Special Grooming Needs For Cats

An old cat may be less flexible, and less able to groom the hard to reach bits. Compare it with a young cat that cleans itself all over several times a day, in addition to being groomed by owners, and you will understand why you should groom older cats more often.

These are not the only cats that need extra grooming.

If you keep a few cats, and one loves to groom the others, it will naturally swallow much more hair than a cat that only cleans itself. You should thus keep all your cats well brushed to remove loose hairs. This prevents any cat from swallowing more hair than absolutely necessary and developing a hairball problem as a result.

Long-haired breeds must be groomed at least daily. Otherwise, their fur gets matted. Once this happens, you usually have no choice but to cut off the matted fur, leaving temporary bald patches on your beautiful kitty.

If it's shedding or molting, it must be groomed daily too, or those hairs will end up inside it. If it is recovering from an illness, it may also have neglected its grooming, so you'll have to help.

Finally, if a cat has fallen into or brushed against a substance that should not be swallowed, brush, wipe, bathe the stuff off before it makes itself sick by licking it off.