At Forestside Veterinary Clinic, we emphasise the importance of regular grooming for your pet’s overall health and well-being.

Grooming isn’t just about keeping your pet looking great—it also helps maintain their coat, skin, and overall hygiene.

Why Grooming is Essential:

• Coat and Skin Health: Regular brushing removes dead hair and reduces matting, allowing your pet’s skin to breathe.
• Prevention of Parasites: Grooming helps detect fleas, ticks, or skin conditions early.
• Comfort: Nail trimming, ear cleaning, and bathing prevent discomfort and infections.

How to Groom Your Dog:

• Brushing: Brushing your dog’s coat is essential to prevent tangles, matting, and excessive shedding. Different breeds have different grooming needs; for example, long-haired breeds require more frequent brushing than short-haired ones and double-coated breeds such as huskies require daily brushing.
• Bathing: Bathing your dog helps maintain a clean coat and prevents skin irritation. Talk to us at Forestside Veterinary Clinic for advice on different shampoos and moisturisers.
• Nail Trimming: Regularly trimming your dog’s nails prevents discomfort and long-term issues with their paws.
• Ear and Eye Cleaning: Keeping ears and eyes clean is essential for preventing infections, especially in breeds prone to ear issues.

Professional Grooming

While some grooming tasks can be done at home, regular visits to a professional groomer are beneficial. There are some dogs that can become quite anxious at the groomers and utilising calming medication can really help make a difference. At Forestside Veterinary Clinic, we can discuss the different calming medications we have available from the more natural to the slightly stronger medications.

Grooming cats

Cats are generally good at keeping themselves clean, but they still benefit from regular grooming. Brushing helps reduce shedding, prevents hairballs, and keeps their coat free of tangles, especially for long-haired breeds. Regular grooming also allows you to check for fleas or skin issues.

While short-haired cats may only need brushing once a week, long-haired cats require more frequent grooming, ideally several times a week, to prevent mats. Grooming your cat regularly also strengthens the bond between you and your pet.

Some cats as they get older start to groom themselves less and can become quite matted if left for a long period of time. This can sometimes be due to an underlying disease such as arthritis. Removing matts can be quite painful for cats and many of them will require deep sedation to remove the matts.

Grooming as Part of Preventative Care

Grooming is a great opportunity to check your pet for any signs of skin problems, lumps, or parasites. Early detection of health issues during grooming can help address concerns before they become serious.

For advice on proper grooming routines, feel free to contact Forestside Veterinary Clinic and for more information online please see some excellent articles by the RSPCA on dog (https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/why-and-how-should-i-groom-my-dog/) and cat (https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/how-often-do-i-need-to-groom-my-cat/) grooming.