A Clean Kitty is a Happy Kitty

Getting your cat groomed should not be an afterthought.  We regularly trim our nails and get our hair cut, and that’s mostly just for looks. But for your pet, regular grooming is about more than just keeping up appearances. Failing to groom your pet can have some health consequences. There are several reasons scheduled grooming is as important as bringing your pet in for regular checkups with the vet.  You can do some of things at home everyday to increase the bond and lessen any fears they may have.  

If you go too long between grooming sessions, your pet’s fur can become matted — a problem that can not only be uncomfortable to correct but can also mask underlying health issues like cysts, skin conditions, fleas/ticks, ear infections, and poor circulation, and is also painful.  Regular handling and looking over your kitty will help uncover things under the fur, in the ears, and in their mouth.  You'll also notice if their fur seems messy or greasy more often and if they are losing weight for no obvious reason.  All these can indicate your kitty needs some vet help.

Regular brushing removes dead hair, stimulates new growth, and brings your pets natural oils to the surface and allows their skin to breathe better. Brushing and trimming your pets coat, when necessary, also helps to keep him or her cool and comfortable year-round. Most of the fur shedding occurs when the light time changes – which is seasonal.  For cats with thick undercoats, special de-matting combs help a lot.  You don't want your kitty to ingest too much fur, if any. Loose fur from their own "grooming" can only go in their mouth while they struggle to get it out, whether inside and later come back up, or ingested and come out with other digested material. Those are the best two options, the last one can cause blockage and be deadly if not surgically removed in time.  

Long nails on your cats not only scratch up your floors, furniture, or yourself, but they’re unhealthy and uncomfortable for your cat. Nails that have gotten too long can cause painful walking while their paws cannot lay flat and causing their joints to be out of alignment.  For older cats their nails can get imbedded into their paw pads, which is extremely painful.  It is always good to know the condition of their nails and paws.  There are other conditions about paw pads that have shown up and would go unnoticed without some paw care.

If you don’t have them groomed on a regular schedule, your cat may develop a fear of the grooming process, which can cause unnecessary anxiety for your pet, for the groomer and for you. By making grooming part of their routine, they’ll not only become more comfortable, but may actually start to look forward to the experience. Once they get used to the process and a time frame, it becomes part of their routine too. To break that, it becomes a process all over again to get that level of comfort and ease.

When we neglect to take care of our cats teeth, they can develop dental problems and bad breath, just like humans. The best way to prevent dental disease is regular care to prevent plaque, tartar, and bacteria that can grow inside their mouth and cause much bigger problems down the road.  This is something mainly reserved for your vet visits, but a visual inspection can reveal inflammation, severity of it, broken or missing teeth, and overall condition.  There are some products out there to help with oral hygiene for cats and it's good to have some kind of dental care routine at home.

We implement a lot of these services to get an overall professional groom.  Many of the things you can do at home and in between groom visits.  It may take time for your kitty to adjust to the sounds, noises, handling, and their groomer, especially if they are new to grooming.  In time, they begin to adjust and allow for better, more productive grooms.  Most of our grooms are set on a 6 week interval and can be adjusted as needed.  We feel great knowing we've made a kitty feel their best and having you feel good about it too.