There’s loads of confusion across the subject of shedding and de-shed providers. Understanding why cats shed and the way we as groomers might help cat homeowners management shedding will assist you in higher servicing your feline shoppers. Once we are in a position to clarify shedding to shoppers and provide them quite a lot 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 homeowners largely discover (and the rationale behind the notorious “lion-cut season”) is triggered by the variety of hours of daylight. Folks are inclined to blame the warmth for shedding as a result of the hotter temperatures are often 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 once we begin pondering it’s “all the time mild” or “all the time darkish” outdoors. When this statement is famous, we detect our trash filling up with extra useless coat from our common shoppers. 4 weeks later is once 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 may be a stress response. It may be triggered by how the proprietor caught the cat to get it to you, the automobile experience, the precise grooming course of, the journey dwelling or what occurs instantly after the cat arrives dwelling.
Felines may also shed resulting from non-grooming-related stressors. When a household has a major schedule change, home visitors, 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 might be triggered.
Shedding is a pure organic course of. Generally we neglect that cats are mammals and that every hair follicle on a mammal goes via a pure progress, resting and shedding stage. (Some think about a fourth transitional stage when referring to hair progress.) The fundamentals of hair progress would require upkeep to maintain the coat that’s dropped through the shedding stage from accumulating in a method that annoys the household or is harmful to the feline. As a result of cyclical nature of the expansion cycle, there’ll by no means be a one-step resolution to unravel shedding.
Whereas medical points may also trigger shedding, it’s extra frequent that the rise or lower of the variety of hours of daylight or stressors within the dwelling surroundings is the foundation of the shedding that the household is observing. Households must be inspired to debate shedding issues with their veterinarian.
Why Shedding Wants Addressed
Most households choose to dwell with a cat that has their shedding underneath management. Folks don’t respect cat fur on their garments, furnishings or ground. And whereas shedding is an annoyance for people, it might probably trigger medical emergencies for the cat.
When a cat removes useless 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 via the digestive system and can be noticeable within the fecal matter; and the final end result is for the coat to trigger an inner blockage. And this can lead to a medical emergency. If cats with full blockages resulting from ingesting coat should not have surgical procedure, they are going to die. Whereas the household can’t see the blockage forming, this drawback might be costly and lethal.
Additionally understand that if any of the useless coat is trapped within the dwelling coat, or if all the useless coat from one shedding episode shouldn’t be eliminated, points like matting and pelting have a tendency to start. That is the purpose the place skilled assist can be wanted.
The Groomer’s Position
As groomers, we now have a number of methods to assist these households. Whereas nothing will cease the pure means of dropping useless coat, there are alternatives to manage shedding.
The primary possibility is clearly a lion minimize. Lion cuts are nice for households that need to wait over 10 weeks between skilled grooming appointments. A four-to-six week lion minimize schedule appears to offer peace of thoughts to the households which have had a number of blockages surgically eliminated. When performing a lion minimize to stop shedding, ensure the household understands that even a cat with a lion minimize will shed because of the pure progress cycle of the hair follicle.
A frequently scheduled, full-coat groom can even handle the quantity of useless 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 usually as each two weeks to so long as each ten weeks. Breeds and mixes with quick, dense, superb coats, like some short-hair exotics, would possibly 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 would possibly be capable of make it ten weeks earlier than shedding turns into an issue.
Generally there might 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 manage shedding.
In my enterprise, de-shed providers are on prime of the full-coat groom. My de-shed add-on is a suction de-shed service. I like to indicate my shoppers the worth by taking an image of their cat and the pile of coat I comb out on one aspect and the pile of coat I vacuum off on the opposite. This promotes the de-shed add-on and encourages shoppers to request the service at each appointment.
The subject of shedding might be very complicated for everybody. When you perceive the fundamentals, you might be higher ready to teach your shoppers and assist them make your best option for his or her household and the cat they love. ✂️
