By Emma Fegan
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14 Oct, 2020
~ Quote amended from Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Since I grew up both listening to the original R4 Hitchhiker's Guide series on increasingly worn audiotapes and reading the books, it was essentially mandatory for me to write about the usefulness of towels in cat grooming (as well as hitchhiking the length and breadth of the Milky Way!). Those not familiar with Hitchhiker’s Guide, please “Don’t Panic” because I will now return to my more regular topic of cats! A nice, thick towel is useful in cat grooming for 4 reasons (in addition to the need to dry kitty after a Wet Groom; but I use good quality microfibre towels for that!): 1) It serves to protect the groomer from swiping claws and biting fangs Cats can become aggressive during a groom. This is totally reasonable, after all they have been taken to a strange place (or, in the case of house calls, had a stranger come into their territory) and are experiencing new things, such as the sensation of claws being clipped, having their ears cleaned, being combed all over – even in those bits they won’t let their purrents near! – and so on. In general, cats are not huge fans of new experiences and some react to their fear with aggression. This is why cats have the reputation of being afraid of water, which in general is not strictly accurate: they are simply afraid of pretty much any novel experience, which for most cats does include being wet-bathed. Very few cats are truly hydrophobic. If kitty lashes out with claws, or (more seriously) makes attempts to bite during grooming, having a thick towel between their claws and teeth and my skin can be the difference between my being able to finish the groom with a minor or medium increase in risk compared with working with a non-aggressive cat, and my being potentially quite seriously injured. 1 in 3 cat bites result in hospitalisation, due to their needle-like fangs punching bacteria deep into the flesh and lingering even after the surface wound heals over, causing the injury to become infected. I am aware of a groomer who was once unable to work for 6 months while she recovered from a cat bite! Cat grooming is an undeniably dangerous profession, but proper use of a good thick towel can mitigate that risk significantly and that is one of the main reasons why you will always see a towel or 2 on my grooming table. 2) It can reassure the cat and help keep stress levels low Kitties like to burrow their heads under things when they feel scared. Particularly cats with a shy temperament, who are immediately identifiable at consult, as they stay right at the back of their cases trying to hide under the cushioning and blankets in there. Wrapping a shy kitty up in a towel to form a “cat burrito” can keep them calmer during the groom, they feel more hidden and so are less likely to get into a panic. Keeping stress levels low during a groom is crucial, firstly because I love cats and don’t ever want to distress them! But more seriously, because high levels of stress can actually be dangerous for cats, particularly those who may have medical conditions. A kitty with pre-existing health conditions requires a sign-off from their vet before I will carry out any kind of grooming on them; but this relies on the owner/vet being aware that kitty has a medical problem and informing me of it. Some conditions can be symptomless initially (such as the heart condition Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy , which can have no symptoms and so go completely undetected by vets and owner, but can make the cat prone to heart attacks when highly stressed). Needless to say, if you are concerned about your cat's health, please speak to your vet immediately - and certainly before booking them in to be groomed. A cat who experiences stress during a groom is also likely to remember that experience the next time they are groomed which can lead to them becoming increasingly stressed and difficult to groom with each appointment. Instead, I aim to keep cats as calm as possible and make the groom as enjoyable as possible, resulting in kitties becoming calmer and less prone to panic and fear-aggression with each successive groom. 3) It acts as an absorbent medium for catnip spray This reason is fairly self-explanatory; I tend to use a good quality catnip spray on the towel(s) immediately before a kitty arrives. 80% of cats are rather interested in catnip and it can help to distract them from what I’m doing and help them stay calm. If a kitty is behaving in a relaxed manner, I can pop an additional spritz of catnip on the towel mid-groom, to reward them and incentivise that type of behaviour during future grooms. 4) It differentiates my grooming table from vet’s tables Cats tend not to be very fond of going to the vet! And unfortunately, the top of most grooming tables do resemble those found in most vet’s practices rather closely. Having a towel on top of part or all of it provides a point of difference, sufficient that (hopefully) kitty is not immediately triggered into “vet visit-mode” the moment they are placed on my grooming table. In a lot of cases this might not make any difference, but in a situation where a cat has had a particularly traumatic experience with a vet’s visit it might be the difference between starting the groom on a relatively good footing (“hmm, a new place and new smells, I wonder what this is all about?”), and a terrible start where the cat is immediately already extremely stressed and fearful. It goes without saying, but I will say so anyway as hygiene is of the utmost importance to myself and my clients; like all of my equipment and grooming clothing, each towel is used with only one cat before it is cleaned. So, if you were wondering why I always have at least 1 towel handy even for Full Dry Groom where there’s not a drop of water in sight, now you know! Emma Fegan Master Cat Groomer & Owner, Feline Good Cat Grooming PS: Those of you who spot the sweetpeas in the image above and are concerned that they might be nearby a kitty during a groom: don't worry! I like the scent, but they are always moved to a cat-inaccessible shelf when a cat is in the salon.