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Saturday, February 1, 2025

Sorting Out Shedding – Groomer to Groomer


There may be numerous confusion across the matter of shedding and de-shed providers. Understanding why cats shed and the way we as groomers might help cat house owners management shedding will support you in higher servicing your feline purchasers. After we are capable of clarify shedding to purchasers and provide them a wide range of choices, it develops belief and respect inside the groomer-client relationship.

Why Cats Shed

First, there’s a misunderstanding about why cats shed. There are a number of motive, however the shedding that house owners largely discover (and the explanation behind the notorious “lion-cut season”) is triggered by the variety of hours of daylight. Individuals are inclined to blame the warmth for shedding as a result of the hotter temperatures are normally tied to the rise of daylight hours. And since people are extra negatively affected by warmth than daylight, they make the correlation with the warmth as an alternative of the variety of daylight hours.

My enterprise will observe a spring and fall shedding season proper after we begin considering it’s “at all times mild” or “at all times darkish” exterior. When this remark is famous, we detect our trash filling up with extra lifeless coat from our common purchasers. 4 weeks later is after we begin getting complaints of shedding, and 6 to eight weeks later is when the pelt removals begin coming in.

One more reason cats shed is stress. Have you ever ever completed a groom, confirmed the cat to the proprietor and some hours later gotten a criticism that the cat is shedding all over the place? That could be a stress response. It may be triggered by how the proprietor caught the cat to get it to you, the automobile trip, the precise grooming course of, the journey dwelling or what occurs instantly after the cat arrives dwelling.

Felines can even shed as a consequence of non-grooming-related stressors. When a household has a major schedule change, home friends, goes out of city, will get a brand new member of the family or pet, or there are different interruptions to the feline’s day by day routine, shedding will be triggered. 

Shedding is a pure organic course of. Generally we overlook that cats are mammals and that every hair follicle on a mammal goes by a pure development, resting and shedding stage. (Some take into account a fourth transitional stage when referring to hair development.) The fundamentals of hair development would require upkeep to maintain the coat that’s dropped through the shedding stage from accumulating in a approach that annoys the household or is harmful to the feline. Because of the cyclical nature of the expansion cycle, there’ll by no means be a one-step answer to resolve shedding.

Whereas medical points can even trigger shedding, it’s extra frequent that the rise or lower of the variety of hours of daylight or stressors within the dwelling atmosphere is the foundation of the shedding that the household is observing. Households needs to be inspired to debate shedding considerations with their veterinarian. 

Why Shedding Wants Addressed

Most households favor to dwell with a cat that has their shedding beneath management. Individuals don’t admire cat fur on their garments, furnishings or flooring. And whereas shedding is an annoyance for people, it might trigger medical emergencies for the cat.

When a cat removes lifeless coat by licking their physique, the coat is digested. Digested coat has three choices: First it may be regurgitated as a “hairball;” second, the ingested coat is handed by the digestive system and shall be noticeable within the fecal matter; and the final end result is for the coat to trigger an inside blockage. And this can lead to a medical emergency. If cats with full blockages as a consequence of ingesting coat don’t have surgical procedure, they may die. Whereas the household can not see the blockage forming, this downside will be costly and lethal.

Additionally remember that if any of the lifeless coat is trapped within the residing coat, or if all the lifeless coat from one shedding episode is just not eliminated, points like matting and pelting have a tendency to start. That is the purpose the place skilled assist shall be wanted.

The Groomer’s Position

As groomers, now we have a number of methods to assist these households. Whereas nothing will cease the pure strategy of dropping lifeless coat, there are alternatives to regulate shedding. 

The primary choice is clearly a lion reduce. Lion cuts are nice for households that wish to wait over 10 weeks between skilled grooming appointments. A four-to-six week lion reduce schedule appears to offer peace of thoughts to the households which have had a number of blockages surgically eliminated. When performing a lion reduce to forestall shedding, be certain that the household understands that even a cat with a lion reduce will shed as a result of pure development cycle of the hair follicle. 

A frequently scheduled, full-coat groom may also handle the quantity of lifeless coat discovered across the dwelling and that’s being ingested by the cat. Relying on the genetics of the cat, this could possibly be as typically as each two weeks to so long as each ten weeks. Breeds and mixes with quick, dense, tremendous coats, like some short-hair exotics, may solely be capable of go two weeks between grooms for optimum shed management. Different short-hair breeds or mixes with much less dense and courser coats may be capable of make it ten weeks earlier than shedding turns into an issue. 

Generally there will be confusion on what is supposed by a “full-coat groom.” I’m referring to a comb-out adopted by a water bathtub with two full shampooings, then using a drive dryer till the coat is totally dry, concluding with a full comb-out. That is the minimal that’s wanted to regulate shedding. 

In my enterprise, de-shed providers are on high of the full-coat groom. My de-shed add-on is a suction de-shed service. I like to point out my purchasers the worth by taking an image of their cat and the pile of coat I comb out on one facet and the pile of coat I vacuum off on the opposite. This promotes the de-shed add-on and encourages purchasers to request the service at each appointment. 

The subject of shedding will be very complicated for everybody. When you perceive the fundamentals, you will be higher ready to coach your purchasers and assist them make the only option for his or her household and the cat they love. ✂️



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