Pet Grooming Orange County

Tips for Boarding Your Cat

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Tips for Boarding Your Catcat boarding

At some point you will most likely need to leave your cat behind as you venture away for business or pleasure. While a well-meaning friend or neighbor might be willing to watch your beloved pet for you, they might not understand his or her needs as well as a professional will. Leaving your cat at a professional cat boarding facility can help ease the pain of separation for both you and your cat.

Before leaving your cat at a boarding facility you will want to make sure that it fits your pet’s needs. The following tips will help you determine if the boarding facility is right for your cat.

  1. A professional cat boarding facility should be clean with good ventilation. An overwhelming smell of pet waste or chemicals should always be a warning sign.
  2. The facility should offer sufficient space for your feline friend.
  3. The facility should offer some privacy for pets.
  4. Cats in the facility should be relatively quiet.
  5. The facility should have an exercise space for cats. They should offer some time for cats to move and play every day.
  6. There should be ample security so that cats can’t escape.
  7. The facility should require proof of current vaccinations.
  8. The boarding facility staff should be friendly, knowledgeable and loving towards the pets in their care.

When visiting a cat boarding facility consider asking the following questions:

  1. Are bedding and food provided? What about cats with special dietary requirements?
  2. When is playtime/feeding time/housekeeping?
  3. What if my cat becomes injured or ill during their stay?
  4. Can my cat stay a few extra days if necessary?
  5. What are the boarding fees?

Once you have selected a boarding facility for your cat you will want to make sure that you leave sufficient contact information for both yourself and your veterinarian. If you will be unable to return home quickly, make sure that you also leave emergency contact information for a trusted individual.

Located right next door to Claws N Paws Day Spa, Claws and Paws Cat Boarding provides a luxurious, stress-free and safe environment for your cat’s away from home stays! When your feline friend needs a place to stay, you can be confident in knowing that we will provide them with the care and individual attention that they need. Free time, one-on-one attention and plenty of space to stretch their legs are just a few of the amenities that we provide.

We intentionally do not board dogs in order to keep a quiet, stress-free environment for our feline visitors. We strive to make the feline members of your family feel safe and secure with all of the comforts of home.

Please feel free to contact us for a tour of our facility or to set up an appointment.

Receive a free teeth brushing for your pet when you mention our blog!

Caring For Your Dog in the Spring

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Caring For Your Dog in the Spring

Both humans and animals experience changes to their skin and hair during the spring. Diseases of the skin are extremely common this time of year due to excessive shedding and sweating. It is for this reason that pets require special attention during the spring. While skin infections will require a trip to the veterinarian, there are a few things that you can do at home to care for your dog.

During the spring, dogs tend to shed their fur. Even though this process is normal, it can lead to dry skin and other issues if the shedding hair isn’t properly removed. During the spring make sure that you brush your dog every day to help remove dead hair and restore any lost oils to the skin. This will help you spot any skin issues or allergies before they become a problem.

Caring for your dog’s paws is essential all year long. During the spring, dry weather can lead to cracked pads and dry nails. When dogs lose moisture in their nails they run the risk of chipping them. Prevent this problem by moisturizing your dog’s paws regularly. Ask your veterinarian which products they recommend for use on your dog.

Exercise is extremely important for you and your dog. Dogs are active animals and should get plenty of exercise every day. The warmer weather makes it possible to take more walks outside. Increase the amount of walks gradually as your pet becomes accustomed to the extra exercise.

Dogs can be prone to springtime allergies. Pollen from flowering trees and excessive dust can cause problems for your pet. Keep an eye on how your pet reacts to common allergens. Sneezing, watery eyes and skin irritation are all signs of allergies. While serious allergies will need to be cared for by a veterinarian, sometimes a soothing oatmeal bath is all they need.

We hope that this information has been helpful as we strive to provide education on all aspects of pet care.

Claws N Paws Day Spa offers quality dog and cat grooming in Orange County, California. We can help you with your pet’s grooming needs this spring. For more information, or to schedule a grooming appointment, please call 714-962-1005.

Receive a free teeth brushing for your pet when you mention our blog!

 

Keeping Your Pet Cool

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Keeping Your Pet Cool

Spring and summer in Southern California can get extremely hot. You will want to keep yourself and your furry friends cool. The following tips can help you keep your pet cool during the hotter months of the year.

Never leave your pet alone in a parked car for any length of time. It gets very hot, very fast inside a parked vehicle. Even a short period of time in a parked car can be fatal. If you will be going somewhere that doesn’t allow pets, then it’s best to leave them at home.

Offer your pet lots of clean, cool water throughout the day. In fact, a bowl of clean water should always be available. On very hot days, your pets might enjoy it if you add some ice cubes to their water.

Provide your pet with plenty of shelter from the sun. Dogs cool themselves by panting and this works best if the air around them is cooler than their own body temperature. Make sure that your pets always have a shady place where they can safely get out of the sun.

Keep your pets inside when it’s really hot outside. A pet’s normal body temperature ranges between 100 and 103 degrees Fahrenheit. When it’s that hot or hotter outside it can be extremely difficult for pets to cool themselves through panting. On very hot days your pets are much safer inside.

Brush your pet regularly. Brushing your pet removes any dead undercoat. This helps the air circulate near their skin, keeping them cooler. In addition to keeping them cooler, regular brushing helps prevent skin infections and matting. If possible, brush your pet every day.

If your pet does overheat then you will need to act fast. Take your pet to a veterinarian right away. Signs that your pet might be overheating include breathing problems, excessive panting, drooling, weakness, stupor and an elevated heart rate. Extreme symptoms could include seizures, vomiting, fever over 104 degrees Fahrenheit and bloody diarrhea.

We hope that this information has been helpful as we strive to provide education on all aspects of pet care.

Claws N Paws Day Spa offers quality dog and cat grooming in Orange County, California. For more information, or to schedule a grooming appointment, please call 714-962-1005.

Receive a free teeth brushing for your pet when you mention our blog!

 

Should You Shave Your Pet This Spring?

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Should You Shave Your Pet This Spring?

Spring in Southern California is often hot and uncomfortable. Many of us will be shedding down to shorts and tank tops. You might be wondering whether stripping down your pet’s coat for the warmer weather is a good idea. While you might think it will keep them cooler, many experts recommend against shaving to keep them cool.

Your pet’s hair isn’t like your own. A pet’s coat is designed to keep it cool during the hotter months and warm during the winter. When you shave your pet, you can interfere with its built-in temperature regulation. Cats in particular are extremely good at regulating their own body temperature without human interference.

Many dogs are specially bred to have thicker coats than others. These breeds can often use a little help cooling off during the hotter months. If your dog has a very thick coat, it might be a good idea to shave them once the weather begins to warm up. Just be sure to leave about an inch and a half of hair to protect them from sunburn. Resist shaving shorter hair breeds whenever possible.

If your dog spends a lot of time outside, has a matted coat and gets wet often then shaving might be necessary to avoid a condition called myiasis. Also, if your dog is prone to hot spots, then a shave might be helpful.

If you do plan to shave your pet this spring make sure that you take them to a professional groomer with lots of experience. This will help to prevent nasty cuts, clipper burns and other problems with the skin and coat.

Claws N Paws Day Spa opened in 2001. Unlike many other Orange County grooming shops, we are not a chain store that is required to follow corporate rules. Instead, we are able to bend certain policies in order to better accommodate you and your pet.

Pet safety and comfort is always our number one concern. We are not a small or un-established grooming shop that must purchase only bargain shampoos and discount grooming supplies. When it comes to the health and safety of your pets, we will always choose quality over cost. In addition, our four groomers each have between five and twenty years of grooming experience totaling a whopping fifty years of combined experience!

Grooming appointments are scheduled throughout the day so that each pet can receive individualized attention and go home as soon as it is finished. We will never keep your pet all day. Our grooming shop is sprayed for fleas every single month. In fact, we will not accept pets that are infested with fleas, without de-fleaing them first. This ensures that other pets will not bring fleas home from our establishment.

Claws N Paws is one of the few grooming shops in Orange County that is recommended by several local veterinarians. While we might not be your cheapest option, when shopping around for a grooming shop please keep in mind that you will always get what you pay for!

For more information, or to schedule a grooming appointment, please call 714-962-1005.

Receive a free teeth brushing for your pet when you mention our blog!

 

Spring Safety for Cats

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Spring Safety for Cats

Spring is just around the corner and many of us are already enjoying the warmer weather in Southern California. Unfortunately, hundreds of cats are injured during the spring. The cause of these springtime injuries might surprise you.

Cats love windows. They use them to watch birds and people passing by. They enjoy the warm sun and spring breezes, and they often sleep beside them. However, cats frequently lean on screens and sometimes pounce against them when excited. If the screen isn’t properly latched, or the window has no screen at all, the cat can easily fall. This happens so often that it is known as “high-rise syndrome”.

It only takes about five or six inches for a determined cat to slip through an opening, and regardless of what you’ve heard, cats do not always land on their feet. Even a short fall can cause serious injuries.

The best way to prevent injuries to your cat this spring is to make sure that your window screens are securely in place. Never open your windows more than three or four inches. This will allow the fresh air inside without allowing your cat to force its way out.

When opening doors that lead outside, make sure that your cat isn’t lurking nearby, planning its great escape. Make sure that your doors always close securely behind you whenever you leave the house. Also, it’s important that children and guests know this rule as well. If you are planning a trip away from home, you will need to let your pet sitter know that your cat is an “indoor only cat” and that they need to be very careful not to let them out of the house.

Unfortunately, high-rise syndrome is a sad reality for many pet lovers and their furry companions. While you enjoy the warmer weather of the spring and summer you will want to make sure that is a safe one for everyone, including your four legged friends!

We hope that this information has been helpful as we strive to provide education on all aspects of pet care.

Claws N Paws Day Spa offers quality dog and cat grooming in Orange County, California. For more information, or to schedule a grooming appointment, please call 714-962-1005.

Receive a free teeth brushing for your pet when you mention our blog!

 

Top Ten Situations That Groomers Face Every Day

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Top Ten Situations That Groomers Face Every Day

Despite what most people believe, pet grooming isn’t just playing with pets and giving them a haircut while they stand perfectly still. There are actually a lot of problems that can occur with grooming, caused by both the pets and their people. Believe it or not, most pets don’t enjoy having to stand still, having their nails trimmed, their ear hair plucked and having noisy clippers dragged all over their body.

Grooming a pet is very different than cutting a human’s hair. While people are able to sit still and actually enjoy the process of having their hair cared for, pets often soil themselves, wiggle constantly and sometimes even bite their groomer.

Let’s take a closer look at the top ten situations pet groomers face every day:

  • Groomers leave work looking like they’ve been in a fight
    One of the many ways that pets show their displeasure is by flailing about. This can happen while they are being groomed, bathed or simply when they are picked up. As they flail about, their claws dig into their groomer’s flesh, leaving them looking like they’ve been fighting with a thorn bush all day long.
  • Groomers must deal with persistent customers
    Many pet parents believe that persistence will pay off when trying to get a grooming appointment. These customers often try to get a same day appointment and refuse to give up, even when the groomer is booked solid for weeks.
  • Groomers are often paranoid about the way they smell
    Groomers spend their entire workday surrounded by a variety of smells including wet dog, urine, feces and bleach. This makes it virtually impossible to leave work smelling like a bed of roses.
  • Groomers must read between the lines
    Pet parents are often vague about how they want their pet groomed. Sometimes they ask for “short” when they only want a light trim, or they tell the groomer to do “whatever they think will look good.” This often leads to problems when their pet doesn’t look exactly how they think it should after their grooming appointment.
  • Appointment times are often ignored
    When a customer is given an appointment time it is generally understood that they should arrive at the correct time. However, many customers feel that appointment times are more like “guidelines” and arriving within a couple of hours of their appointed time is fine.
  • Groomer’s lung is real
    Thousands of tiny hairs blasting everywhere combined with the dander and dirt that comes off of pets and the perfumes in shampoos and sprays can cause significant damage to a groomer’s lungs.
  • A pet groomer’s hands suffer the most
    A pet groomer’s hands are constantly wet from giving baths, they get fried by the dryers, chaffed from the scissors, receive friction burns from the clippers and are constantly getting bit and scratched by pets.
  • Anal glands
    While many grooming shops empty a dog’s anal glands as part of the service, most of the time they will empty their gland’s themselves, often all over their groomer.
  • Pet parents often use misleading words when describing vicious pets
    Just because you call your pet “strong willed” or “a bit snappy” it won’t make it hurt any less when they bite your groomer’s finger off.
  • Matting and knots
    It’s not unusual for a pet parent to bring in an animal that is more knot than pet and claim that they don’t want it shaved. Unfortunately, the groomer must then explain that not shaving a pet in this condition would be inhumane.

Claws N Paws Day Spa offers quality dog and cat grooming in Orange County, California. For more information, or to schedule a grooming appointment, please call 714-962-1005.

Receive a free teeth brushing for your pet when you mention our blog!