Cat Grooming - a Joyful Experience

Lots of people think that grooming their cats is an ordeal. With that attitude, it will be hard for the cat to enjoy it. It is important for you to teach your cat that being groomed is a treat. It isn't a chore, but a way for you to make life more comfortable for both of you. Here are some suggestions for things to use and ways to do things that will make it easier for both of you.

The first tool is a calendar. Sounds dumb, but you need to be sure that certain things get done. If you are good at remembering to do things, than you can skip this. If you are a procrastinator, like I am, than perhaps a calendar is in order. Some jobs need to be done weekly or more often, and some jobs need to be seen to monthly. If it were up to me I would skip some jobs completely, but that is not what is best for the cats or for me in the long run. So if you need to write down when you did or when you need to do one of these chores.

If you don't want to deal with fur balls, you need to groom your cat weekly, or more often in the spring. It is better to do it daily. We keep combs by our chairs and comb them while we settle in to watch the television. They think it is a treat. We taught them it is a treat. That is a lesson learned more easily by kittens. If your cat is sure that you are going to kill it whenever you come near it with a comb, you have a long job ahead of you. Take it in small steps. First teach the cat that you have treats and it can have one if it sits with you and lets you pet it. When it starts to come for the treat every night, try omitting the treat and just petting it some nights. Next lay a comb beside you. Don't use it yet, just let the cat get used to it. Gradually introduce the comb, by using it for one stroke along the back and petting the cat for two or ten. After a while increase the combing. Then increase the area being combed. It is much easier to start with a kitten.

What kind of comb can be important in getting your cat to enjoy being combed. Ultimately you need to be able to use a flea comb on the cat in case those nasty creatures come for a visit. Long haired cats do better with combs with wide teeth. Short haired cats do better with combs with close teeth or even a rubber grooming tool. We have cats with a medium length coat and a fluffy tail so we like a 4½ inch metal comb that looks like a man's comb. The teeth at one end are close together and the teeth at the other end are further apart. It was pricey at $9.50 and I found it at a cat show since the local pet stores didn't seem to carry them. You can find it by searching for product code w558 at the Safari by Costal web site. I am sure that you could find a similar comb, but this will give you a chance to see what I mean. They also have the rubber grooming tool.

I have a friend who swears by The Furminator which she got at Pet supplies Plus. Her cat would not allow her to groom it with other combs. I found some on e-bay, which sounds to me as if it didn't work for some people. The comb is set into a rubber handle which is perpendicular to the tines of the comb. The tines are very close together. It doesn't matter what you comb your cat with as long as you comb it. After a while you really do need to comb the cat on its belly and underarms too. Don't cut the knots that form in those areas out. Besides it being hazardous to use scissors with a squirming cat, more knots grow up in the cut fur. It is a vicious cycle.

Claws are another area which you will want to address. It is painful when you are petting your cat and it is kneading you with sharp claws. You will find that once a week is a good amount of time for cutting claws. While the pet stores sell many different kinds of nail clippers for this job, I find that the clippers that people are most used to using on themselves are the best ones to use on the cat. You don't have to try to hold a cat still while you are trying to figure out how to use a tool you are unaccustomed to. To clip the claws, simply hold the cat in your lap and push the center of the bottom of the foot. The claws should come right out for you to see. Get used to that and have the clippers around so that the cat is used to them. Then cut off just the tip of one nail. If that is okay with the cat, do as many as the cat is comfortable with. Pet the cat, praise the cat and give it a treat. Do the other foot, and don't forget the back feet. They don't need to be done as often as the front feet. Every book I ever read said to watch out for the red vein down the center of the claw. I don't see one down in the sharp area where I am clipping. It is important to remember that you are only taking off the very sharp tip. It is easier to clip claws more often than to risk hurting the cat. Clipping claws is easy enough to do, if you do it regularly. Because I only do the very sharp part, I have to do them more often. I think it is smarter.

Teeth are the next area that needs to be addressed. You can deal with it partly by feeding dry food designated "Dental" and by using Tartar Control Cat Treats. There are liquids that you can use on their teeth as well as brushes and paste available. When cleaning teeth I think the first thing to realize is that the cat is not going to bite you. Do not use human toothpaste. It is not good for the cat to swallow all that fluoride and they are not comfortable with the foaming action that humans seem to like. Instead get chicken or fish flavored cat toothpaste from the pet store. You can get a special brush from the pet store too. Petrodex makes a nice one called the Tooth Hugger. A human tooth brush is too large and angled wrong for it to be effective. Cleaning your cat's teeth will prolong its life.

Ears are tricky. You really have to be careful. But they can be cleaned with a Q-tip barely dipped in mineral oil. You really shouldn't try it unless your cat is very used to being handled and won't fight you. I do it all the time.

Bathing cats is doable, but difficult. Twenty years of showing cats left me with lots of advice. Preparation is key. . Before you start lay out the towels you want to wrap the cat in after it's bath. Close enough to reach, far enough to stay dry. The most important thing is to get all the soap out. Prepare a small tub with lukewarm vinegar water to rinse the cat in, before you start to soap the cat. You will need another tub with lukewarm water to wet the cat before you put soap on it. The most effective soap we found for our cats was Dawn Liquid Dish Detergent, although we have used a flea bath in the past. It is best if the tubs are at waist level or higher, and this is a two person job. Wash the cat like you would a baby, with lots of support and praise. Rinse it with a spray of lukewarm water and then in the vinegar water. Then wrap it in a towel and change towels as you need to. A hair dryer is a possibility, but generally the cats don't like them. You can just keep changing towels, and combing out the fur as much as you can. You will find that there is lots of hair coming out of your cat when it is bathed. Be sure that the cat is kept in a warm room, but not too warm. If you are bathing several cats at the same time, than you may want to put them in carriers to keep them in the warm room so they don't get chilled.