The Cat Behavior Answer Book - Arden Moore [60]
After your first sessions with Princess, she relates the brush and comb with hair-pulling pain — no wonder she flees from you. And you are probably feeling hesitant and reluctant to approach her, giving her more reason to think that something is wrong. Time to regroup. Have you ever taken a yoga or meditation class? Remember the lessons on deep inhales and exhales from your diaphragm? Be calm and take deep breaths when you are working with Princess. If you are relaxed, she will sense that you don’t want to hurt her.
Start your first few grooming sessions by just talking sweetly to Princess and gently stroking her coat from the top of the head to the tail. Move slowly and steadily, and back off if she tries to move away or seems tense. As she relaxes, her purr machine should engage. Use this time to finger gently through her fur for mats, lumps, bumps, cuts, or evidence of fleas. For the first few days, stop your grooming session here. You are rebuilding Princess’s trust in you.
For your next sessions, arm yourself with the right tools: a mat-splitter, a wide-toothed comb, and a slicker brush. There are many different brands on the market, but top cat-grooming experts recommend a wide-toothed or shedding comb specifically designed for longhaired cats. The reason? You want to get rid of the dead undercoat hairs that cause tangles.
First remove any mats. Hold the fur between the skin and mat and use the mat-splitter. Your second tool for Princess’s belly should be a slicker brush, which will make her coat lie flat. Finish the grooming by lifting the coat away from the body with a wide-toothed comb to add beautiful fullness. (To prevent matting, most longhaired cats with fine coats need to be combed every day taking the comb to the roots.) If Princess’s coat is silky and fine, then follow the brush with a grooming glove designed to smooth the coat and cause it to glimmer.
Use flowing strokes on Princess with the wide-toothed comb, moving in the direction of the hair growth. Start at the head and work down toward the tail and then the legs. Take a break and pet Princess and perhaps give her a taste of her favorite treat. If she struggles, let her leave and try again the next day. Don’t expect to completely comb out her fur in one session. Be content to attack just one or two mats a day until they are all gone.
Set aside five minutes each day to become your cat’s personal groomer. Pick times when you are both relaxed, like in the evenings when you watch television or read a book or in the morning when you wake up and Princess is still a bit sleepy and hungry. Use her empty tummy to your advantage and reward her good grooming behavior with treats. In no time, Princess will look forward to these glamour sessions with you.
If Princess is afflicted with lots of mats or there are any mats too close to the skin for a mat-splitter, you might want to take her to a professional groomer first and get her coat in shipshape condition, then you can follow up with daily at-home care. Don’t neglect a longhaired cat — small mats can turn into tough tangles that may need to be shaved off. A final tip: Longhaired cats can greatly benefit from regular bathing since their coats retain body oils and dust, which aggravates the matting problem. A bath also removes dead hair better than combing. Your cat will not only have to become used to the bath process but blow-drying as well. Use of a quiet medium speed, moderate-heat blower works well — most cats eventually come to love the warmth. It is a noisy dryer they dislike.
Nail Know-How
Q When I pick up my cat, she sinks her sharp, long nails into my shoulder and neck. It hurts. Even though she is an indoor cat, I don’t plan on having her declawed. How can I keep her nails trimmed and save my skin from her scratches?
A My cats Callie and Murphy sport all