FURminator, the maker of pet deshedding tools, is leaving the St. Louis area. The recently acquired company, which turned a local invention into a hit product among pet owners, will close its Fenton headquarters by the end of September, a decade after the business was founded.

Spectrum Brands Holdings of Madison, Wis., which bought FURminator two months ago for $140 million, is shifting FURminator operations to its United Pet Group subsidiary based in Cincinnati. United Pet Group's other brands include Tetra fish food and Nature's Miracle pet stain and odor removing products.

All of FURminator's 31 headquarters jobs will be eliminated, confirmed Spectrum Brands' spokesperson Dave Prichard. Employees were told of the headquarters closure on Thursday and have been offered severance and bonuses for remaining on the job until the closing.

FURminator's deshedding brushes for dogs, cats and other animals - under the FURminator and FurGOpet brand names - are sold at Petco, PetSmart and mass retailers such as Wal-Mart. The company's annual revenue totals nearly $40 million.

Spectrum Brands sees growth potential in international sales for FURminator's products "particularly in Europe and Japan where United Pet Group has boots on the ground," Prichard said.

Approximately a third of FURminator's sales were outside the U.S. when Spectrum Brands bought the company from Indianapolis-based private equity firm Hammond, Kennedy, Whitney & Co. and other shareholders in December 2011.

"That's not bad given the young life of the company," Prichard said of FURminator's international reach.

FURminator was founded in 2002 by husband and wife David and Angie Porter. Angie Porter, who owned a pet grooming shop in south St. Louis, came up with the idea of attaching a blade to a hairbrush to remove the undercoat and loose hair without damaging the animal's skin.

The rapid growth of the company over the last decade landed FURminator on Inc. magazine's fastest growing companies list for reaching $25 million in sales in 2007. The Porters sold a majority stake in the company to Hammond, Kennedy, Whitney & Co. in 2008.