In the world of pet care, where dogs often take center stage, there exists a rare and remarkable niche that's tailor-made for those with a deep love for feline friends. In our newest blog, Melissa, owner of A Touch Of Class Pet Grooming in Yuma, Arizona, and a cat-exclusive groomer extraordinaire, whose journey into the art of cat pampering has been nothing short of a whisker-twitching adventure. In this captivating blog, Melissa invites you to step into her world, where her passion for cats has taken her on a remarkable journey. Join us as we unravel her captivating story, one cat at a time, and discover how her path led her to become a true maestro in the delicate art of cat grooming.
How I got into the Industry:
I began in the pet industry back in 1996. When my mother opened her first grooming salon in Apache Junction Arizona. I come from a ?grooming family?. My mother, my sister, and now our children, also groomed. I used to joke I was the ?black sheep? of the family because I could never groom as well as my mother or as fast as my sister. In 2009 I noticed the cat groomer working at my mother's salon would often rake in a significant paycheck compared to those of us just grooming dogs. That?s what got me to notice cat grooming at first, the pay. I would do the payroll for my mother and the pay was much higher.
Cats should be a higher priced grooming ticket do to the fact so many do not groom cats or can/want to groom them. They were priced as high as our largest dog groom but seem to take her less than an hour to groom. Better money and is not as time-consuming. The owners seemed grateful too. I HAD to learn!
How I Navigated into the World of Cats:
When I started trying my hand at cat grooming, it was nothing like the dogs I had done. First off, no one, and I mean no one would teach me or show me at the salon. My mother my boss said I had to find my own cat clients and to be careful because she did not want injuries happening. I found the National Cat Groomers Institute online and bought the books and some videos. I was blown away when they arrived, none of my cat grooming look like anything in their books and videos. My feline grooms were not clean enough, not dry enough, using the wrong tools and I handled just like a dog groomer. I had no clue. I knew I needed help and my feline grooms needed work! I was determined to attend one of their school sessions one day and hopeful, I could possibly earn my CFMG-certified Feline master Groomer Certification.
In 2013 I went to South Carolina to learn at NCGI. It was a 10-day session, and I did work hard and I passed all 9 exams to earn my CFMG. It was not easy; I say it is one of the hardest Grooming Certifications I have ever done to this day. It was like learning to groom all over again, the first day in the grooming room there. But I did learn; boy did I learn.
When I Came Back Home as a CFMG:
Within 1 year I could not beat cat clients away with a stick! I did not win the Cat Groomer lottery; schooling is essential to learning. Just like somebody taught me to dog groom, somebody had to teach me to feline groom. I decided in 2016 I was done with canine grooming. How can I do a doodle for $145 that takes me 2 1/2 hours and then I do a cat and have it done in less than 45 minutes for the same price??? Money talks, and plus the doodle client was not always nice and has options with grooming. There are lots of very talented dog groomers in my current city. There are not very many Cat Groomers. We can walk into a dog grooming salon and see several groomers at a table each with a dog, you don?t walk into a cat salon and see four or five groomers grooming cats. I found the cat clientele to be more appreciative because they had fewer options to choose from. If you are good with cats, they will come. Many pet pros say ?Oh it?s just a cat that gets what it gets?. I find that when you know feline breed standards and you?re an educated, confident Cat Groomer, they are loyal and have a happier clientele, with a bonus of better pay.
Some say they don?t do aesthetically pleasing cat grooms, but I?m here to tell you cat people will pay for good grooming and stay. Whether dog or feline, they will come regularly when you do a fabulous job every time.
Cat Grooming Challenges:
The hardest things for me to learn was handling, and getting them clean, there?s an art to bathing a feline and getting them dry. I recommend getting training with a cat groomer, not just a dog groomer doing an occasional cat but someone who really does this. NCGI has a list of approved trainers and certifiers to learn from and those are usually the best.
If you want to be cat-exclusive in order to build clientele that lasts you will need grooming education. Become an expert in the field of feline grooming. Dog grooming professionals often can tell you what brushes, what combs what shampoos to recommend for the dog breed, and how often they should be coming in, many people have no idea what to recommend for a feline.
Persians types, Siberians, and domestics, I know what to recommend, I know their dilute cat coat color will matt easier, and I know that when I look in the customer cat crate and I see a calico that cat is a female because it is a female sex link color pattern. I also know that my client brought her new Siberian cat in and I said what a beautiful classic tabby pattern. Even if the client doesn?t know what pattern that is, I do, which builds a client?s trust.
It is not just a cat here.
My Advice to Future Cat Groomers:
My best advice to anyone wanting to up their cat game is to take a good cat class or get training with a cat groomer. I became a certifier for NCGI in 2016.
I have taught groomers from all over the world in my salon, and this year 2023 I had 5 Groomers from the UK here in my salon. It is something that I enjoy doing helping others learn and I have plenty of cats here to learn on. I feel like cat grooming is almost a separate industry because some groomers I meet have never groomed a dog, ever. I have met Cat Groomers now that I?ve never done dogs in their life and have very successful cat-only businesses. My salon is growing here in Yuma Arizona. We opened in 2011 doing both cats and dogs. At our pet salon, we have 2 dog groomers and myself as a cat groomer. One employee is just 2 tests away from finishing her CFMG and ready to make the jump to cats. I groom cats in the back of my salon in a groom room separate from dogs. I have outgrown my current space.
We are going to be opening Arizona's first cat hotel by September 2023.
We will have Cat exclusive grooming and luxury boarding. We have rented a beautiful facility, but we were met with a little bit of red tape from our city, and hopefully planning and zoning will approve our facility when we have our last meeting. Very excited for the next chapter of growth.
I will say this in closing, I?ve been grooming for over 20 years, and I found a new life in my long career as a pet groomer, and that is grooming Felines.
The black sheep has finally found her place and that?s with the cats.