Pet grooming is important to maintain the
hygiene and health of the pets. Groom your pet regularly and make it a
habit to do so. Follow these simple tips and take better care of your
pet.
Pet Grooming Tips
Trimming of Nails
Nails of all the pets should be regularly trimmed and especially of
cats as they have a scratching habit. When trimming the nails, be
careful not to cut them too short and cause bleeding. Cut the nails
until you see a dark circle appearing in the center of the nail. This is
the edge of the quick or blood vessel in the nail bed.
Brushing
Prior to bathing and clipping, the pets need to be brushed out to make
sure there are no knots in the furnishings. Knots are big problem in
cats and dogs and more so in longhaired cats. Brush the beard, legs and
underskirt to make sure there are no knots using the Pin Brush. Brush
upward (against the natural lay of the hair) starting at the top of the
leg and proceed downward as you are brushing.
Bathing
Pets need to be bathed from time to time. But frequency of bathing of
each pet varies. For example, cats need to be bathed not more than once
a month. While bathing make sure that the temperature of the water is
not too hot. Be careful not to get water and shampoo in the ears, eyes
and mouth when bathing the pet. Put cotton balls in the pet's ears to
help prevent water from getting in the ear canal.
Drying
While towel drying the legs and beard, don't rub but squeeze out the
excess water to help prevent tangling the furnishings. You can also use
a drier. Brush the beard and eyebrows down. Brush the legs up, starting
with the pin brush and moving to the slicker brush when the leg is
almost dry. Slicker brushes tend to rip out hair when used on a wet leg.
Some important things to remember while grooming your pet:
- Never punish the pet for not responding to the grooming schedule.
Animals like to be left alone and are not very comfortable when
someone touches them. Hence, in the beginning they don't respond
positively to the grooming routine.
- Never let your pet mistake grooming tools as toys. Don't let it
play with brush or clippers because otherwise pet will start
treating grooming session as play time.
- Never hit your pet with a grooming tool else pet will start
associating grooming tool with punishment and will try to avoid
grooming session.
- Start grooming from an early age. That way pet will get use to
grooming easily.
