Extra Grooming Tips in Caring for your Long-Haired Cat

Articles on Cats | Topics: cats, cat, kitten, kitty

by Triston Koch

Keeping your long haired cat's hair off your furniture and carpet can often be a challenge. It may happen no matter how many times a week you brush your cat. It may even happen if your cat has its hair trimmed or thinned out by a professional groomer.

A few extra grooming tips can save you some frustration.

The most useful to you would be a tool that helps your cat grooms him or herself. This means that your cat actually does all the work with the use of this particular grooming item. This item is an arched shaped brush that the cat walks through, which the cat can be lured though with the use of catnip. When the arch is full of hair it can easily be cleaned with the use of a vacuum cleaner. Furthermore, this unit can be removed from its base and stored flat.

Other grooming tools to use to help catch loose hair from long-haired cats are various types of brushes. Another type of brush that is useful in removing loose hair from a cat is a brush that has fine ball-tipped nylon bristles which are gentler to the cat's skin. Along with this, you may want to consider using a small three prong de-matting comb for chunks of hair that are stuck together (like a dread of hair on a human).

There are many reasons why you should groom your cat, and some more details regarding grooming that you should follow on a regular basis. The most important reason you would groom your cat is so it remains healthy and happy. This includes stimulating your cat's blood circulation, removing loose hair, and preventing matting. Furthermore, proper grooming can help you quickly detect and remove fleas and ticks that could be problematic to your pet and household.

Usually, you easily detect problems that your cat may have while you are grooming your long haired feline pet. Pay special attention to tangled hair and hair mats, irritated skin, hair loss (bald spots), and unusual lumps or tenderness of the cat's skin. When you groom your cat you are really doing a checkup on him or her at the same time. Regular grooming by yourself or a professional can actually save a cat's life at times. (Also, if a cat is constantly scratching between grooming sessions that is a good time to check the cat for problems).

How often a cat needs to be groomed depends on the time of the year, weather conditions, and type and length of coat. Long-haired cats, for best results, should usually be groomed daily, as opposed to short-haired cats of who only need to be groomed twice a week.

Grooming a long-haired cat also involve giving it a bath. Most cats are too small for a bathtub, so it is best to put your cat into a baby bath pan, or into a sink. A dish pan could also serve the same purpose.

аBit of History

Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons.

—Robertson Davies (b. 1913)

When giving your feline pet a bath, make sure you have at least two towels around. One towel is usually used for drying your pet, and another towel is used for wrapping your pet. You may also use a blanket in which to wrap your cat as well.

Another item that is useful for bathing your cat is cotton balls, which help prevent water from entering a cat's ears. If water gets into a cat's ears, an ear infection could occur, therefore remember to plug the cat's ears while giving it a bath.

Before putting your cat into the bathwater, be sure to test the temperature of the water with the back of your hand or your wrist. This will help prevent scalding your feline pet's skin when you insert him or her into the water.

After you are done giving your long-haired cat a bath, you will need to comb his or her hair as soon as possible. This will prevent from any further tangles or matted hair from developing. Detangler can help you comb your cat's hair without hurting him or her, and will make your cat's hair after a bath less difficult to manage. Upon coming your cat's hair, be sure to use the proper hair grooming tools as described above.

If you need to cut your cat's hair, especially to remove matted hair, make sure that you do it in a way that will not cut your cat's skin. Also, make sure that you use the proper cat grooming scissors for best results.

If you want to learn more about cat grooming techniques to help you, make sure you read other articles on cat grooming that are appropriate for your particular breed of cat. A world of information is out there, right at your fingertips. Take advantage of it.

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Please note: All personal opinions expressed in the "Extra Grooming Tips in Caring for your Long-Haired Cat" article belong to the contributing author and are not necessarily shared by DogsPetsCats.com.

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