Spiffy Kitty House Call Cat Grooming
I do the grooming, so you can do the cuddling.
So who writes those articles on sites like PetMD? Where do they find the experts?
Right here.
A really polite writer emailed to ask if I’d answer questions. She’s writing an article encouraging owners to brush cats. Great topic!
Since I know ALOT about brushing cats, she got answers in 5 minutes. I told her about tools that work better than others.
Look for the article in March’s PetMD.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to help, Carly.
Common complaint especially among humans who live with long-haired cats.
The rear becomes messy.
Helpful video showing a veterinarian shaving that area.
Other suggestions.
I work as a house call cat groomer. My estimate is that once a month, clients tell me that their cats won’t accept being brushed, especially in the rear area and belly.
How do groomers manage to brush such cats?
Factors involved in success.
Tools
Handling the cat
Patience & detachment
Environment during grooming
I will now discuss tools.
Tools
Purchase tools such as brushes and combs. Try each one out. Do this until you find the tool that works best for you and your cat. There are many choices.
Tools cost money. Hiring a groomer costs money. Spending on tools may reduce spending on professional groomers.
Where can you find tools?
Search online for cat grooming tools. You will find a large number of tools. Go to online cat forums and grooming forums for specific assistance with your questions about each tool. Be sure to use the tool in the ways endorsed by professional groomers, professional breeders or the tool’s website.
How best to minimize drying time?
First, how does “drying” work?
“What exactly is involved in turning wet” cats “into dry ones? In a word, evaporation: turning the liquid water on your” cat “into a vapor (gas)—and then getting rid of it.
“The simplest way of getting rid of liquid water is to turn it into a vapor (broadly speaking, that means a gas produced from a liquid)—and the easiest way to do that is to heat it up.”
Hence, the use of blow dryers or HV dryers. HV dryers may not have heating elements, but after several minutes of use, the air warms up.
“Heat it enough and all the molecules will eventually evaporate—in theory, at least—leaving you with no liquid at all.”
“If you want them to dry properly, the water they contain doesn’t just need to turn to a vapor; it has to be completely removed from the air around them. If water vapor lingers near your” cats, “it’ll not only hinder more liquid water from escaping, but some of the molecules in the vapor will also reenter your” cat “and turn back into liquid, wetting them again!”
Hence the use of towels to blot the cat and and catch water molecules blown off your cat’s coat.
Required to efficiently dry a cat.
Source:
*Paraphrased and replaced “clothes” with “cats” from Woodford, Chris. (2010/2017) Clothes dryers.
My goal was to compare the degreasing efficiency of 3 popular degreasing products that I happened to have available.
MY METHOD
This is a home-style test, not a laboratory test. I did it for fun.
I needed an oil that was visible, so that I would be able to tell which product was best at washing it off. I dug around in my make-up cabinet and found oil-based liquid foundation. For any non-make-up-users reading this, foundation is applied to the skin in order to create a more even skin tone.
I cut a white cotton towel into 3 pieces.
I applied two squirts of foundation to each towel. I used a make-up brush to spread the foundation around on the towel.
I washed the first towel with the Chubbs Bar, the 2nd towel with undiluted Dawn, and the 3rd towel with Grimeinator (diluted 10:1, not 32:1).
I used a water from the bathroom water faucet and my hand to scrub the towels.
I didn’t skimp on the soap or the scrubbing. I used a lot of soap and did a lot of scrubbing.
Here is the result.
The Chubbs Bar cloth is on the left. The Dawn cloth is in the middle. The Grimeinator cloth is on the right.
It looks to me like the Dawn soap washed away more of the oily foundation make-up than either Chubbs or Grimeinator. The Chubbs Bar was second best. Grimeinator was third best.
Dawn soap washed much of the oily foundation away, and also kept the entire towel white.
Chubbs washed away oily foundation make-up, but spread the oily foundation around. The towel was darker after the washing.
Grimeinator wasn’t as effective at washing off the oily foundation make-up, but on the positive side, it didn’t spread the oily foundation around.
I think all 3 products are excellent. They each have their uses.
There are reasons to choose a product other than Dawn, such as the fact that Dawn is not a product developed for pets. Dawn strips the oil out so effectively that fur needs to be conditioned after use.
By Linda at Spiffy Kitty House Call Cat Grooming. catgroomnyc@yahoo.com
Maybe you’ve seen articles about tragic deaths of pets overheating during drying.
Fact check for concerned owners (pet-parents).
House call groomers don’t use cage dryers.
Cage dryers were used in horrible stories where dogs died from overheating.
Cage dryers are attached to the cage.
House call groomers don’t use cages.
Fact: There will never ever be a death from dryer overheating during a house call grooming.
(Why? Because the cat is out in the open, not in a metal cage where heat builds up.)
*To be fair, cage dryers are not the problem. They’re just a tool. They are usually used safely. It takes an overworked or under-trained human to make them deadly.
I have tried many different ways to gentle and efficiently groom cats in their homes. I enjoy experimenting.
I have tried “cat space helmets”, cat “party hats”, specially-made animal handling gloves and more. I have tried grooming on counters, tubs and floors. I have tried grooming fast and grooming slowly.
The result of my research is that each cat is different, so my most important tool is paying attention to the cat!
Aside from that, the tool I am very excited about now is towels and blankets. Yes, simply towels and blankets. Maybe I am returning to my roots, since my mother was born in Japan. The Japanese are skilled at wrapping and used to wrap presents in cloth. I am a heredity wrapper.
This video inspires me. The talented veterinary technician uses blankets to carry and hold on to a cat who appears to be ready to shred her to pieces.
Unlike other restraining tools, I find the towel and blanket to be the most nurturing.
Hurrah for the lowly towel and blanket!!
Price goes down as industrialization goes up.
What’s industrialization?
It’s efficiencies created by use of machinery.
The goal is lower cost, higher volume.
I think this is the model that grooming salons are attempting to follow.
Walk into a busy multi-groomer salon. Close your eyes. You may feel you’ve entered a small factory.
Unless they’ve made an effort to separate the drying area from the grooming area, it’s harshly noisy.
Instead of grooming 4 pets a day, they can groom 7 pets.
Are they doing it with love and care? Yes, I’d say most groomers truly care. Yet the atmosphere is rough on pets.
There’s always a trade-off between industrialization and personal experience.
Factory farming is efficient. It brings food to millions of people. It’s a solution. At the same time, the hierarchy of factory farming places an animal’s experience at a lower level than efficiency & volume.
I don’t use high-velocity dryers. I don’t think NYC cat owners want an industrial experience.
When I’m not grooming, I spend time on an online groomer forum so I can learn about different techniques and tools. Some techniques that used to be considered a big no-no are now accepted and encouraged. Groomers realized that the prejudice against these techniques wasn’t based on anything except habit.
For example, wet shaving used to be a no-no. This is when a groomer washes a pet first, then while the pet is still wet or damp, they shave the pet. There are a few advantages to wet shaves.
I wet shaved a sweet, beautiful long-haired cat today. He was such a joy to be around. It went really well, so I’m glad I know about this technique.
If you like my grooming tips, you might enjoy having me groom your cat. Email catgroomnyc@yahoo.com to learn more.
Got an email from a TNR (trap neuter return) group. One of their cats is pretty friendly and can be brushed for about ten minutes a sitting, but he’s matted. Here’s my reply.
“Look, cat grooming is simple because it’s 99% about handling and 1% about tools. If you can handle the cat, you’ve almost got it licked.
