Grooming your pet, either all by yourself or using a professional is an important aspect of caring for your pet. Grooming your pet not only does it make it feel and look beautiful and clean it also help to keep them healthy.
Grooming your pet is made even more significant by the fact that the environment in which they live, they do not get the natural grooming that their wild counterparts get in their natural setting. Unfortunately, many pet owners do not appreciate the importance of grooming their pets and the proper way to do it.
As the pet owner, you need to know what kind of grooming is right for your pet, the different types of grooming that you should do on your pet and the safe and efficient grooming techniques that you can use.
You, as the pet owner is responsible for the well-being of your pet. The big part of your responsibility lies on regular and consistent grooming. So either you choose to do it by yourself, or you take your pet to the dog groomer, you must learn about the grooming needs of your pet and then apply that knowledge directly to your pet.
When it comes to pet grooming, whether done by a professional or self, there are four main pillars of grooming, and these are:
- Bathing and Brushing
- Clipping
- Ear care
- Nail Trimming
The grooming requirement of your pet is dependent on various factors. These factors include the following:
- Physical traits of your pet
- Health condition
- The type of grooming that your pet needs
Depending on the physical features of your pet such as the fur or skin condition of your pet, will dictate on how often that you will need to groom your pet.
The health status of your pet such as the health of the skin will determine the kind of shampoo or brush that you will use to groom your pet or how often the different types of grooming will be done.
The kind of grooming that your pet needs, for example, ear or nail trimming, you should know what kind of grooming is required for your pet and when it is best to do it.
Differences Between Self And Professional Pet Grooming
Self Grooming
Self-pet grooming is the process whereby the pet owner decides to carry out the pet grooming at home without seeking professional help. You as the pet owner should know what kind of grooming that your pet needs, how often the different types of grooming should be performed and most importantly, the safe and effective pet grooming techniques.
The following are some of the grooming that you can do by yourself at home on your pet:
Bathing and Brushing
Before you decide to bath or brush your pet at home, if you are not sure how to do it, check with your pet’s vet.
Again depending on the physical aspects of your pet, you can choose to bathe your pet either monthly or weekly. When you are bathing your pet, make sure that you do not use human soap or shampoo to wash your dog. Your nearest pet store has a variety of dog soaps and shampoo that you can use.
Brushing your pet’s fur is probably a fascinating part of grooming. This is because most pets like to have their fur to be brushed and a precious moment to bond with your pet.
However, depending on the type of coat that your pet has, follow the following guides while brushing your pet:
- Short fur – you should brush short coat once a month.
- Medium coat – you should brush it either once a week or every fourth night
- Long Fur – you should brush it daily or a minimum of thrice a week.
Ear Care
It is crucial that you keep the ears of your pet clean. This is because the ears and teeth very easily become the breeding ground of most disease causing bacteria and yeast.
Ask your pet’s vet on how to care for the ears and teeth of your pet. More often, the ear infection is generic more especially to dogs that have floppy ears because they do not get sufficient air circulation.
Your vet can help to prescribe the best ear cleaners and medicine that you can use to clean the ears or treat the ears of your pet in case of an infection.
Clipping
Depending on how fast your pet’s nails grow will determine how often you should cut them. However, you will need a lot of patience, a fast eye and a stable hand in order not to injure your best friend while clipping its nails.
Professional Grooming
Professional grooming is the process of pet grooming where the pet owner takes his/her pet to a professional to perform those grooming techniques that you cannot perform by yourself.
One of the reasons as to why you should take your pet to a professional groomer is that he knows better about pet grooming than you do hence your pet will get the best service.
The following are some of the grooming that you will need a professional to do for your pet:
Nail Trimming
The nails of your pet are one of the trickiest parts to care for and maintain. Most pets do not like to get their nails cut because they fear being hurt. Most of the time if you will try to do it by yourself, either you or your pet will get hurt. This is because the dog or cat will try to pull their claws from you and in the process, you can end up hurting your dog’s nails, or you will get scratched.
A professional groomer knows how to hold the paw of your dog/cat and how to deal with the pet so that the trimming will be perfect and without anyone being hurt.
Hair Cuts
You may snip a little here or trim a little there for your furry friend but the full blown haircut is best to leave to the professionals. Pets do not have the patience to wait on the table for you to decide if the right side looks longer than the left. In addition, you might need to purchase expensive professional equipment to do the deed properly. Hence, it is wise to bring your pet to the groomers or have the groomer pay you a visit at your home.
No matter which one you choose, either self or professional grooming, the result is that your pet will be happier, healthier and cleaner.