Cats

I do not groom a lot of cats.

I have not done a full body clip on a cat in about 19 years.

Why?

I am just not crazy about shaving cats.

Don't get me wrong, I love cats.
 I have owned them all of my life.

I understand some cats need to be shaved because of matting or medical reasons, but I would get calls from people who wanted short hair cats shaved because of shedding, or long hair cats shaved because the owner wanted a short hair cat, not because they were matted.

I just did not agree, and at the time I was not charging enough for grooming cats.

So, I decided not to do full grooms on cats.

I do clip nails and do comb outs while the owner waits.

I will also clip out mats on the belly and sanitary clips.

I have been reconsidering doing full grooms on cats.

I have been bathing a few cats over the years.

This guy is a sweet heart.

I worked at a few places that would put cats under a milk crate to bathe them.

I could not believe it even when I saw it.

If I can not bathe a cat free hand, then it will not get bathed.

This cat even accepts the HV dryer.

He does not mind the hand dryer either.

If every cat was like this to groom, I think I would start grooming more cats.

I will admit that most of the cats I do right now are great.

I only do his nails.

I love him.

I get an amazing amount of hair out of this guy.

He just LOVES the Furminator.

He hides his face when I clip his nails.

I Love him too.

This big guy is always a little matted, but he is great about being combed out.

He usually only takes me about 20 minutes.

That is one great cat.

He would chill on my table all day.

I have thought about setting aside one day a month just to groom a day full of cats, but whenever I do, I think back to one of the worst cat bites I ever got.

A few years ago the local cat hospital, Chat, called me and asked if I groomed cats, and would it be okay if they referred cats needing grooming over to us.

They had lost their cat groomer and needed to send cats somewhere.

I thought about it and said yes.

I was not prepared for the number of calls we received.

I had so many people calling for cat grooming, I think I could have booked a cat day every week.

I saw so many cats in various stages of matting.

This sweet guy was some of the worst matting I have seen on a cat.

The owner said that he got this way because he went under their car and got oil on his coat.

His coat had NO oil on it.

Sometimes I feel like looking at the owner and asking them if I really look THAT stupid.

The mats were hanging on to the very ends of the good hair.

I used the last  few teeth on my comb to get under the mat.

I was able to slowly and easily comb him out, no clipping.

He was GREAT.

He was also starved for attention.

Sometimes you just don't want to give them back.

I told the owner to come back in an hour, I did not want them to know how easily I was able to comb out their cat.

I was mad that they let this happen, it did not happen over night like they would like me to believe.

PLEASE.

I keep checking to see if I have STUPID written on my forehead when owners try to tell me excuses like this.

Anyway, the reason why I keep rethinking grooming cats...

One day I had someone bring in a black and white medium length cat that had a few mats.

I took him from the owner to my table.

He was very good, even purring a little.

There was no tail twitching, no flat ears, no hissing, no growling, he was a very calm cat.

When I finished, I gave him a rub down.

I do this with all of the cats I do.

He loved his face being rubbed.

Then I picked him up and started walking to the grooming room door.

Half way there he just calmly reached down between his legs and sunk his teeth into my arm.

I stood there in shock waiting for him to let go.

He let go and sunk his teeth in a second time before I could move my arm.

When he let go the second time I got him up to his owner.

I went right to the tub and started squeezing the bites to make them bleed and flush them out.

They did not bleed at all.

I flushed them with alcohol.

 That night the bites were a little red.

By the next morning the red had spread a little, but I had a full day of grooming.

By the time I finished the last dog, the red had moved half way up my arm.

Time to go to the ER.

The doctor was angry.

I got a lecture about losing my arm.

I told him I had a full day of work with no place to move anyone.

He said if I had waited much longer, I would not have had an arm to groom with.

Sooo, is it worth it to groom cats?

Their mouths are so dirty and full of germs.

This cat gave absolutely no sign that it was mad or going to bite.

The doctor did not want me to work for a week.

I said sure and was back to work the next day.

I am just not sure it is worth taking the chance that one cat bite could put me out of work.

But...

I do love cats.

They can be easy money.

Is it worth it?

I just don't know.

Happy grooming, MFF