I love the comments and questions that get posted during my free webinars. This one from The 3 Biggest Mistakes Groomers Make When Grooming Cats (and how NOT to make them) webinar concerns a topic I get asked about a great deal: aggressive cats!
“I would love to see how you deal with fractious cats,” the attendee posted in the live chat box during a recent webinar.
And guess what? You can! I’ve even got a totally FREE PDF DOWNLOAD for you with 5 of my top tips used for handling fractious cats all by myself!
The second DVD I ever did, entitled Kryptonite for Cats, was filmed after I had hit the seminar circuit doing demonstrations on various cat grooms. During my seminars, the aggressive cat questions would always come up. You see, many groomers, when dealing with an aggressive cat acting like the one in the video clip below, would often not get past the initial removal from the crate and subsequent nail trim. The cat would be so bad at this point that the assumption was there was no way this cat could also make it through a bath and blow dry. Just no way! However, I disagreed with that assumption and set out to prove it by way of actual proof in a video when I could tell my answers to the aggressive cat questions at seminars were met with too much skepticism.
In Kryptonite for Cats DVD I groom 2 different cats, by myself, all they way through to a complete groom. And one that actually looks good. One of cats I would consider a 9 on the “aggression scale” and the other probably not more than a 3 or so, but……he’s just the type of feline that demonstrates how proper handling and a healthy dose of confidence can truly make all the difference in the world. He’s the typical cat that seems so much worse at the beginning than he really is. But, when handled by a groomer that knows what they’re doing, the story has a great ending. The secrets I used on the Kryptonite cats as well as thousands and thousands of others over the years, even those turned away by vets and other groomers, is contained in the free PDF download below. I hope you’ll check it out.
In Get a Grip DVD, my daughter Olivia, a Certifier with the NCGIA as well as the owner and operator of her own feline-exclusive salon, grooms a feisty feline with a whole lot of attitude. By herself. Start to finish. And he looks good in the end. The cat in that video is a long-time client’s cat that I started grooming more than 15 years ago. Now, my daughter has the pleasure of grooming this boy every month and she does an amazing job. It’s all captured in Get a Grip DVD if you want to see it for yourself.
More recently, with the online training courses the National Cat Groomers Institute launched in 2016, a variety of video demonstrations with thorough explanations have been included in Grooming the Aggressive Cat, The Bath: Why and How, and Cat Grooming Basics – Foundation to Success. In addition, the Nail Trims & Soft Paws course as well as Upsells and Add-Ons course both contain footage of me grooming fractious felines. So yes, YES you can see how I deal with fractious felines! And you can see it over and over and over again to your heart’s content!
And then there’s Daisy, the 1 year old domestic shorthair rescue kitty that had never been groomed before. Until the day i groomed her in a mobile grooming van during the On the Road with Jodi and Danelle video shoot in NJ some years back. Daisy was a perfect candidate for the lesson I gave on getting off on the right foot when you work with a cat born with street smarts, wrapped in fear of all things unknown. What an opportunity we have here, folks, to change things up for these cats and their owners! Do you get this? Do not be that person that ruins things for cats like Daisy because you don’t know quite what you are doing. Learn the stuff. Get the training. Then….go out and conquer. If you want to see this in action, you can watch Daisy in On the Road with Jodi and Danelle, another video packed with useful content that can make such a difference and possibly save a life or a finger as well as help you grow your business. You’ve got to ask yourself, what is this investment worth? When you get a $27 video or a $100 online course, will the investment give you a fantastic return? I guarantee it will if you watch and learn and then put this stuff into practice. You certainly won’t find this kind of training and information anywhere else in the world. Google it. Do a search. There is nothing comparable anywhere on the planet.
So if you want to see how I handle fractious felines, wonder no more! It’s all there for you – not only do you get to see it, but you also get to LEARN from it! GET MY FREE PDF DOWNLOAD NOW with 5 of my top tips for doing this yourself. You can get started today simply be getting the PDF and following the methods shared.
What’s funny is that for many years now it seems that most aggressive cats I am handed turn out to be fairly mellow once I start handling them. This played out over and over again during the former National Cat Groomers School program that my amazing staff and myself operated for 6 years. Each time a student had a fractious feline in their charge that started to get really out of hand, things would change dramatically once myself or an instructor stepped in to take over and demonstrate how things should be done. It truly was an amazing transformation that clearly showed me the incredible value in firm, confident control based on knowledge. This was not “winging it”, folks. This stuff is real. It makes a difference.
Several months ago I was teaching a workshop in Minnesota. The host asked if she could bring in an un-groomable Maine Coon to be used as my demo cat on day one. I told her to bring this big, fractious fella in on day two instead so that I could use him as a demo cat but also teach one of her staff members how to handle the guy and get him groomed to the end. It only made sense since what truly mattered when I left is that this naughty feline with his mats and dirty coat would need ongoing care, and it would be her staff that would be there to do the job. So on day two of the workshop, the Maine Coon was there, with all his attitude and fight.
This particular cat had been used previously for another workshop taught by another person and was determined to be truly un-groomable. He was sent away without being groomed at all during the previous workshop. On the second day of my workshop, I groomed this guy. All the way to the end. He gave me the run-around for the nail trim – the usual stuff. I’ve seen it a thousand times. Attitude, hissing, swatting, growling, attempting to bite, the quick roll-over as they go for the kill – the whole 9 yards. He came prepared to be sure. But so did I. The day prior I had taught the attendees a whole lot of material on how to handle this type of situation as well as many others. So that day it was time to put it into practice. A few minutes into the bath, this guy was putty in my hands. I then passed over the task to one of the staff members, providing on-going instruction to be sure things did not make a turn for the worse. We replayed this same battle for control during the drying process and, by the time the big Maine Coon with anger management issues was on the table for his final comb out (now entirely mat free!), he was purring and making biscuits on the table (kneading his paws – a sign of total contentment). What a transformation! Witnessed by the entire group of attendees!
In fact, one of the attendees that day, Emily from MN, had this to say about her experience:
“The first time I saw Danelle was at the Midwest grooming expo and I attended her workshop on growing your business….I was instantly hooked on everything she was saying most of all I was already feeling what she was saying! I was so motivated that I again found out she was gone be in MN again for a smaller workshop and she would be doing a cat demo…this cat was supposed to be aggressive and a handful …well you would never have guessed that watching her handle the cat with appropriate techniques that kept the cat cool and collected …she made it look so easy and effortless! I’d even say that cat was pretty compliant by the time he was finished :)…watching that cat demo has inspired me to reach the goal of being able to know and properly apply great handling techniques to be able to handle any type of cat that walks into my salon!”
I truly appreciate Emily sharing her take on the day!
Below I share with you MY TOP 5 SECRETS for handling fractious felines via the Action Sheet below. These are some of the very things I’ve been teaching at my seminars and through the NCGIA training material. These things work for me and for other CFMGs and students of the NCGIA around the globe that are grooming aggressive cats, solo, and making them look good when they are done. What a reputation builder! And in turn, what a business builder!
I want YOU to be able to handle these tricky cats, by yourself, with confidence and finesse, turning out beautiful grooms each and every time. That starts with these 5 incredibly important ingredients I learned the hard way a very long time ago. I’m sharing them with you now so YOU don’t have to learn the hard way.
Get MY TOP 5 SECRETS for handling fractious felines now by clicking here. It’s free 🙂
Sincerely, DanellePS. I’ve got some other questions to address from my 3 Biggest Mistakes webinar. Watch for those in subsequent posts!
I’m a vet nurse that also grooms dogs but would love to learn how to groom cats without sedation