Regular grooming of your cat is vital to keeping it healthy, especially if your cat has long hair. Think of the cat's coat as the fur and skin together: You cannot have a healthy coat unless both the skin and fur are healthy.
It is the nature of most cats to maintain well-groomed coats. If you examine your cat's tongue, you will see little bristles on it that face toward the back of the tongue. Cats use these bristles to groom themselves, often for hours at a time.
Most cats do their own grooming, but they need your help to do a complete job. For example, your cat's tongue cannot reach behind her ears or on top of her head or back. Also, the bristles on her tongue cannot always get through matted hair. That's where you come in.
Grooming a cat, whether it has long or short hair, requires both work and patience. These guidelines will aid an amateur groomer. However, there may be times, even when following these guidelines, when you will not be able to do it yourself and will need professional assistance. This is especially true if you have a long-haired cat that mats badly, or a cat that becomes violent during grooming.
Most cats do not like water and if bathing is necessary you may require assistance from a professional who knows the special handling needed to bathe an objecting cat. Some cats object so strenuously to bathing that you will need to get them sedated. If that's the case with your pet, do not let your groomer do it, let only veterinarians give your pet sedatives of any kind.
When you get a kitten, it should not need to be groomed until it is at least 14 to 16 weeks of age.
When brushing your cat or kitten, always brush with the hair. If you brush against the lay of the hair, you could scratch your cat’s skin. In addition, most cats do not like to have their hair pushed backward. Since you want grooming your cat to be enjoyable for both of you, start at the head and work toward the tip of the tail. On the sides of your cat, start at the back bone and brush toward the stomach. Most cats are ticklish, so be very gentle when grooming your cat’s tummy. If your cat has mats in its hair, use a dematting comb. These combs are available from most pet supply stores. Unless you are well versed in cutting cats’ hair, I suggest that you leave getting your cat’s hair cut to a professional groomer. My mom and dad have owned a number of cats over the years and they never found it necessary to have the hair cut on any of these cats. Brushing is another matter. As long as you are gentle, most cats enjoy being brushed.
Several different types of brushes are available for pets. Some of them are slicker types with wire bristles. Others are pin brushes with thicker metal bristles with rounded tips. Others have bristles with little plastic balls on the ends and still others have bristles just like your own hair brush. Pin brushes are better than slicker brushes because they are gentler on the skin and do not scratch or hurt. All are relatively inexpensive, so use the one that does the best job with the least amount of fuss from your cat. I cannot recommend any specific type of brush, because like dogs, each cat will feel comfortable with a different style of brush depending on their particular coat.
The finale of a thorough grooming is trimming your cat's nails. There is a special nail clipper designed for cat nails. Dog nail clippers are too cumbersome and splinter cats' nails. So, when buying nail clippers, you may want to get a recommendation from your vet. Mom and dad got the nail clippers for their cats from a veterinarian and they were very effective.
Mom and dad found that an overall brushing once a week was sufficient for most of their cats. They had one cat that created a grooming problem. This cat was a little strange. He would walk along the picket fence to avoid getting his feet wet, but whenever he saw the neighbour’s daughter he would jump into the nearest puddle and lie there feebly meowing. She would rush over and pick him up and cuddle him, getting covered in mud, much to her mother’s annoyance. She would pack the cat home and he would lay in her arms with a sappy look on his face and purr like mad. I think he had a crush on her. Fortunately, he enjoyed a bath when he got muddy, so this made cleaning him up a little easier to do.
Until next time,
Teia
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