Cat Grooming Article in local paper

Article in this weeks South West Newspaper highlighting our cat grooming and Reeda's recent certification as Australia's First Certified Feline Master Groomer.

Winter Woolies

We had a delivery of winter woolies delivered today from Hamish McBeth. These jumpers, jammies and jackets are of a very high quality and will help keep your pups warm in the chilly months


Pillow and Blanket Set.
Soft fleecy double thickness blanket and matching pillow for small dogs. Beautiful set to make any night time more snuggly and warm.


This all weather waterproof raincoat is a wardrobe essential for snow and rain. Coat comes right under to cover the chest area. It also has adjustable Velcro sides to so fits skinny dogs and those who may be a bit on the chubby side.
Fully lined in lightly padded synthetic fabric for extra warmth and comfort.
Available in 6 sizes for small to large dogs in Khaki or Red.

Soft pure wool Jumpers. Classic sophisticated design with cable detail. Roll neck with 1"/2.5 cm hole for collar D ring. Leg openings designed for comfort and no restriction of leg movement. A must-have addition to the winter wardrobe.

Soft fleecy pyjamas to keep dog snugly and warm during those chilly winter nights. Sleep with them on or walk out in style! Polyester fleece, Machine washable. Available in Blue Moon, Red Bone, Pink Butterfly or Brown Pirate!

House Training a Puppy - Common Mistakes

Another great informative video from the guys at Urban Dog Training.

Bark in the Park

BENEFUL® Bark in the Park™ – one of Australia’s largest FREE dog events is back and is taking place in Brisbane on Saturday, 21 May 2011.

Bring your best friend to Roma Street Parkland from 10:00am until 2:00pm and enjoy FREE BENEFUL® samples, expert advice on pet behaviour, dog washing or grooming, FREE entertainment and much, much more.

Become a fan of the event Facebook page to find out more: www.facebook.com/benefulbarkinthepark.

Come and say "Hi" to Jen and Reeda who will be grooming on the day :)

Very cute video.

This dog is super cute and obviously wondering why this stranger will not play with him!

Cat Grooming Prices

Our cat grooming prices are set out below. We have cat exclusive grooming days so your cats will not be stressed out by the sound of barking dogs.

Our grooming service offers you a service above what you are normally used to. Let us look after your cat's grooming needs, so you don't need to do anything at home. Just enjoy your pets!

Know that you are giving your cats the best by putting them in the care of Australia's first Certified Feline Master Groomer.

Cat Grooming is available at our Westlake store on selected days. To make a booking please phone 3376 9917.

Each groom booked in until the end of June will receive a free groom out/de shed service.

Cat Grooming School - Day 10

Final day of Cat Grooming School. Today was a more relaxing affair. The morning was spent with Danelle teaching us more of the business side of cat grooming. It was very interesting and I can't wait to get back and put things into practice.
One thing she has talked a lot about during the whole course is there is a misunderstanding that cats groom themselves. Educating people that cats actually don't groom themselves, they lick themselves and rearrange the dirt and hair throughout their coats is going to be one of the most important things. I'll be honest, I used to be one of those people who thought cats didn't need grooming and that they groom themselves. I have been enlightened and I have seen the amazing result first hand!

After a FANTASTIC lunch prepared by Dana, some real good southern cooking, we did some final shopping for supplies and then it was time to say goodbye and take some photos. The photo above is most of the participants of the course with Danelle and her daughter Olivia who was one of the instructors. Olivia has been grooming cats since she was about 8 and there is no cat she can't handle! She is also pretty keen to come out to Australia and she just might become a part of the Nose 2 Tail Pet Care team, but she only grooms cats!

It is official and I have the above certificate to prove it. I am Australia's first Certified Feline Master Groomer. If you look at the numbers on the certificate it says 1.1.64 These numbers mean I am number 1 in Queensland, number 1 in Australia and number 66 in the world. There are a lot of people in the world, so I am pretty happy to be the 66th CFMG!

Now I am preparing for my LONG trip home but I'm actually looking forward to this time. It will allow me to start planning all that needs to be done in preparation for offering cat grooming in a few weeks!

Cat Grooming School - Day 9

Well that was one full on day. We had 2 exams first up feline health & anatomy and business management. I was pretty happy to get 90% on both exams!! I was also very happy to have them out of the way.
After checking through the books to see the answers for the questions I was sure I got wrong, it was upstairs for some serious kitten cuddling. There were some really cute kittens from the Humane Society and I was very tempted to smuggle this little one back home with me.

What a cutie he was.

A hand full of the cutest little kitten!

Then it was time to move onto the serious stuff. I had a comb cut, lion cut variation and a face trim to pass to get my certification. I also had one grumpy HUGE Birman to do 2 of the 3 on!

Before - he is staring at the cat on the other table - pretty sure he was keen to get over there and tell them who was boss!

After a nail clip and sanitary clip (and a nice big scratch to my hand!!) it was time to get this grumpy boy into the bath. Once in the bath he was pretty well behaved, which is quite common for the grumpy ones. The water seems to calm them down.

He settled down in the dryer after a while and just sat back and enjoyed the attention. I was able to remove some matting on his back and around his back legs. Had to be quick though as he wasn't the most helpful of cats!

After the bath and blow dry! He turned out to be such a pretty boy with a lovely coat. I really didn't want to cut his coat, but I needed to so I could pass my course. :(

After the comb cut (leaves the coat about 1.5cms long) This is the same length we do for our dog clips which is the next step up from our summer clip. I like this length.

An action shot of me getting out of his range quick smart! This cat had me on edge as it was my final cat and I needed to get things right to pass.

Don't think he was overly happy with this look, so I quickly moved on to the lion clip variation. The lion clip variation is the same as a lion clip but we can do some variation. I had big plans with this, but because of the temperament of this boy I had to be boring and just leave the tail longer than normal.

Lion clip variation - the tail is left longer, normally it is shaved down.

At the end of the day all practicals and written exams are passed and I am now Australia's first Certified Feline Master Groomer! WOW. It feels good to have passed everything and I am happy with how I went.

Tomorrow we head back to class and learn more about the business side of things. I can't wait. Who'd have thought that we would be offering cat grooming at Nose 2 Tail Pet Care. I certainly wouldn't have thought it 6 months ago. Looking forward to meeting all our new cat clients and meeting the cats from our existing clients!

Cat Grooming School - Day 8

Day 8 is over and what a day! I started out with a brown mackerel tabby in pretty bad condition. He had knots and matts all through his body and he was just a little grumpy. His face was really dirty and needed a good clean too.

Can you see the knots sticking out of the coat?

Before the groom

Having a good scrub to get all that dirt and grease off. Also helps to remove all the dandruff that is built up under the knots.

After a bit of a dry in the cage dryer it was into the catty shack vac for a blow dry and matt removal. This took ages as the hair was knotted all over including the legs.

Knots in the coat before and after the blow dry and de matting. If an angry cat comes in for grooming, they hate the feeling of clippers so unless severely pelted they would have the knots removed while being blow dried.

Finished product - coat is so much better and the face is clean and trimmed!

Second cat was a black and white cat who was so very very compliant and was pretty easy to groom. The coat was the usual greasy coat and she was also shedding quite a lot.

During the lion clip.

Pre bath clip off - then it's time for the bath!

Kitty burrito. While they are wrapped up (this soaks up the water from the bath) we clean their ears and eyes. Some of the stuff we clean out is really gross!! This one was pretty good though.

Finished lion clip - and passed the lion clip practical exam with this one - phew!

The third cat of the day has horribly greasy coat which was full of dandruff. Funnily enough, this boys name was Snowball :). He was in need of a very good bath and blow dry. There were also little knots all through the coat that needed to come out!

Having a good scrub!

Snowball liked his bath so much that he nearly fell asleep!! Apparently cats don't like water or being bathed!! lol

Into the blow dryer to get rid of all that excess hair and dandruff!

The finished product. Even though you can't see it in this picture, I passed my sanitary, half belly and full belly practicals on Snowball :).

omorrow we have our health and anatomy exam and the presentation on our chosen disease. After that we have time to finish off the last of our practical exams... only a few more to go :). Can't believe it is nearly the end of the course!

Cat Grooming School - Day 7

So day 7 of cat grooming. Today was a bit different as we had the opportunity to watch Danelle, Olivia and Liz groom some cats first up and show us how they work in a salon environment. It was pretty amazing to see them work as as well oiled machine.
They did 8 long hair and 1 short hair in 2 and a half hours - was really full on for a while. A few of the cats were a little nasty, but it was good to watch how they handled them.

Drying in the Catty Shack Vac - a great way to trap all that flying hair! I must say cat hair is worse than dog hair when it is flying around as it is so fine and gets into everything!

Danelle is showing one of the correct techniques for holding a cat while grooming. I must tell you I have learnt a LOT about the differences between grooming cats and dogs. It is certainly something that needs to be done quicker with cats. Cats can also tolerate a lot more when it comes to positions!

It has taken a while for me to get used to it and realise that they aren't the same as dogs and you can do things differently. It is also great learning about cat grooming from a cat breeder. Danelle knows a lot of tricks and things that you wouldn't know unless you were in the know with showing cats!

This boy was HUGE and he was also not very happy. Liz had to keep a hold on him to keep her safe and him! It was good to watch how Liz managed this big nasty boy without anyone helping to hold him. The Air Muzzle came into play a few times and I will certainly be using it when the time comes!! A great invention!

We had a talk from Danelle's brother in law who does web design on how we can get the best out of our websites. This was good timing as we are looking at doing a whole new overhaul on the Nose 2 Tail Pet Care website!

After lunch I had my turn with a gorgeous brown mackerel tabby who was exceptionally good to groom. He was a little boy with a bit of dandruff and the usual greasy coat, which you can see in the first photo. He got a bath and a blow dry and a belly shave.

It was a bit of a frustrating day today and I am hoping to really get a grasp on my lines over the next few days.

Tomorrow is a full day of grooming, so I am looking forward to getting back into it and perfecting everything. We also have our practical exams... fingers crossed :)