Cat Grooming School - Day 3

Hands on started today. We started out with a Red Cross cat first aid talk and practical where we needed to show that we new how to perform CPR on a cat if necessary. Our practice cat was a little different as we used a giant stuffed lion :). The first aid was pretty basic so I am glad that I already had my Australian one from a few years ago when I went to Tafe. After lunch, Danelle gave us a demonstration or grooming on a beautiful Maine Coon cat who was in pretty bad condition with lots of knots and matts all over her belly and back. She was a little grumpy at times but was generally very well behaved for the duration of the groom.

NOTE - look at the seperation of the coat and how straggly it looks, it was so oily and greasy it was disgusting to touch! Check out the after pictures!
Danelle started with a sanitary and belly clip, then it was into the bath for a degreasing wash on that filthy coat. As you can see from the photo she was a very well behaved cat and pretty much sat there for most of the time. After cleaning her ears and eyes it was into the specially designed catty shack vac (we are sooo getting one of these!) for a blow dry and de matting procedure. I have always been a bit skeptical about getting knots out of a cat without just clipping them off, but the cats tolerate it very well!

After the blow dry and comb through the coat was amazingly different! I cannot tell you how much of a difference there is with the look and feel of the coat. I am 100% convinced of the benefits of cat grooming for the cats and the owners! Danelle then went on to do a lion cut to demonstrate the techniques some of us would soon need.

After the groom - look at how the coat now sits, it was so silky smooth!
Then it was our turn - we were all a little nervous and apprehensive but it all went fine and we each came out with all our skin and limbs in tact. We took our cat out of their carrier and did a temperament test (luckily for me I had a shy cat - not an agressive one!) and we were told by Danelle what we would do to our chosen cat. I had a black domestic long hair named Boo who looked identical to my cat Bella, just a bit bigger.

Boo before - lots of dry skin and dandruff. Very dirty coat that was shedding everywhere.

Danelle wanted me to attempt another lion cut on Boo, so I did a pre bath clip and he was so well behaved. Then we moved to the bath and as is often the case with shy cats, Boo wasn't too impressed. After the bath we moved to the catty vac shack where Boo decided that he could hold on no longer and he wee'd everywhere - back to the bath but that was his own fault!

Finally I got Boo dried and finished the groom. I am still getting used to the whole handling thing but getting more confident! Tomorrow we have more cats to groom, so that will be fun. The more I groom the more confident I will get. It is so different to grooming dogs but I am determined to become good at it!

Boo After - The finished product