybe next time.' "

If some potential customers are holding back, FURminator is not. The company has renovated its corporate offices and is rolling out new advertising to promote its newest products, including a waterless shampoo designed to mask yucky odors.

At its offices, dogs roam the hallways or sit behind plastic door barriers, willing participants, apparently, in David Porter's product testing. On one recent morning, he cajoled a St. Bernard into standing still for a brushing. Clumps of dead hair came off. Gross? Not for Porter. He held up a handful. "That's beautiful," he said.