Sachem's Pet Grooming Center

The Medical Importance of Grooming Your Pet

Being gorgeous takes work. But there's a lot more to pet grooming than making Fluffy look fabulous. The important thing is to keep her clean and healthy.

Grooming is an important part of preventative medical care, and regular care will help prevent serious medical problems—not to mention make your pet look, smell, and feel better. By having your pet groomed regularly, you can help detect infections and growths before they become a problem.

Coat

Dogs require regular bathing to keep their skin and coat healthy, and brushing between baths will get rid of tangles and mats. Brush your cat weekly to decrease the number of hairballs it ingests. Longhaired and senior cats should be brushed more often to prevent mats from forming. Mats on dogs and cats are painful and can cause skin infections, and matted hair around the hindquarters is especially painful and dangerous. Take a peek at your pet's bottom every now and then to make sure it isn’t blocked or infected. An extremely foul smell signals trouble. With dogs, scooting is often a giveaway.

Nails

In general, your dog's nails are too long if you can hear his tap-dancing on your floor. For both dogs and cats, long nails can get caught in carpet or cause them to slip. On some pets, nails curve around and grow into the feet, causing pain and infection. Regular trimming is an excellent alternative to declawing — and the reupholstering of your couch.

Ears

Ear cleaning is important in preventing ear mites and infections, and pets with hairy ears need extra attention. Healthy ears smell and look clean, and anything different should be examined right away.

Eyes

Keep the hair around your pet's eyes clipped short enough so that it can see properly. Long hair that dangles into the eyes can cause irritation or damage the cornea. Also, the matter that collects in the corners of eyes should be cleared away regularly (for some pets, daily) so that the debris doesn’t create sores.

Grooming at Sachem Animal Hospital

Sachem Animal Hospital is happy to offer full-service grooming, and a typical visit includes: bathing, conditioning, and blow drying; brushing and combing the coat; checking for infections and parasites; trimming longhaired pets if needed; nail trimming; ear cleaning and hair-plucking the ear canals; and, if necessary, expressing the anal glands.

Every breed of dog and cat is different, so the grooming for each pet is unique. We can recommend a grooming routine for your pet so you know exactly what to look for and how often.

If you have a young puppy or kitten, acquaint it with grooming early to ensure an easy process from the start!