Grooming

I love being groomed and I think I do a better job of it than mum or dad. As you know we Siamese and Orientals have short hair and my human mum thinks a comb is best for us as opposed to a brush. She also uses a grooming mitt as well. We don’t really need a lot of grooming, just a few minutes each day. For some strange reason though, my mum also strokes my fur with a silk scarf.

She says it makes my coat shiny and soft. I think she is just strange. It’s a good idea for you too groom us every day though, because then you can make sure we have no lumps or fleas. It helps us because we can’t tell you if there is something abnormal there because you humans haven’t figured out how to understand cat talk yet.

When you are grooming us this should also include making sure our ears and eyes are clean. Sometimes our ears get waxy, and we need to have them wiped out. My mum uses some Eye and Ear wipes and they are really good, but she says that you can use a damp cotton wool ball as well. You really should do our eyes and ears once a week. My mum goes a bit overboard though because she grabs the ear wipes every time she sees a spot of wax in my ear. You need to make sure that you get us used to grooming from the time we are kittens, it’s much easier for you and then we stay still. My mum tends to wait until I’m settling on her lap each day because she knows then that I am not in an active mood and will sit still and enjoy the grooming session.

You should also check our claws to make sure they aren’t too long. My claws get cut by mum once a week because I’m indoors all the time so my claws don’t wear down like they do on you outdoor cats. It’s really easy to cut my claws, but please don’t cut them unless you know what you are doing because if you cut them too short (to the quick) it will bleed and hurt me a lot. If your mum needs someone to show her how to clip your claws she can always ask the horrible man in the white coat (aka Vet) and they should show her how to do it.