KITTY'S KORNER
by Deborah Hansen
TOO MUCH
CAT?
Turning to see a charging house
cat just as it lunges for your face, or finding yourself with a feline on its back with claws and teeth at the ready, daring you to grab its body, those are the moments you know you have too much cat to groom.
e have all started a groom and then realized we made a mistake. As soon as the owner has walked away, the cat transformed itself for battle with teeth, eighteen claws, growling, hissing and spitting all directly focused on you, the groomer. Since felines are both prey and predator animals, they come well equipped to not only to defend them-
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Groomer to Groomer • Vol 40 Ed 3 • March 2021
selves, but to also provide the meat required for a healthy diet. These six to eight pounds of fluff are an adequate opponent to do real damage to the human body, while the twelve– to eighteen–plus–pounders are even more powerful with their jaws and paws. Cat bites can easily result in a serious infection, the loss of a finger, or worse. So, how do we prevent ourselves from getting in over our heads? Start-
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ing with a temperament check at drop– off, clipper testing before any work is done, and knowing when and how to walk away are all key to keeping us safe as groomers. When I first meet a cat, I know the temperament within seconds. If you work in a salon or mobile unit you can use the cat’s position in the carrier to understand much about temperament. The cat that is hiding in