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Grooming tips for your pet

Cats and Teenagers

Grooming tips for your pet

While the condition of a pet's hair or fur is an indication of it's health, pets with ungroomed coats could also be the result of neglect.

Unkempt, poorly groomed coats can invite external parasites, fleas, lice, ticks, bacteria and fungal problems. Normal grooming procedures should be emphasised as part of the health maintenance programme in young dogs and cats. Owners need to spend some time grooming their pets on a regular basis. And most well-trained pets enjoy being groomed.

Cat breeds that should be groomed daily are the long coated ones like persians and himalayans.

Dogs like poodles, pekingese and maltese should be groomed weekly.

Brushing your cat

Comb carefully in the direction of hair growth to smooth the coat and remove any minor knots or tangles. If the coat has a particularly stubborn knot or tangle, you may have to trim it off with scissors. For long-haired cats, brush with a wide tooth comb and follow up with a fine tooth comb. To avoid injury, if your cat's coat has severe matting, consult a veterinarian or professional groomer.

After combing, use a shedding blade to remove any loose or dead hair in the coat. A chamois cloth would be ideal as a thorough brush for short-haired cats. A slicker brush is excellent for curly coated breeds like Devon and Cornish pets.

How often your cat needs grooming depends upon several factors — type and length of coat and weather condition. Generally speaking, short-haired cats should be groomed once or twice a week, while long-haired cats should be groomed daily.

You will soon find the grooming frequency that provides the best results for your cat. It is important to establish and adhere to a regular grooming schedule. These sessions should be scheduled at a time that is convenient for you. Make sure that you allow time to provide proper grooming and are not likely to be interrupted.

Grooming will help remove dead hair from cats and you would not have to remove it from your furniture, rug and clothings. Before you start combing or brushing your cat, check to see if your cat's claws need clipping. You will have to check each claw and see if it is pointed. Check with your veterinarian and ask his advice if you are not sure.

You will need some grooming tools for proper brushing to achieve a well-groomed look. They are:

• Brush for combing through coat (slicker brush);
• Chamois cloth;
• Face cloth for cleaning eyes, etc;
• Cotton wool for cleaning ears;
• Specially shaped clippers for trimming claws; and
• Fine toothed comb for short-haired cats to smoothen the coat and remove fleas and dirt.

Why is regular grooming important?

Regular grooming is essential to your cat's health and well-being. Regular combing and brushing will keep the coat clean and healthy, stimulate the skin, and allow the natural oils to circulate to the coat. It will also help to prevent hairballs, which are the result of loose hair being picked up by the cat's tongue and then swallowed. These hairs sometime accumulate in the cat's stomach forming hairballs which can be harmful to the cat.

For dogs, the amount of grooming you do depends a lot on the type of dog you own. Long-haired dogs such as golden retrievers need to be brushed frequently. Poodles require professional grooming while dachshunds require very little grooming. Nails too need to be trimmed and kept short while long-eared dogs need their ears to be cleaned more often.

For your puppy, bathe only as needed with a good puppy shampoo since too many baths can strip his coat of essential oils. Grooming sessions should be kept short and preferably start when the dog is a puppy so that it gets used to being handled and this will also prepare him for some home health check-ups. At the same time it helps a great deal during the visits to the veterinarian since your dog needs to stand quietly.

Always talk to your dog gently — if he struggles during the grooming sessions, sternly say "No." If he's still, praise him. Grooming will also allow you to check for potentially serious problems. Check for areas of hair loss, inflammation, unusual tenderness or lumps under the skin. Good grooming habits also prevent fleas and ticks on your pet and thus helps keep them under control. Constant scratching in a particular area may also be an indication of a problem. Check with your veterinarian about any unusual problems you may find.

The eyes and ears (long or lop-eared, eg. cocker spaniel) should not be forgotten and must be kept clean with tear stain removers and ear cleaners which are also available in the market at reasonable prices. Tear stain removers keep the eye area clean and dirt-free. Ear cleaners help to prevent against fungal infections and help remove water from the ear canal, keeping it dry at all times (suitable especially after baths, playing and splashing in water, or maybe even a paddle in the pool!).

The tip to a happy kitten or puppy lies in good hygiene from the very beginning. Check out the different ranges of grooming aids at pet shops. Now you can also find colognes for cats and dogs which come in affordable prices, so that your pets smell good all day long or simply because you have guests around the house.

Recently, scientists have even come up with a scent specially made for dogs to attract a mate!

Well, this will be fantastic for breeders' profitability as far as good breeding techniques are concerned. On the other hand, some people may opt for something more reasonable to suit their tastes.