There may be numerous confusion across the subject of shedding and de-shed providers. Understanding why cats shed and the way we as groomers can assist cat homeowners management shedding will support you in higher servicing your feline shoppers. Once we are capable of clarify shedding to shoppers and supply 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 explanation 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 a substitute of the variety of daylight hours.
My enterprise will observe a spring and fall shedding season proper once we begin considering it’s “at all times mild” or “at all times darkish” exterior. When this remark is famous, we detect our trash filling up with extra lifeless 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 in all places? That may be a stress response. It may be triggered by how the proprietor caught the cat to get it to you, the automotive trip, the precise grooming course of, the journey dwelling or what occurs instantly after the cat arrives dwelling.
Felines also can shed as a consequence of non-grooming-related stressors. When a household has a big 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 every day routine, shedding may 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 by way of a pure progress, resting and shedding stage. (Some take into account a fourth transitional stage when referring to hair progress.) The fundamentals of hair progress would require upkeep to maintain the coat that’s dropped in the course of the shedding stage from accumulating in a means 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 resolve shedding.
Whereas medical points also can trigger shedding, it’s extra widespread that the rise or lower of the variety of hours of daylight or stressors within the dwelling setting is the basis of the shedding that the household is observing. Households needs to be inspired to debate shedding issues with their veterinarian.
Why Shedding Wants Addressed
Most households want to dwell with a cat that has their shedding beneath management. Folks don’t admire 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 lifeless 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 by way of the digestive system and will likely be noticeable within the fecal matter; and the final consequence is for the coat to trigger an inside blockage. And this may end up in a medical emergency. If cats with full blockages as a consequence of ingesting coat don’t have surgical procedure, they are going to die. Whereas the household can’t see the blockage forming, this downside may be costly and lethal.
Additionally remember the fact that if any of the lifeless coat is trapped within the residing coat, or if the entire lifeless coat from one shedding episode just isn’t eliminated, points like matting and pelting have a tendency to start. That is the purpose the place skilled assist will likely be wanted.
The Groomer’s Function
As groomers, now we have a number of methods to assist these households. Whereas nothing will cease the pure strategy of dropping lifeless coat, there are alternatives to regulate shedding.
The primary possibility is clearly a lion reduce. Lion cuts are nice for households that need to wait over 10 weeks between skilled grooming appointments. A four-to-six week lion reduce schedule appears to provide peace of thoughts to the households which have had a number of blockages surgically eliminated. When performing a lion reduce to stop shedding, be sure the household understands that even a cat with a lion reduce will shed because of the pure progress cycle of the hair follicle.
A recurrently scheduled, full-coat groom will even handle the quantity of lifeless coat discovered across the dwelling and that’s being ingested by the cat. Relying on the genetics of the cat, this might be as usually as each two weeks to so long as each ten weeks. Breeds and mixes with quick, dense, effective coats, like some short-hair exotics, may solely have the ability to go two weeks between grooms for optimum shed management. Different short-hair breeds or mixes with much less dense and courser coats may have the ability to make it ten weeks earlier than shedding turns into an issue.
Generally there may 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 the usage of a power dryer till the coat is totally dry, concluding with a full comb-out. That is the minimal that’s wanted to regulate 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 may be very complicated for everybody. When you perceive the fundamentals, you may be higher ready to teach your shoppers and assist them make your best option for his or her household and the cat they love. ✂️
