This month’s featured groomer is Chloe McAlister, 21 who is celebrating a full year of working as a cat groomer with The Kat Lady holistic grooming business in Liverpool.
Business owner Katie Gwilt, first met Chloe when she was volunteering with Artemsis Alpacas and Katie was doing some sensory enrichment work with the alpacas there.
She was interested in what Katie did so she offered to take her out to observe for a day.
Katie said: “Cats are quite picky about which humans they will let in their personal space and I remember that day we had a real mix of cats with very different temperaments.
“Chloe seemed to handle herself really well and the cats all reacted well to her so after thinking things over she said she would like to train with me. I found an apprenticeship programme where she could gain an animal qualification with a local college and then she started officially.
“She has come such a long way over the last 12 months, especially as someone with very little cat experience and a fear of them!”
Here Chloe describes her experience as an apprentice cat groomer in her own words…
Getting Started with Cats
Over the past year, I’ve learnt a lot about cats. I started off rather weary of them and didn’t know how to read their body language. With help, I got over that fear rather quickly and began to see why so many people love cats. I realised how loving they can be and even during a groom some of my clients like a bit of stroking and afterwards, I love to make a fuss of them if they’ll allow.
It was hard learning all of the different techniques and ways to move cats during their groom as sometimes they just don’t want to do certain things like lay on their side, so I’ve learnt to just follow the cat’s lead and in certain situations, I just have to make do with whatever the cat is comfortable with to get the knots off despite how weird the position may be!
I never knew how thin the skin was on their tummy and how much it really could move, I find myself holding my breath sometimes while using clippers on the tummy and in the armpits getting knots out because it is so delicate down there. Having some wiggly clients makes it harder and does make me nervous because it’s always in the back of my mind how quickly their skin can be cut.
Confidence in Working Alone
Since May when I was signed off to work alone and see my own clients, I have begun to build up a solid client base who I see regularly. Seeing all the cats improving and having a chat with all the lovely people is great and building up that relationship with people and having their trust to work with their cat is such a nice feeling.
Over time seeing the cats beginning to trust me and allowing me to do more with them is amazing and really makes all of the time spent making them comfortable and going at their own pace rather than rushing is worth it as gaining that trust is so important to me.
Grooming the older cats is so interesting as they need more consideration, especially when it comes to things like arthritis as that really affects how I handle the cats and gives me more to think about while I’m grooming them as they won’t want me moving them and especially the affected joints too much so I learnt to sit the cat on my lap when doing their back claws so then I don’t have to move their back legs as much.
Introducing Herbs to Cats
Using the herbs after grooming is really interesting as different cats will choose to interact with different herbs depending on what they are feeling like. The herb I usually first offer to most cats is Valerian Root as it helps with any stress that may have come from the groom and they turn quite playful after they realise what it is.
Some cats eat it straight away but others like to roll in it and I have a few cats who like to just put their face straight in it which is rather entertaining to watch. I have learnt older cats tend to like comfrey or calendula which help with their sore joints as they both have anti-inflammatory properties.
Due to this, I tend to offer a few different herbs and whichever the cat chooses I put a bit out for them sometimes on the towel or on the base of a scratch post close by so it doesn’t scatter on wood or tile floors. Using herbs is a nice way to end the session and it helps the cat to associate the groom with a good thing at the end and they do begin to realise they feel better after they have been groomed.
Continually Learning
Throughout the year I have learnt so much about cats and their needs, different health issues they are susceptible to as they get older and what symptoms they tend to display for these so I can see certain things and make recommendations for the cat.
Ever since I began to work alone I have been working on different ways to groom cats especially when they don’t like certain areas being touched so you have to do a bit and go back to it again throughout the groom. It has definitely been an interesting journey and prior to this I had never even known cat groomers existed as I didn’t realise they’d need regular grooming to help remove knots and to keep them comfortable all year round.
