Are you considering adding cat grooming to your services offered? That’s great as most people are willing to pay what it’s worth so it can be an excellent source of income. Cats tend to be fairly quick to groom, increasing their financial value to the salon. And there are many pet owners that, since they have both cat(s) and dog(s) prefer to frequent a business that will groom both.
But there are some major differences between felines and canines. We often say “cats and dogs” as though they are similar. Nothing could be further from the truth. For example, a stressed dog may recover with a fifteen-minute break. If you give a stressed cat a break, fifteen minutes later you have the same unhappy cat. Cats have always seemed to me to have a time limit that you should not try to exceed – and it’s different for every cat so you are always guessing how long you have to finish the groom before kitty is upset.
One potential downside to grooming cats is that cat bites and scratches in general are much more dangerous than those from dogs due to a much higher risk of infection. A dog bite in a salon is often no more than a warning – cats do not give warnings, they take serious action. A cat bite or scratch can potentially put you out of work for an extended period of time whereas with a dog bite you can often return to work with a hand that’s bandaged for a few days.
Cats are very sensitive to our emotions and they know who is comfortable with them and who is not. They can behave very differently with different groomers and if you are frightened of them, they know that too. Do you like cats? Do you think of yourself as a cat person? Do cats approach you readily? If so, you may just be the right person to groom them.
By Carol Visser, Journalist, Master Pet Groomer, Certified Dog Trainer, Pet Product Expert
