Normally, I don't enjoy cat grooming. I'm a DOG trainer. Guess what? Cats don't really take to training. Or water, for that matter. Generally speaking, they'd like to have me leave them alone. I can reason with a dog most of the time, not so much with cats.
I am lucky enough to work in a Vet clinic. So, the fractious cats that no other groomer can safely do, come knocking on our door. We have a handy little thing called anesthesia. I actually groom these cats in the vet clinic area, with a Doctor and Veterinary Technician monitoring them for the whole groom.
I value my hands, they are pretty darn useful in my line of work. If a cat bites me, they might not work as well as they usually do. At the very least, a bite will send me to the doctor for the heavy duty antibiotics, which will definately put a wrench in my day. A cat bite can actually put you in the hospital with a really bad infection, if you don't take care of it. I'll take a dog bite any day. So...some cats must go to nighty night land for their grooms. For their own comfort, and my well-being. Now, of course, just like dogs, many cats are neglected. People expect their cats to take care of themselves. That does work most of the time. Sometimes cats just have too much coat to take care of themselves, like Persians or Himalayans. Other cats are actually too obese or elderly to care for their own coats.
Clipping off a very matted cat's coat is time-consuming, and dangerous. A cat's skin tears much easier than a dogs, so they need to hold very still for the process. Most cats didn't sign up for that. They tell me in no uncertain terms, with claws and teeth, that it's just not happening. I can respect that.
We do groom some cats that don't require sedation. Some, just need minor restraint, and others like the cutie in the picture, don't appear to mind at all.
"Help me!"
Ok, maybe she does mind..at least this part!
Oh what a sweet kitty!
ReplyDeleteYeah, you can't really reason with a cat.
Speaking of valuing your hands....
I found out today that Tibby's groomer got her hand caught in a table saw a 3 months ago. I saw that she had a bandage on her hand the last 2 times we have been in there, but didn't get to ask about it until today. She cut off three of her fingers. They were able to reattach them, but one finger lost the tip with the nail. SHE GROOMED DOGS through the whole recovery process!!!
Seriously!!??? Wow...that is awful..and AMAZING. I can't imagine how she groomed that way. I can only say I groomed through a broken leg. I only took the day I broke it off. :) Sounds pretty lame next to losing fingers!
ReplyDeleteI know I was shocked and really impressed. Tibby gets her hair cut every 5 weeks and the first time I noticed the bandage must have been right after it happened. It was a sort of big silver brace and wrapped with bandages. The next time she just had the brace and I could see that she had cut it or something - there were stiches on her fingers. This time I got to LOOK at it (there weren't a bunch of other people trying to pick up their dogs too) and it just had a couple bandaids, but the one finger is sort of twisted/chewed up. It's her left hand BUT she is left handed!
ReplyDeleteI don't know how she does it! She is the only one in the shop too, so it must have been tough.
I'm always afraid that Tibby will bite her, so when I first saw it I thought that maybe a dog had bitten her.
that is some thing amazing, i really love it Lost and found
ReplyDelete