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Grooming Your Cat

Grooming of your pet cat includes shampooing, hair grooming and nail clipping.

Hair Grooming

The cat grooms itself for many hours each day and it was previously thought that shampooing and grooming of the cat was unnecessary. Nowadays we realise the importance of grooming and shampooing to both the psychological and physical well-being of the cat that spends most of its time indoors. The regular grooming of not only long-haired cats, but also of the short-haired varieties is a past time which is especially enjoyable and beneficial to cats. Long-haired cats need special attention to avoid matts, which develop during the outside visits amongst the leaves and twigs. Long-haired cats should live continuously indoors so that grooming can be used for anxiety relief rather than become a chore to both your cat and yourself in removing matts. The physical problem of hairballs occurs because of ingestion of the loose hair which develops with both long- and short-haired cats. The daily "slicker" brush removes the excess hair and prevents hairball formation.

A "slicker" brush is used for the daily grooming to separate knotted hair, after which a "flea comb" is used to pick up any fleas and to remove flea dirt.

Cat Shampooing and Flea Control
Shampooing your pet cat is not difficult if you begin at a young age and make it a pleasant experience by incorporating it into your regular grooming procedure. Older cats who do not tolerate shampooing require additional care for flea control.

How To Shampoo Your Cat:

  • Use a hose attachment and gently saturate your cat with warm water.
  • Apply a small amount of "Fleadrop" Shampoo and lather, avoiding the head.
  • Wipe head clean with a damp sponge and then rinse off shampoo.
  • In long-haired cats, comb a "conditioner" through the wet rinsed hair using a "moulting comb".
  • Dry and comb out tangles using a "flea comb" or "moulting comb".
  • When the coat is completely dry, use a "slicker" brush to gently brush the coat.

Flea Control In Your Cat:

  • Spot-on is applied to a soft brush and brushed through the coat twice weekly.
  • "Flea comb" daily as a routine part of grooming.
  • Flea collars.
  • Flea bomb the house in October of each year or when flea numbers are high.

Copyright © 2005 Rob Marshall, All Rights Reserved.