The Art of Cat Grooming ~
Here at Anam Cara we like to think of ourselves as an exclusive feline spa on wheels, able to bring to your kitty the benefits of a stress-free day at an upscale spa, right in the convenience of their own driveway.
The biggest myth surrounding cats is that they groom and take care of themselves. Cats actually lick themselves all over. They take their tongue and push around the oil and grime that builds up on their coat and spread it around.
The cat's tongue with its rough abrasive surface, which has a role in the digestion of food, pulls hair loose which is promptly swallowed resulting in hairballs building up in the digestive tract and eventually onto our newly cleaned hard wood floor or new Persian wool carpet. Self grooming is not a substitute for either an owner’s attention or a professional groomer, particularly in long hair breeds where the tongue can’t effectively cope with length/density of coat.
Cats lick themselves to remove extra hair to feel cooler and the evaporation of the saliva spread on the coat helps regulate body temperature. Self-grooming and the act of licking also have a calming effect on cats. Additionally, this attempt at hygiene fills a dietary need as the sebum secreted in the follicles is a valuable source of vitamin D, but it does not make a major impact on cleaning a cat's coat.
All cats get greasy over time as the natural oils secreted from the cat's sebacious glands, used for scent marking, build-up in the coat.
In the photograph to the left of this 20 year-old black domestic short-haired note the seperation in the coat, this clearly shows how a greasy coat becomes clumpy and filled with dirt, dead cells and shedding hairs over the course of a lifetime.
This excessive oil build up from the sebaceous glands at the roots of the hair may cause unsightly skin problems, such as stud tail and feline acne which require either frequent washing by the owner or intervention by a professional cat groomer.
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