Sometimes, the best inventions are the ones that solve a problem you didn’t even know you had. We all thought that it was normal for both of you to lose your minds when trimming your pet’s hair – as it turns out, we’ve just been using the wrong equipment.

We humans really can’t understand how differently cats and dogs perceive sound: not only do they hear plenty of stuff we do not, they’re also hardwired to detect threats that way.

If something sounds like an angry beehive to them, they’re pretty generally going to believe that they’re in danger of getting swarmed, no matter how much you try to comfort them. This is presumably what a pair of electrical barbershop clippers represents to them – the vacuum cleaner probably reminds them of Cthulu rising from the deep.

Using scissors to give them a haircut takes longer in theory, but actually goes much more smoothly and requires a minimum of wrestling.

You’d be surprised at how difficult it is to cut hair evenly and to a specific length, though: they don’t actually give away hairdresser diplomas along with takeout menus.

This nifty little kit solves exactly this problem: the scissors are simply designed so that you can fit a clipper comb onto one of the blades, making it easy to achieve a consistent length. This video shows you exactly how simple it is.

Your pet, of course, will only know that they’re getting attention and might not even realize that they’re getting a haircut until they see themselves in a mirror and start barking at the strange dog.

You can order this kit with a couple of extra accessories, most notably a dematting comb for gently teasing out major knots of hair.

More significantly, these special scissors are also available in a left-handed version, which southpaws everywhere are sure to appreciate greatly.