Pet Grooming Orange County

Keep Your Pet Safe This Summer

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As temperatures rise in Southern California, it’s important to keep your pet safe. While a day in the sun might provide a welcome escape from the rainy weather we’ve experienced for most of the year, the heat presents a number of dangers for your pet.

Never Leave Your Pet in Your Car

A vehicle acts like an oven on warm days, reaching up to 170 degrees inside. It only takes a few minutes for the temperature inside your vehicle to cause harm to your pet. Never leave your pet in your vehicle alone, even for a few minutes. If you need to go somewhere that you can’t take your pet, it’s best to leave them at home.

Check Sidewalk Temperatures

Always check the temperature of sidewalks and roadways before walking your pet. If it’s too hot to touch, it’s too hot for your pet. It’s also important to make sure you check outdoor areas as well. Your pet should have plenty of room to get away from the sun and off the sidewalk. It might be best to keep them inside as much as possible during the summer. Pets that walk on hot cement risk serious burns to the pads of their feet.

Make Sure Your Pet Has Fresh Water At All Times

Just like humans, our pets need to keep hydrated throughout the summer. Make sure you keep fresh water available at all times. Try putting a few ice cubes in your pet’s water bowl to keep it cool.

Fleas

Fleas become more common during the warm summer months. Make sure you check your pet regularly for fleas. Look for flea dirt, which looks like coffee grounds against the skin. When wet, this “dirt” turns red. This is actually flea droppings. If present, you need to treat your pet for fleas. This is important whether you see live fleas or not.

Claws N Paws Day Spa offers summer haircuts for dogs and cats. Our groomers have years of experience providing pet grooming from our full service grooming salon in Orange County, California. Please call 714-962-1005 to set up a grooming appointment.

Is Your Pet’s Food Making Them Sick?

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We all want to take good care of our pets. Proper care includes making sure your pet gets enough exercise and eats a healthy diet. Unfortunately, not all pet foods are created equal. Many cheaper foods can actually make your pet sick. This is because low quality pet foods often contain insects, mites, and mold. Exposure can lead to chronic allergies and disease.

About Mold

Molds are members of the fungi family. Unlike other fungi, mold spores are invisible to the naked eye. Mold reproduces quickly by creating small, seed-like particles known as spores. Because mold spores are microscopic, they spread easily on the bodies of mites and weevils. When this occurs, it doesn’t take long for an entire bag of dog food to become contaminated.

Mold Poisoning

Just like humans, dogs can be allergic to mold spores commonly found in lower quality pet foods. An even greater danger lies in the potential ingestion of the poisons produced by mold. Although rare, symptoms of mold poisoning include:

  • Fever
  • Jaundice or yellowing of the skin and eyes
  • Dark colored urine
  • Persistent violent bouts of vomiting
  • Bloody diarrhea
  • Death

Even small amounts of mold can accumulate in a dog’s liver, causing serious problems over time. Unfortunately, there is no known cure once mold enters the liver.

Avoid Poor Quality Pet Foods

Every time you choose to feed your dog commercial pet food made with cheap, low quality cereal grains you put them at risk for mold poisoning. It isn’t clear how much mold needs to be present to cause a problem. Even small amounts of mold in pet food should be considered unsafe.

In order to protect your dog from the potential dangers of mold ingestion, avoid buying cheaply-made pet foods that contain grain by-products or mill waste.

Claws N Paws Day Spa offers dog and cat grooming in Orange County, California. Our groomers have years of experience providing a wide range of grooming services for our clients. For more information about choosing a pet food, or to schedule a grooming appointment, please call 714-962-1005.

 

 

Deciding on a Summer Haircut for Your Pet

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Summer is almost here. That means it’s time to start thinking about your dog’s summer haircut. While some people shave their pets short during the summer, others prefer to leave the hair long. As long as your pet doesn’t have any mats in their fur, there are numerous haircuts to choose from. Summer is the perfect time to experiment with a new haircut.

Shaving

Despite what many people believe, shaving your pet does not make them cooler in the summer. A pet’s coat helps keep them warm in the winter and cool in the summer, regardless of how long it is. However, there are exceptions to this rule.

Our Southern California heat can reach extreme temperatures. Dogs with heavy coats designed for year round cold climates might have a harder time staying cool throughout summer. Unfortunately, many of these breeds are not meant to be shaved completely. They have a double coat and shaving them can actually affect the way it grows back. For these dogs, we recommend a tummy shave. This allows them to lay on cold floors to cool off, without affecting the integrity of their coat.

Shedding

Another common belief is that shaving your dog will help prevent shedding. Unfortunately, this isn’t true. Short haired breeds still shed when shaved, the hair that falls is just shorter. These tiny hairs can become sharp little slinters, sticking into everything they encounter.

Dirt Build-Up

Certain breeds like cocker spaniels and poodles have a lot of thick hair on their legs. This hair can collect sand, dirt, and other debris during a trip to the beach. If your plan to take your pet to the beach this summer, you might want to consider keeping the fur on their legs short.

Personal Preference

Personal preference is the main factor when it comes to choosing a summer haircut. As Orange County’s premier grooming salon, we’ve seen everything from traditional breed cuts to Mohawks. If you’re unsure what’s best, please stop by our salon to discuss your options with our experienced groomers.

 

Summer Boarding for Your Cat

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Summer is almost here and many of us have already begun making plans. If you’re like most, you’ll be heading out of town this summer. Whether you’ll be gone for one weekend or three months, it’s important to consider your cat. Cats depend on us to keep them happy and healthy. Your cat relies on you to make sure they have plenty of food, water, and a clean litter box.  

Cats-Only Boarding Facility

Many pet parents worry about leaving their pet when they go on vacation. It can be stressful to leave the care of your beloved cat in the hands of someone else. It’s important to find someone who can properly care for your cat. This should be someone you trust with the experience needed to deal with any problems that arise.

Claws N Paws Cat Boarding offers cats-only boarding in our dog-free facility located in Fountain Valley, California. Our team has years of experience working with cats and know how to recognize and deal with a number of problems. We provide daily stimulation and activities for your cat to ensure they feel loved and get the exercise they require. We feed them twice daily and ensure they have fresh water at all times.

Our feline guests are never kept in cages. We provide each guest with their very own cat condo. Our condos are comfortable, climate-controlled, and provide your cat with plenty of room to move around. Rooms are available in two sizes to accommodate one or more cats.

All of our guests are provided with toys, blankets, and scratching posts. Our skilled cat experts love cats and are well trained to give our clients medication and special diets when needed.

Cat Grooming & Boarding in Southern California

Claws N Paws Day Spa offers dog and cat grooming at our full service grooming salon. Although pet parents can schedule grooming for their cat at any time during they stay in our boarding facility, many of our clients prefer to have their cat groomed immediately before pickup. Please call 714-962-1005 for more information about cat boarding or to set up a grooming appointment.

 

Does My Hairless Pet Require Grooming?

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Hairless pets have become extremely popular over the past few years. From guinea pigs to dogs and cats, it’s seems like every species has its own hairless version. If you’ve ever been fortunate enough to spend time with a hairless pet you’ll know how warm and cuddly these creatures are, even without the lush coat you’ve come to expect.

Many people with hairless pets have questions about grooming. While these animals do not require brushing, they do have special grooming needs that must be considered.

Bathing

Hairless pets become dirty much faster than your average pet. This is due to excessive skin oils. These oils protect your pet from skin irritation. Unfortunately, they can cause your pet to smell and develop an oily feeling when touched.

Regular baths are important to the care of any hairless pets. However, care must be taken not to dry out their sensitive skin. Use a mild shampoo to thoroughly bathe your pet once to twice a month. Make sure you clean their ears and between their twos as dirt and oils tend to collect in these areas. If irritation occurs, ask your vet for a non-irritating prescription shampoo.

Nails

Make sure that you keep your hairless pet’s nails trimmed as you would any other pet. Nails that grow too long are uncomfortable and pose a risk to your pet. If left to grow, they can curl back into the pads of the feet. This creates an expensive and painful situation for your pet.

Sun Care

Hairless pets do not have the same protection against the sun. This makes them prone to sunburn and skin cancer. If possible, keep your pet out of the sun. These breeds are best kept indoors. You can purchase special sunscreen from your local pet supply or your vet.

Claws N Paws Day Spa offers grooming for hairless pets from our full service pet salon in Orange County, California. We have extensive experience working with hairless pets and understand what it takes to keep them clean. Please contact us at 714-962-1005 for more information about grooming.

 

Why it’s Important to Get Your Cat Vaccinated

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It seems like every year more and more illnesses claim the lives of our pets. Fortunately many of these illnesses can be prevented. Modern medicine makes it possible for humans to treat and prevent numerous diseases that previously wiped out massive populations of pets.

Your cat depends on you to keep them healthy and comfortable. They rely on you for everything they need from food and water to shelter and medical care. They cannot tell you when they need to go to the vet. That is up to you to decide.

Regular vaccinations help keep cats safe from dangerous diseases such as feline leukemia and FIP. Unfortunately, vaccines are only good for so long. You can’t just get them once and hope your cat will be ok. Vaccines must be repeated at regular intervals to provide the highest level of protection.

Preventing the Spread of Disease

One of the greatest benefits of vaccinating your cat is that it helps prevent the spread of diseases. Even if your cat spends its entire life inside, you still put other cats at risk by not vaccinating. Cats are notorious escape artists. Even the most content house cat can find its way outdoors. If this occurs, an unvaccinated cat can easily contract a number of diseases from coming in contact with the feces of other cats, fighting with neighborhood cats, or even drinking contaminated water. Once infected, your cat can spread disease to even more cats.

If everyone vaccinated their cat, these diseases might cease to exist. If nothing else, they’ll become a lot less common.

Other Considerations

In addition to vaccinating your cat it’s also extremely important to have them spayed or neutered. Having your cat “fixed” prevents them from reproducing, reducing the number of stray, unvaccinated cats around. This is better for everyone, especially the cats and kittens left to fend for themselves.

Claws N Paws Day Spa offers dog and cat grooming as well as cat and kitten adoptions from our full service grooming salon in Fountain Valley, CA. Please call 714-962-1005 for more information about our services.