How to Groom a Long Hair or Short Hair Cat

Grooming helps keep your cat healthy. Frequent grooming helps you find skin problems, external parasites, and injuries. Grooming also gets rid of loose hair, keeping furniture and carpets free of hair. Getting rid of loose hair also helps in preventing hairballs. Cat’s groom themselves by licking their fur and removing dead hair. Hairballs are formed as the hair collects in the cat’s stomach. Grooming your cat also helps to strengthen the bond between the two of you.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Natural Bristle Brush
• Fine Tooth Flea Comb
• Wide Tooth Metal Comb
• Chamois
• Rubber Brush
• Pet Toothpaste and Toothbrush

1. Brushing your cats hair.
   Long hair cats should be brushed daily. This helps to prevent tangling and matting. Short hair cats should be groomed weekly.
   First, use the bristle brush or rubber brush to loosen dead hair and debris from your cat’s coat. Second, use a fine tooth comb (short-haired cats) or wide tooth comb (long-haired cats) to remove tangles from the coat.

2. Brushing your cat's teeth.
   Use pet toothpaste and a small soft child or pet toothbrush to clean your cat’s teeth. Never use human toothpaste.

3. Cleaning your cat's ears.
   A cotton ball should be used to clean a cat’s ears. Moisten the cotton ball with baby oil and wipe out the visible part of the ear.
   If you notice any dark, crusty wax or debris in your cat’s ears or a bad smell, your cat may have ear mites. You should call your veterinarian, because untreated ear mites can cause a serious ear infection.

4. Cleaning your cat’s eyes.
   Moisten a cotton ball with warm water and gently remove any debris from the corner of your cat’s eye.

5. Cleaning your cat's nose.
   Moisten a cotton ball with warm water and gently remove any debris from your cat’s nose.

6. Trimming your cat's nails.
   Trim your cat's nails with baby nail clippers making sure to only clip the tips. If your scared you may clip to far take your cat to the local vet. Clipping your cat's nails is a good way to save your furniture and carpet with out haveing to have your cat declawed.

Tips & Warnings

• The more you groom your cat the more your cat will learn to tolerate it.

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on 12/23/2008 Please post comments and rate my article