THE IMPORTANCE OF REGULAR GROOMING

Lifetime Small Animal Hospital has a full time groomer, Verna Ward, to help your pet be its best, by helping your pet look its best. You may call to set up an appointment during business hours.

Your pet's coat is a reflection of its general health. Parasites such as fleas and intestinal worms affect the skin and coat. Regular grooming along with regular Veterinary check-ups, and proper nutrition, are essential for healthy skin and coat. Regular grooming not only helps prevent skin and coat problems, but also gives opportunity to detect problems before they become extensive. Knots, tangles and burs are par for the course during outdoor romps, especially for those off the beaten path. Mats that pull on the skin become even tighter when wet and can form when your pet licks or scratches himself.

Many people stop grooming their pet at all in the winter. This is a mistake. A long shaggy coat does not protect and keep your pet warm if it gets packed down and dirty. Just like the feathers in a down coat require air for holding in the warmth, your pets coat also needs to be clean and fluffy. Even for an outside pet, a few inches or less of hair is usually enough. The air trapped in a clean, well-brushed, fluffy coat will insulate your pet better than two inches of thick mats.

The frequency that your pet needs to be groomed depends largely on its breed. Poodles and Miniature Schnauzers require grooming every six to eight weeks to ideally maintain a healthy comfortable coat. Breeds such as Golden Retrievers may only need to be groomed every three to four months to keep their coat looking good.

 

If you assume that your cat takes care of all of its grooming needs, think again. Keeping your cats' coat clean, shiny, and untangled is very important for its health.   Occasional bathing may become necessary for longhaired cats and for the older cat that is no longer flexible enough to completely groom itself.  Not only does this maintenance keep your cat beautiful, but some of it also serves as preventative medicine. The more hair removed by brushing, the less hair your cat will ingest when he grooms himself, reducing the number of hairballs he throws up and avoiding a potentially deadly blockage of the intestines by clumps of hair.

For your pet's protection, we do require current vaccinations or proof of titer.  Dogs need distemper/parvo and rabies, and cats need rabies, feline distemper and upper respiratory complex.