Stress Free Cat Grooming is not a Contradiction

Grooming Your Cat
An essential part of responsible pet care, pet grooming also provides important bonding time for you and your cat. Cats accustomed to home grooming are much easier for vets and professional groomers to handle. Wild (feral) undomesticated cats typically shed their coats twice a year with the change of seasons. But cats living in summer air conditioning, and artificial winter heat, often shed year round making home grooming a necessity.

Helping Your Cat to Accept and Enjoy Grooming
You'll need a large dose of human patience when you begin training your cat to accept, and enjoy, grooming. Limit the early grooming sessions to a short time span. Kittens constantly shed their coats and should be exposed to grooming and handling as soon as they enter your life. All cats will enjoy grooming if they never learn to think of it as a forced and unpleasant event. Before you attempt grooming your cat must first be comfortable with you touching and handling all parts of their body. 

During petting and play handle your cat’s paws, stroke their belly, and touch all parts of their body. Stop as soon as the cat appears irritated. Once your cat is used to being handled try your first grooming sessions. Save the parts they like least for last, usually the belly and rear areas. Keep the grooming session short and do a little more each time. Providing an occasional treat at the end may be helpful, but don’t do this on a “regular” basis or your cat will come to expect it. 

Cat Grooming Basics
Don’t think you’re doing cats a favor by shaving them in the summer! Cats have sweat glands in their tongues and the pads of their feet, not all over their bodies like humans do. In the heat of summer their coats helps block harmful UV radiation. Their skin does not tan, it burns.

Regular brushing and combing stimulates your cat’s skin, removes dead hairs before they can mat and distributes natural oils over the cat’s coat. This allows the individual hairs to repel dirt, lie smoothly and shine brightly. Even cats with very short coats benefit from grooming. Comb, then brush. Use a wide toothed comb to remove the dead hair, gently teasing out any knots with your fingers. 

Always be gentle with your cat, you wouldn’t like anyone pulling your hair! If a cat has developed a matted coat, leave it to the professionals. Removing mats by force can cause your cat to hate being groomed by you.

Grooming and Cat Hairballs
Share your home with a cat and eventually you're bound to experience hairballs. Regular grooming (both combing and bathing) can help reduce the amount of swallowed loose hair that causes hairballs. 

How Often Should You Groom Your Cat?
How often your cat needs to be groomed (combing and brushing) depends upon several factors: the type and length of coat, how much time they spend outdoors, weather conditions, the time of year, etc. In general shorthaired cats should be groomed about twice a week, while longhaired cats should be groomed daily. Establish a regular grooming schedule at a convenient time that allows for proper grooming without being rushed or interrupted. 

A Stress Free Cat Bath is not a Contradiction
If you love your cat, give it a bath. They’ll be cleaner, happier, healthier and both of you will have a better quality of life. Regular bathing can greatly reduce problems with human cat allergies.

Begin cat bathing at an early age, be well prepared and firm but gentle. Some cats even enjoy a good bath! Others may not like it, but can learn to tolerate baths with ease. You may want to consider a human “assistant” the first few times you try bathing your cat.

• Always comb and brush before bathing, especially if the coat is matted. Getting a tangled, matted coat wet causes the coat to mat up even more. 
• Have a warm room prepared for the bath; with a door you can close to avoid escapes.
• Use a large sink or a bathtub with a non-skid surface do your cat doesn't slide about groping for solid footing- a stressful situation. 
• Have on hand ample wash cloths, absorbent towels, grooming combs and brushes. 
• Select a gentle cat shampoo and conditioner. Don't use human or dog shampoo. There is a difference in the "pH" for pet and human shampoos. Human products can dry out a cat's skin and coat. Don’t apply shampoo to the cat’s head area. Clean the face and head with a warm damp cloth without shampoo. 
• Prepare pitchers of warm water or use a quiet low flow hose attachment for rinsing. Some cats can become frightened by forceful running water. Rinse thoroughly. Missed shampoo residue can dry out the skin and coat. 
  Purchase a “quiet” blow dryer. Blow dry backwards against the lay of the hair. 
•  A final quick combing and brushing and you have a beautiful clean companion cat.

Bathe your cat about every six weeks. It’s best not to bath more than once a month to avoid drying out the skin and coat. 

If you don’t use a pet coat conditioner, after shampooing your cat may develop “Fly Away Coat Syndrome” and their coat become super charged with static electricity. A conditioner helps neutralize the “charge” left behind in a pet’s coat after each shampooing. Conditioners make the cat's coat more manageable, soft, and smooth. Most humans also use a conditioner for this very reason.

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Please Note- I am not a VET.

These pages are provided for informational purposes only. If you have a sick cat, PLEASE contact your veterinarian!