Why is pet grooming important? Whether you have a cat of dog, pet grooming is an important part of the hygiene and emotional well being of your animal. Doesn’t feel good when you get your hair cut or nails done? Imagine not having the luxury of choosing how and when you clean yourself. Your pets don’t have that advantage. Sure they groom themselves with their tongue and paws, but without an opposing thumb they cannot grab a scrub brush and wash their back or the ability to reach hard to get at places. They need the care and love of their caregivers and pet grooming lets them know that they are getting their needs met.

Even when you get a new puppy or kitten, pet grooming is important way to develop the bonding practices. As you brush or wash your pet, the constant touching and soothing gives the young animal a sense of well being. The relationship between caregiver and animal becomes stronger as more attention is given to the pet. The early interaction of pet grooming also prepares the animal for a professional pet groomer as hair or nails become to unmanageable for the untrained owner. The pet will have a more of a sense of security as they are left at a pet groomer for a day and will deal with less stress as they are touched and groomed by a stranger.

Pet grooming at a young age also allows the animal to get used to the tools and apparatus used in the pet grooming experience. Scissors and brushes can be scary things to a novice puppy or kitten. Initial reaction of the animal is to bite or claw at the brush. They have a strange tool pulling and brushing their hair and their natural reaction is to defend themselves. By going slow and using soothing sounds, the owner can slowly introduce the new animal to the process. As the grooming goes on and the animal feels more comfortable, stronger strokes can be applied. As confidence and bonding builds the entire pet grooming process can be utilized.

Another aspect of pet grooming is cutting or trimming the nails of your animal. Especially for inside pets, if the nails are not trimmed properly they will have a tendency to grow around within themselves and be painful for the animal to walk upon. Also the nails will split easier if left unattended leaving unsightly cracks and an irritating feeling in their paws. If proper pet grooming is initiated early enough, the pet will grow in emotional maturity and you will have a stable animal that will have the benefits of good hygiene and good health. Pet grooming will become a habit that both the pet and the owner will anticipate their time together on a daily basis. The importance of pet grooming will spread to be a family experience as spouses and siblings will pick up brush and spend time with the family pet. The emotional security will spread throughout the family and pet and family will become one.

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Cat owners know that where there are cats there are also hairballs. Cats oral grooming habits involve swallowing large quantities of hair. Most of the swallowed hair passes harmlessly through the cat’s digestive system. Problems occur when instead of passing through the cat’s digestive system the hair remains in the cat’s digestive system. As time passes the undigested hair collects with other undigested hair, these hairs stick together, until a hairball forms in the cat’s stomach. The larger the hair ball becomes, the greater a risk it poses to the cat’s health and well being.

A vast majority of cats are able to rid themselves of a hairball by hacking it up. The sound they make when trying to bring up a hairball is similar to a person suffering from dry heaves, although the noise is slightly higher pitched. Most cat owners also report that the best time of day to extract a troublesome hairball is in the middle of the night so that sound can keep the cat’s entire family up all night. Cat owners also find that their cat is very clever at depositing the hairball in places where it’s humans frequently walk barefoot, like on the bathroom floor, directly next to the shower.

As unhappy as cat owners might be about having balls of half digested hair littering their house, they are even less happy about large hairballs that remain in their house cat’s stomach. When the enormous hairball makes its way into the cat’s intestine it can create a blockage that frequently means a hasty trip to the vet for an emergency surgery. This surgery can cost several hundred dollars.

Signs that your cat is suffering from a hairball are; your cat ignoring their personal grooming regime and allowing their coat to become dirty and matted, constant coughing and hacking, loss of appetite, constipation, and depression. Long haired cats, because of the length of their coat, are more prone to hairballs then their short haired contemporaries.

Pet grooming is a wonderful way for cat owners to prevent the unpleasantness of hairballs. Brushing your cat once a day will remove dead hairs from the cat’s coat. These dead hairs wont be around to stick to the cat’s tongue and later be swallowed to form a hair ball. Although any brush can be used to groom your pet cat, a cat brush purchased from pet store has bristles that are specially designed for cat hair. Daily grooming routines will strengthen the bond between you and your cat.

If you have a long haired cat, or even a short haired cat that seems prone to hairballs, you may want to consider clipping your cat to remove excess hair. Hair that is no longer on the cat’s body can not wreck havoc on their digestive system.

Another thing that cat owners can do to prevent hairball is to purchase cat foods that are specially designed to prevent hairballs from forming in the cat’s digestive system. If your budget wont extend to purchasing expensive anti-hairball foods, you may want to consider other commercial hairball remedies.

Cat owners should consult their veterinarian for additional methods of hairball control.

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