Dr Jo Blogs

Expert Cat Care Advice 

How should I groom my cat?

Dr Jo Lewis MRCVS  |   13 Sep 2021   |  5 min read        

Share:

Normal, healthy cats should groom themselves but in the pursuit of aesthetics, humans have bred cats for specific coat textures and lengths. Also, whether we realise it or not, we also impose specific diets and lifestyles on our cats which may interfere with a cat's grooming frequency and style. In addition to this, older, overweight and arthritic cats or those with oral/dental disease will often struggle to groom effectively. Cats with allergic/itchy skin or parasites may overgroom. For this reason, coat condition can be a very important clue to a cat's age and health status.

Small knots if left can turn into bigger tangles as fur that is meant to have been shed attaches to newly growing fur. The fur begins to felt together - think snowballs! The result if it's left, can be a cat covered in rafts of interconnected matted fur. This restricts a cat's normal movement and is a source of pain, pulling on their fragile skin as they try to go about their every day activities. Some cats can become "cranky" and rightfully so - it can cause chronic pain.

Many cats can become more "lazy" and sedentary because their flexibility can be physically restricted by the fur but they may also find that sitting still avoids discomfort. Understandably these cats find it hard to groom the coat underneath effectively. You'd struggle to find a cat that would allow you anywhere near them with brushes and combs at this advanced stage. A trip to your vets will be likely be necessary at this advanced point and most cats require sedation for a full and proper "de-matt" with industrial strength electric clippers.

Like any aspect of health and bodily upkeep, prevention is better than cure. As caring and responsible cat owners we are obliged to try and keep our cats' skin and coats clean and healthy which means they need to be free of matts, debris and parasites. It is particularly important for long haired breeds (eg Persian, Maine Coon, Ragdolls) or densely coated breeds (eg British Shorthair, Burmilla) but applies to all cats. It is a great opportunity to have calm, one-on-one time to bond with each other and also allows you a regular opportunity to check for skin diseases, lumps, wounds, parasites and reduces the chances of matted fur.   

It is essential that grooming is introduced to all kittens in the first few months of life. Getting your new kitten to associate being groomed by you as a pleasurable experience is a really important early lesson and it will really help them cope with this and other handling throughout their life. Even if you get your cat later on in their life, there are still lots of ways to make grooming a positive experience, but you need to introduce grooming slowly and gently and stop before your cat has had enough.

​Patience is essential with cats in any setting and yelling or scalding your cat for not co-operating is not appropriate in any circumstance. Of course with all the patience in the world, without the right tools you will not succeed. There are lots of great grooming bits & pieces to help us with this often difficult task. 

Here are a few of my purrsonal favourites...

Loosen fur gently with massage

This great grooming tool is a must have for any cat owner. It works gently by massaging loose and ready to shed hairs. It is purrfect for introducing kittens to grooming as well as cats who hate being groomed with regular combs and brushes.

​There is no tugging involved making the Zoom Groom ideal for elderly or arthritic cats.

Always follow up a session with an all over body stroke using rubber gloves as loosening excessive amounts of hair can increase the risk of hairballs.

The best starter kit for grooming cats 

This Mikki Kitten Kit grooming combination set is great for kittens and adult cats. It is best used after the Zoom Groom as it is particular good at rounding up all the loosened hair. It can also be used instead of the Zoom Groom especially on cats with dense, plush undercoats (eg Burmillas, British shorthairs). I don't find this very good on cats with sleek coats (eg Siamese). 

​I particularly like the fact that unlike many similar brushes, the pins on this one have plastic coated tips which make this a gentle but effective brush. The big comb is handy for locating matter areas and for gently teasing out small areas of newly tangled fur. A flea comb is a handy tool for checking your kitten for fleas or flea dirt but is not a substitute for preventing infection using medication.

Moulting dead hair and undercoat care

Moulting combs are very effective at removing dead or shed hair.  The FURminator brand comes in different blade widths - a narrow width for small cats (pale mint green handle) and a wider one for larger cats (dark purple handle). You can choose from two different coat lengths too - there's one for short hair cats and one for longer haired cats. A more affordable option is the Mikki Moult Master for cats.

The toothed edge is designed to allow the tool to pull through the topcoat easily while gently removing the undercoat and loose hair without cutting or damaging the cat's delicate skin. That said, these tools still involve a little pulling so as with any grooming tool always be very gentle. Very matted cats or those with sensitive or fragile skin will not be suitable for this grooming tool. I would also avoid areas like the face, ears, bottom, feet and webbed skin flaps in the armpit and groin areas and be very careful over boney prominences like shoulder blades and spines.

Clippers are safer than scissors & blades for matted fur

Some cats develop matted fur. Cats with dense soft under coats, long hair are more prone to matts. Outdoor cats will sometimes come in with patches of sticky sap in their fur and some cats with fluffy tails get the odd bit of faeces stuck in their under-tail and trousers (backs of legs). 

Some owners reach for scissors in these situations but cat skin is so delicate and while you are busy focusing on the area of interest at the crossed cutting area, the tips can meanwhile be snipping your cat's skin further along. I never suggest owners use scissors for this reason.
 
Where a few small matts are present, a pair of these mini Wahl Cordless clippers are an absolute godsend. They are small, light and relatively quiet. They take a single AA battery, they cut very well with new blades available from Wahl directly when they need replacing. 

All you need is glove! (da da dada daaa)

Plug holes in our showers and baths get clogged with hair because massaging shampoo onto our heads and rinsing loosens dead and shed hair. The same applies to cats after grooming - their version of a washing session.

That's why you should always make sure you finish off every grooming session with removing as much loosened hair as possible. If you don't your cat will ingest all the hair you've loosened and you may very likely cause a hairball which in some cats can make them very unwell.

The best way to remove loosened hair from you cat (and your clothes for that matter) is to use a good old fashioned pair of rubber washing up gloves to stroke your cat all over. Long sweeping half body length strokes using both your hands works best.  

You can also use a fresh pair of rubber-palmed gardening gloves or purchase cotton gloves with silicone dots or projections and their are various silicone nobbled grooming mitts. 

Nailing it!

My old favourites for cutting cat claws are the smaller cat specific claw clippers. The nails of small dog are a completely different shape and texture from cat claws so never try using a larger sized dog nail trimmer on a kitty - they're unwieldy to use and you'll end up cutting something you shouldn't! Meowch! This will reinforce to your cat that there suspicions about you being up to mischief were right. You'll then struggle to do the job next time when you have the right kit (so to speak).

​Tick remover

Save you and your cat an unnecessary vet trip and get one of these grasp and twist tick removers. Skip any tweezer-like contraptions - as they risk decapitating the tick - so you end up with the tick's body in your tweezers and the head or mouth parts remain embedded in your cat to cause a foreign body reaction. The only foolproof way to remove an entire adult tick - head, mouthparts and all is with a tick remover like the one shown here made by O'Tom. The tick remover twin-pack includes two different size tick removing tools so you can nab those critters big or small. To find out more about ticks and other feline parasites visit my dedicated pages.

Interested in more free content? 

​Have you checked out my past blog posts? Be sure not to miss out on future helpful advice by signing up to my email list and get updates when new content is released.

Love learning about cats & want even more? 

You're in the right spot as I love teaching people how to keep their cats happier and healthier. And that starts with learning how to understand them better. I'd love to meet you over at my Think Like A Cat online course Academy and show you how that's done! See you soon ;-)

My top tips when grooming cats 

• Start massaging with your hands around the face – this is an area they groom readily themselves (with a wet paw!). Cats are naturally very sensitive around the face (whiskers, cheek glands) and most are familiar with being rubbed under the chin/cheeks. Avoid disturbing their whiskers.
• Next introduce a Zoom Groom massage to the chin and cheeks in a very similar way being very gentle around this delicate area - you're aiming to replicate a massage don't focus on hair removal.
• Keep sessions short and sweet – confident, gentle strokes work best – start with a couple of strokes and stop before your cat loses interest, gets cross or runs off.
• Don’t be tempted to dive into areas that are heavily matted – these tug at the coat and skin and likely to cause your cat to react badly or make a hasty exit.   
• Choose your timing wisely – the best time to introduce grooming is when your cat already feels at ease, so the ideal times are when they are relaxed, sleepy and comfortable
• Keep your grooming equipment readily accessible. I keep a basket of treats and grooming tools in my lounge room so that when the cats settle down with us after their evening meal I can take the opportunity to have a bit of a mini grooming session. 
• Rather like exercise, the best approach is little and often – your cat is much more likely to tolerate this than one marathon grooming session.             
  
• Quit while you're winning - end the session before things get heated and you cat gets antsy. Otherwise all they'll remember is the frustration and fleeing your grasp with a grumpy look on their face or worse a swipe or a bite.
• Make sure you offer your cat a treat or their favourite food (at the site of the grooming) once they have had a few strokes of the brush. There’s nothing like some good old positive reinforcement to helps teach your cat to associate grooming with happy vibes!
• Be sure to have the right equipment for the job. People often talk about "brushing" a cat but actually I find brushes very ineffective compared with other grooming tools available. 

​Having problems with hairballs?
​Download my handout