Clean Pet, Healthy Pet – Benefits of Regular Pet Grooming
A groomer is a professional team member who can make a major contribution to your pet’s hygienic and aesthetic care. Regular pet grooming visits help keep your pet looking great (and happy) while also providing beneficial health rewards.
Most pets should visit the pet grooming salon between every 2 to 12 weeks. It is through these visits that your groomer gets to know your pet and they are often the first to notice problems like skin or ear infections, skin abnormalities like moles, skin tags, and bumps.
Each pet has unique grooming needs. Pets that spend a lot of time outdoors, such as sporting and working dogs, face different challenges than lap dogs. Fur bearing pets need to have their undercoats removed to let the body keep itself warmer or cooler. On the other hand, hair bearing pets need to have their coats brushed and clipped regularly to prevent mats from forming. And keeping nails cut for any breed provides better balance in the legs and joints, while clean ears have a better resistance to infections. So it is clear that all breeds of dogs and cats benefit from regular pet grooming.
Puppies and kittens should have their first groom once their vaccinations are complete. This helps train them that grooming is a normal part of their life. It is also a great way to help your puppy become calm and socialized for vet visits and other social events. Keeping elderly pets clean and their coats maintained is extremely important as senior pets are more prone to infections. They also need more attention on nail care as keeping nails trimmed gives relief for joint pain.
New information is available daily on pet care, dieting, pet grooming, training and vet care. It is sometimes confusing and can be hard to know what’s best for one’s own pet. By sharing information, keeping communication open and allowing our hearts to guide us, we can achieve the best care for our own pets, which are, of course, unequaled in every way.
As W.R. Purche said, “Everyone thinks they have the best dog. None of them are wrong.”
Kim Slagle is a first-time contributor to PetGazette who has worked with animals for 20 years. Her writing goal is to educate other pet parents about the value of regular and proper grooming for all breeds of dogs and cats. Kim started out cleaning kennels,and then worked as a veterinary assistant in Charlotte. In 2011, she decided to step over into the groomer world and started out as a bather at Canine Shear Heaven. She quickly learned that grooming was her passion and became a member of the National Association of Professional Creative Groomers to continue her education and stay on top of the latest information in the grooming world.