Animal Resource Library » Health & Safety » Benefits of Grooming

Benefits of Grooming

FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE
Groomers see your pets more often than their veterinarians do, and they see parts of your animals that you wouldn’t normally spend too much time examining. (When was the last time you took a close look at your pet’s skin, or the inside of his ears?) A good groomer takes note of any irregularities she finds, and reports them to you. Regular grooming helps to prevent and detect illnesses, injuries and infections.

POWER IN A BRUSH
Did you know that mats on longer-haired breeds aren’t just unsightly, they are painful? The mats pull on their skin, leading to inflammation, redness and even bruising. When your pet is in pain from matting, she can be irritable and not her happy self. Not only does regular, thorough brushing prevent matting, it also removes old hair, dirt, and debris which can be dwelling places for bacteria, mites, and parasites like fleas and ticks.

NAIL TRIMS
Regularly trimming the nails of your pets helps their overall health.

Dog Nails: Overgrown nails can break easily, which can be very painful for your dog. Long-term overgrowth can cause difficulty with walking, if it is painful for your dog to put his full weight on his paws. The pain and soreness that may result from overgrown nails can eventually contribute to the development of arthritis or skeletal deformities.
Cat Nails: Trim your cat’s nails daily! Cats’ nails grow in layers and it is natural for cats “sharpen” their claws, so that they can remove the old and expose the edged new ones. Sometimes cats do not successfully remove the older shells. This can lead to ingrown nails that can become extremely painful and even cause infections. Newly trimmed nails will cause less damage to human skin, and your furniture will be less likely to become a target if you get regular nail trims and keep fresh scratching posts at home.

After a good grooming, dogs and cats look and feel new!

Please note, articles in the Animal Resource Library are for reference only, and are not meant to diagnose or treat any medical or behavioral issues your pet may be experiencing.