What’s With These Judgmental Pet Services?

The groomer has “a zero-tolerance policy for repeated matting,” as if people choose to have their cats age and struggle to groom difficult-to-reach places. If a cat has previously had a matting problem, the groomer can charge a “double” matting fee or refuse service.

Bud’s got a spot of matted fur again, so I’ve been looking at local groomers.

It’s in the same place it was last time, a few inches up from his tail in a spot he can’t seem to groom as well as he used to. Part of that’s because he’s pushing 13 years old, and I’m sure part of it’s because he’s slightly overweight.

There’s a cat-only groomer not far from me, which seemed like a good option until I read the details on the groomer’s site.

They don’t offer stand-alone mat removal and insist it can only happen after a “spa treatment,” as if it’s based on a finely tuned scientific approach and Bud’s gonna sit there calmly and enjoy being fussed over.

Fine. Whatever. They want to up-sell a service and I want to take care of my cat.

But wait! There’s an extra fee for cats above a certain weight. Bud’s comfortably below it, but there’s also an extra special fee for “difficult” cats, and he’ll definitely incur that one. If I don’t drop him off exactly on time or collect him immediately, there’s another unspecified “small fee.” Appointments must be canceled a week ahead of time or there’s another fee.

Then I read this:

“Matting is 100 percent preventable and [grooming business name] has a zero-tolerance policy for repeated matting.

Repeated matting will result in doubled-matting fees or denial of service.”

Seriously? Anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I don’t just like my cat, I love him.

I’d do anything for him. The point is, I take care of the little dude. He is emphatically not neglected, and I’ve tried other things like regular brushing and the Furminator. He hates it, and I don’t blame him. It can’t be comfortable having metal teeth tugging at your hair, no matter how gently pressure is applied. Like all cats, he’s subject to the physical reality of aging, and he’s not a fan of being handled, so I do what I can within reason and within his tolerance.

That’s why I was able to keep the mat from returning for almost two years, and it’s why I am seeking the help of ostensible professionals. Of course he’s a pain in the Bud about being handled and clippers/shavers. I wouldn’t consult a professional if it were easy.

A gray cat sleeping comfortably on a plaid blanket.
Napping after a demanding day of eating and lounging.

I want to get his matted fur completely removed with minimal fuss, without judgment and without the possibility of half a dozen additional fees arbitrarily tacked on until I’m paying $350 to get rid of a mat.

Update: After he woke up from a nap and was extremely relaxed, I got in there calmly and quickly and cut the matted fur off myself, then trimmed until he started to get annoyed. I can always go back and get what’s left of it later when he’s chilled out again, and I’ll try some dry shampoo to hopefully get rid of any oils that may have built up and could cause matting again. I have no doubt this will be an ongoing problem since his tolerance for gentle brushing is about 20 seconds, but at least I took care of 95% of the problem relatively easily and, most importantly, he seems very happy not having the matted fur on his back.

The lesson here? Don’t prejudge your potential customers and write website copy as if you’re a custody court who’s going to reprimand me for allegedly being a bad caretaker before you meet me and understand what the situation is.

I get that groomers probably see some people who genuinely neglect their pets, but a key part of honest human communication is to avoid judging people and avoid allowing past experiences color your approach. It could cost you customers, as it did with this groomer.

28 thoughts on “What’s With These Judgmental Pet Services?”

  1. Oh buddy – you should know that Bella loves her Furminator, she really really loves it!!, we think its because she is a lazy groomer ( we think she is around 14-15 yrs old now) so us grooming her is another way of emphasising her power- she is not as active as she used to be although she does love to chase a toy mouse occasionally. Like his Buddiness napping is her thing definitely, plus clawing our bed ( and us) when she wants breakfast service. Long may it continue.

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    1. He’s a weirdo and doesn’t really like being brushed in general, but I think he especially dislikes the Furminator because he associates it with the mat he had last time, and I understand that. It’s gotta be painful to have that tugging at your hair.

      I’m glad Bella likes it. It makes sense that she’d see grooming as exercising her regal feline authority over her loving human servants.

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  2. I thought this was some sort of joke. One. Find another place. Two. Mats are not always preventable. My cat hated every comb known to man. Or i should say pet owner. He used to swipe at them and run away. For cats i take care of there were times when i took a scissor and very carefully cut mat off depending where it was while they were resting. 3. 🖕to anyone who would say i neglect my cat if they had mats.

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    1. Yep, they guaranteed they won’t get my business. Like I wrote, I do understand that the people who work at those places probably see some upsetting stuff, but you can’t assume that people are neglecting their cats because of mats when it’s common, especially in older cats.

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      1. I think the Furminator is medium cat bristled brush? That one is tolerated on most cats. The one with hard bristles is not and those blade ones are not. And soft bristles do not take mats out. I hope they go out of business!

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      2. The Furminator I have allows you to adjust the comb length for different cats and different areas on their fur. Like most cats, Bud’s dorsal fur is much shorter than on his underside.

        If it’s to the point where a mat is forming then you really do have a very limited time before they reach their limit.

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    1. Exactly, that’s what it feels like, and I don’t think they realize their business is supposed to help people and their cats, not judge them on things they can’t control. Surely groomers should understand this can become a problem not just for aging or chonky cats, but also based on genetics and even uncontrollable environmental things like air that’s too dry or humid.

      Charging people double is particularly off putting, as is threatening to refuse service.

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  5. What is thier policy on sick cats with a disease like FIP? I told you about Cosmo and how he was almost put to sleep before that drug was given. He had few mats and oily fur. He did not groom himself. He is good now.

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    1. There’s nothing on their site about that. As for FIP, it seems only specialized veterinary facilities with quarantine areas can handle it because the precursor is highly contagious.

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      1. I never really educated myself about FIP but his sister Luna is fine. She gets tested but that does not mean she cannot get it i guess.

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      2. It starts with a form of cat-specific coronavirus that can mutate to FIP. The coronavirus is contagious, but once it mutates to FIP, it can’t infect other cats anymore

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  6. Our late Little Buddy (my Gravatar cat) had semi-long fur. When he got a matt, I would use blunt-nosed scissors to clip an outer edge; wait a few days, and the fur under the adjacent matted fur would have grown out a bit; I’d clip a little more of the matt, wait again, repeat until I’d clipped all of the matt, little by little.

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    1. (I did not mean to “like” my own post. I was trying to check into who the two persons are who did “like” it. I cannot find either to be connected to the blogging world.)

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      1. No worries, I think pretty much all of us click or tap on stuff we don’t mean to, especially with phones.

        On a desktop you can hover the mouse over the “liked by” link see names and icons. Mobile may be different. WordPress seems to have its engineers endlessly tweak with the UI for no good reason.

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    2. Thanks for the advice, and that’s exactly what I’m going to have to do. Bud seems very happy that most of it’s gone, which makes me happy, so I think it’s gonna be preventative maintenance as well since I know that’s the one place he seems to have trouble grooming.

      I’ll tell him it worked for another Little Buddy so it’ll work for him too.

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  8. One of the reasons our boy Meow Meow was re-homed because you couldn’t brush him. He was a long haired boy, was like a puff ball and he got matted so easily. Especially when he got older and became blind (along with being deaf). We definitely did NOT mistreat him, but he got mats all the time. We did what we could. We had 3 adults, 2 women and one 6ft, 300 lb male, holding him and trying to comb him. It never worked. We’d cut off what we could and even that was fraught with scratches and bites. I felt so bad for him and tried to find a groomer and there were none in this area at all. Finally, my vet got a groomer who would also do cats. She said she’d take him. He’d get a “puppy cut”. He was so much more happy and he looked adorable. I felt like absolute shit taking him in the first time because I felt like people were going to judge us. The vet staff and the groomer were so wonderful. They completely understood where we were coming from. I was so happy I could make his life better. I miss that boy so much. Sweetest boy ever except when he needed to be brushed.

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    1. Thanks for sharing that, Carmen. It makes me feel better to know there are others who have had strong-willed cats, and that despite our best efforts, matting can recur.

      Your groomer is exactly what I’d like to find. Someone who understands this can happen even when we love our feline overlords and try our best to prevent things like matting.

      RIP good boy Meow Meow.

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      1. He was one strong cat! 16lbs. of pure muscle. My husband could barely hold him to clip the few mats we could get ourselves. He was my first cat and I loved him more than life itself. I had no idea I was facing the problems down the road that were coming from matting. I also had no idea that short haired kitties can get mats too. You’ve opened my eyes.

        I hope you find a groomer who you can work with.

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  9. I see that rampant capitalism is a alive and well in the grooming industry. I thought groomers do the job because they like the regular contact with animals. This groomer doesn’t seem to care much for the animals, but only for the profits they bring. Shocking, and from a longer term business perspective surely not very sensible either. “¡Hasta la revolución siempre!”

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    1. Great points, P. Like with doctors, I’m not sure some people in the animal services community understand that making people feel like they’ve done something wrong will mean they’re less likely to seek professional help. That doesn’t help anyone. Not the groomer, not me, and certainly not the cats.

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