Groom Him!

The other day one of my co-workers carried a cat back to my grooming closet and said, "This is Bubba, he's getting groomed."

Uhhhhhhh...ok. I'm the cat groomer. He's a cat. A very handsome British Blue, with a short coat, no signs of matting, excess shedding, dandruff or grease. Other than being a bit oily, he looked in good shape. This assessment didn't help me deduce what kind of grooming was wanted.

"Okay, how?" I asked. "What does his owner want?" I thought this was a reasonable question to ask, and expected to get a response like, oh, they want a good bath and comb out. Or, a lion clip. Something.

So after a blank look, ("you know, groomed!"), a shrug and a "I'd better go find out!", she came back with the news Bubba was to get a bath and comb out.

I guess to some people that may be obvious. Short hair cat. Gets bath. Duh. But just because a cat has short hair, doesn't mean his owners want "just a bath". (Boy do I hate that phrase! I do so much more than "just a bath"!)

Meet Lexus. She's a wonderful Domestic Short Hair. I love grooming her, she's very sweet and agreeable. And she makes great o.O faces. When Lexus comes to visit me we do one of three things:

Lexus! This is more of a 0.0 face

Between Grooming Nail Trim and De Shed. This is exactly what it sounds like. Between regular grooming appointments (usually about 4-6 weeks) I trim her nails and use my Romani shedding rake. It's great - attached to a Clipper Vac it easily and effiecently removes excess hair. Instead of having to comb and comb and comb, and brush and brush and brush, and then comb and comb and comb again, getting covered in hair in the process, I just run the rake through her coat and it's sucked away! Love it!

The benefit here is that (1) the nails get trimmed, protecting furniture and carpets from being clawed up, (2) any shedding hair is removed. Makes it more worthwhile to load up the cat and drive out. Plus it cuts down on the potential for hairballs, or an unwelcomed layer of cat hair on everything. And (3) it's inexpensive. It's a quick freshen up for kitty that makes the both of you feel good but only costs a little bit.

after a comb through and de shed

Bath, Comb Out and De Shed. During the winter and spring Lexus stays in coat. It's important to keep up with her grooming though. She still sheds like crazy, and she needs to have the body oils removed, so she's not a greasy mess. Short hair cats are also prone to matting! It makes a huge difference - a thorough bath, blow dry and then the Vac de shedding treatment. Her owner reports there is much less vacuuming after this!

soft, silky and sassy!

Lion Clip. Yup! Short Hair cats can get lion clips too! In the summer, Lexus sometimes gets a lion clip to help her stay cool and comfy. This is the ultimate low maintenance 'do and is great for summer time, which can be especially busy with vacations, travel and long evenings on the porch sipping lemonade. (Ok, it's chilly and raining right now. I may be day dreaming a bit!)

So there you have it. One cat, three different grooms. I always prefer to talk to the kitty's owner when they drop off, that way I know what they want, or what problems they have with their cat, so I can offer solutions they may not even know they have! How wonderful to go from thinking your excessively shedding cat HAS to be shaved to knowing you can have a good bath and de shed, keep your cat in coat and not have the problem of shedding hair!

Plus, as a Certified Feline Creative Groomer, sometimes "do whatever you want" might turn into this:

Mr Toes, a Domestic Short Hair gets swallowed by a shark,

a direct result of my brother telling me "you can do whatever you want to him"

Thanks Kevin!!!