Grooming Your Long-haired Cat: Practical Tips

Looking after pets may at times be difficult, as you are wholly responsible for their welfare and comfort.

Cats are no exception, and are not quite as independent as they themselves would perhaps like to believe. The RSPCA state that a regular grooming regimen for cats helps to keep them healthy and happy. Therefore, it is important to pay the grooming of your cat ample attention, because it may improve many qualities of your furry friend’s life at large.

From grooming practices to how cat insurance may play a role, there might be quite a lot to consider depending on how familiar you are with grooming cats. Below, you may find some useful tips to help you groom your long-haired feline friends.

Time the Grooming

Sometimes, cats can be known to exhibit questionable behaviours, regularly causing mischief when the fancy takes them.

Therefore, when you first start grooming your cat you should consider timing your grooming based on their current mood. If they are active and running around, then it is highly likely they may not respond well to sitting on your lap or beside you for a long while you get to work. They might have too much energy coursing through them, and a lot of their curious nature may be temporarily irresistible.

However, if the cat is sleepy, this could be an opportune time to pounce (not literally) and seize the moment. When they are mellow, they will be less likely to wriggle, fidget, or cause some other nuisance as you try to groom them. That way, you may be able to spare your cat a dodgy haircut or eliminate the risk of them injuring themselves in their constant moving. You may possibly minimise delays if you start from here too.

Read the Situation

It would also help if you consider checking your cats’ entire body before you start brushing and clipping.

Many authorities on cats recommend examining certain areas of your cat whilst the grooming takes place. This allows you to not only maintain your cats look on an aesthetic level, but also assess their overall health and wellbeing. Areas to check include:

• Eyes – Cats can occasionally get eye infections, so consider checking for things like excessive rubbing and squinting, in addition to swelling and redness.
• Ears – Ear mites sometimes bed down in your cat’s ears when their hygiene is poor.
• Mouth – Signs of mouth pain in cats often include drooling, matted fur around the mouth, and not wanting to be touched in that area.

The most practical use of a grooming regimen could be to use it as a health physical in disguise also. You could gently rub any of the sensitive or at-risk areas above to try and gauge your cat’s situation, and to try and read their responses. If you are in any doubt, then visiting a vet could help to alleviate any potential concerns that you may have.

Consider Insurance

As a responsible pet owner, you may want to have assurances in providing the best care you possibly capable of for your furry companion.

Certain long-haired cats that groom themselves too often may be suffering from a larger health issue, and unfortunately some may require vet interventions to get back to good health. Excessive hairballs can also be a side effect of excessive self-grooming in cats. It is not your fault. After all, if you are very busy or often away from home, a regular grooming regimen can be a rather tall order. Still, these problems are hopefully nothing that a vet cannot fix.

In the possibility that you take your cat to visit a vet for closer examination, cat insurance might provide you with some safeguards to help you in this area. For example, insurance for cats may help you with vet fees, among other potential eventualities like loss or theft. Everypaw provide tiered levels of coverage, so you should be able to find something to help you under their schemes. In the end, it can be advisable to be prepared if your grooming regimen is not quite up to your desired standards just yet.

Prioritise Short and Regular Grooming

Grooming is usually largely about routine, getting lots of little bits done overtime rather than lots done every one or two months.

The precise amount of time you spend grooming your cat may vary depending on breed, the length of their hair, and how well they behave, among other factors. If they refuse to remain still and put up something of a struggle, you might expect to be hacking away at them far longer than you would otherwise. The same could be said for bigger and bushier cats too.

However, the general consensus is to prioritise short and regular grooming sessions to ensure a clean and tidy cut. Otherwise, their fur can become matted overtime and be the target for flees and other parasites thereafter. Consistency and dedication may be the most valuable tools in your arsenal, so missing a day here and there is not really advisable. Matted fur is often hidden and hard to find, behind legs or obscured on the underside of your cat, so consider regular sessions so the problem doesn’t get worse.

Adapt Your Technique

What your cat gets out of grooming could lie squarely at the feet of your technique.

It is useful to remember that long-haired cats generally undergo a thorough kind of grooming regimen; they should be brushed regularly, preferably starting at the belly and legs, and the fur is to be brushed in an upward motion toward the head. Brushing with the direct the fur grows in elsewhere on their body is also advisable. Depending on the mood your cat is in, it may also be better to start in the places they like to be fussed, as that way you might build up more trust to eventually brush the more sensitive areas, like the belly, later on.

Moulting and flee combs can also be better for tackling longer locks, so using the right tools of the trade could yield better endgame results also. Your circumstances may change when considering how long your cat’s hair has grown, so swapping out light rubber brushes with thicker combs may be necessary, or perhaps exchange small scissors for electric trimmers and clippers. In the end, it may be useful to adapt your technique depending on the demands of the grooming at hand.

Be Patient, Be Kind

It is important to remember that positive reinforcement can have a great influence on cats, so your demeanour during the grooming process may play a large part.

It should be helpful to adopt a soothing tone of voice while you are brushing or clipping your cat. Additionally, gentle strokes, soft pats, and a high level of tolerance might also ease the grooming along at a comfortable pace. Try to avoid raising your voice or displaying visible signs of frustration, as cats can be easily spooked and therefore much less likely to comply with your demands.

A successful grooming session may sometimes require a degree of negotiation between you and your feline friend. Depending on your cat’s personality, there may be some give and take required during your efforts. You could let them take breaks here and there if they become restless, and perhaps even offer treats after long sections of being patient and well-behaved. What you can try to do here is build a routine, as cats are often touted as creatures of habit. The hope is that if you are accommodating, perhaps your cat shall be in time also.