Grooming

Siberian fur & care

Grooming Needs for
Siberian Cats

Nail Care

Video of how to clip your cat's nails

The FU R minator

KONG Zoom Groom

Scissor-style Clipper -
recommended

Guillotine-style
Clipper

Kitty will do their part to keep their claws
manicured - they chew on the back nails, removing
old or dead nail, and they use a scratching post
that grooms their claws - but also sharpens them

Before I go into any further explanation, I need to emphasize that
DECLAWING IS NOT AN OPTION!!!!
We will not sell to anyone who is planning on declawing their pet, and if after a sale we find that someone did
go ahead and declaw, this is a breach of contract, and we have the right to remove the kitty from your home
without a refund of your money! That is how serious we are about how cruel declawing is to cats

The secret to the Furminator is a patent-pending tool designed to stop the shedding where it
begins in the undercoat of your pet. This revolutionary grooming device utilizes a unique blade
that removes loose hair while leaving your pet with a shiny and healthy coat. Proven to
decrease shedding up to 90% and reduce shedding for about four to six weeks.
Recommended by doctors for people who have allergies

There are several less expensive
versions of FURminator that you can
get at about 1/2 the price

Siberians have a three layer coat once they reach about 2 yrs of age, although the coat
continues to thicken up to their full maturity at five years old. The coat is made up of a very
soft, down like undercoat, longer medium-length hairs that lay flat on the undercoat, and
then an outer coat with even longer fur, that has a sort of course appearance and feel to it,
as well as feeling a bit greasy. This is the protective coat that has protected the Siberian
from the harsh winters of Northern Russia and Northwest Siberia. Some Siberian outer
coats may be less water-repellant, and a softer texture. This is because some Siberian
genetic lines have had some out-cross breeding to Persians in the past to try to improve on
breed characteristics, but that have actually changed the breed somewhat. This is
noticeable between Siberians raised and bred in Russia and East Europe compared to those
that are seen as American "versions" of the Siberian.

Your Sib will not need strict attention to combing or brushing
during their first year of life - they really have only started to
fill in a couple of the coats. But what is important to do is still
brush them at least weekly to keep them used to being brushed.
The "Zoom Groom" brush is excellent for just pulling out any
surface dead hair and the rubber 'tongue' pattern on the brush
makes it feel like another cats tongue grooming them. Most Sibs
grow to really like this (after they realize it isn't a toy).

At around a year old, your Sib will start to shed with the seasons - Spring & Fall they will
shed their undercoats to make way for layers that are proper for the season. We call
this 'blowing' their coats, because it isn't like the constant small amounts of shedding
that most breeds have, but a quick and blustery ridding of their undercoats - to the
point it can change the color of your carpet overnight!

This is the time a brush like The FURminator becomes a
necessity. If you look thru their website, you will see pictures
of the animals that were groomed with these brushes - with
the hair that was removed all around them - it's a pretty
amazing sight to see.

Now, your Sib may not fully comprehend why it is necessary to use such a 'nasty' little
comb like that on them, but your home will thank you, and your Sib will have a wonderful
sheen and texture to their beautiful coats.

These special combs can also help to prevent mats from forming. The typical spots for
mats to appear - behind the back leg 'knee' joint, under their front leg 'armpits', and
areas on their ruffs. On occasion, they can get some on their bloomers as well. Some Sibs
have a fur texture that is almost like a soft sheep curly wool, and this can knot up quite
easily and will need consistent grooming to prevent these from forming. Sometimes it
just isn't worth your Sibs impatience with getting out a mat that is too tight to pull apart.
In this case I take a scissors - VERY CAREFULLY to the mat - If you have two people it
works better. You most definitely do NOT want to cut their skin. If you leave these
sorts of mats unattended to, they will just grow into larger mats of the soft underfur
woven with the upper layers of fur, and the mats will be so close to the skin it may be
necessary to shave the area with electric clippers, which may be a job for a professional
groomer or a vet tech. Because the Siberian has three layers of fur, it will take a long
time for all the fur to grow back and there coat to become full again.

When your kitten is just a couple of weeks old, they have
their claws clipped for the first time - and then every 1-2
weeks thereafter, since they grow so fast during this
phase, and thru about their 3rd year. So by the time they
get to you, your baby will know what "Clippy-Claw" time is.
That does not mean they will be fully cooperative and just
lay there. Here are some important tips to grooming your
kitty's nails

1. During cuddle time, gently play with your kittens paws - not to get them
annoyed, but to feel you handle their paws, and you can practice extending
the claw from its sheath.

2. Sometimes when you come at your cat with a new 'tool' that they do not know what it is, they
may balk at having this invasion of their privacy. So, go ahead, show them the tool - tell them what
it is for, and just let them smell it - try to get them to rub some of their kitty spit on the clipper
to essentially 'mark' their grooming tool. I also lightly stroke their back and sides with the
clippers talking soothingly to them. Once they are relaxed, then we can start.

3. Choose a time of day when your kitty is sleepy and has been napping. They are much more open
to you coming to sit next to them, pet them, hold their paws, and start to clip claws. Once you get
good at it, you will be done with all the front nails before they know what hit them!

4. Go at the pace that you and your kitty are comfortable with. If you are only able to clip three
claws at a sitting, that's fine. You just do a few more each day. And that's not a real bad idea
because it starts to become a little more routine for them.

5. I can not emphasize this point enough - PRAISE your kitty when they don't struggle and they
let you just clip the claw. Do it for each claw they do this. They LOVE to hear how proud of them
you are. And finishing up with a treat after the entire session is done helps to reinforce that
clipping claws is not an activity to fear, but just another opportunity to cuddle with you. My male
Sib pets actually lay on their backs in my lap with their paws in the air, and we snuggle and clip
claws at the same time - they absolutely love it! And I'm not kidding!

6. All of the tips so far are to get you to be able to groom the
front claws. If you don't, they can get their paws caught on
the couch, bedspread, rug, your clothes, without even trying. If
you have ever seen some women from Asia with a tradition of
growing out their nails - those nails just start curling around
back on themselves. Well, in a sense, this is what starts to
happen - your kitty would not be able to retract their claws to
get them out of the way, and they get stuck on everything.
Also, this can be painful because if they get their nail stuck,
they will sometimes fight and pull to get away, and rip out the
nail itself. This can lead to infection. Also, long claws are
uncomfortable for you when playing with your kitty, and can
also be dangerous to another kitty's or puppy's eyes. So nail
clipping is an essential grooming activity.

7. The back claw clipping is a whole other procedure. Your cat will continuously try to pull their
paw away from you, and they just seem much more sensitive to people touching the back paws. So
the key is to do them quickly, while distracting your Sib with talking to them, praising and soothing
voices to keep them calm. There's only four nails in the back - this can go much quicker

8. Your Sib can have various reactions to having this procedure done - they can purr - they can try
to 'help' you with the clippers, they can persistently pull the paw away, they can growl, hiss, bite
(only lightly - they have learned 'bite suppression' so they will not break skin, and that is a point
where you tell them 'no biting'. If you have to box them on the nose lightly to get their attention,
then do that). Your Siberian absolutely loves you and thinks that the sun rises and falls by your
coming and going. They are like a kid carrying on about having a splinter removed. Except having a
splinter removed actually hurts. Nail clipping should not hurt your Sib if you do it correctly. See
the step by step video on how to clip your cats claws.

Closeup of a cat's nail that has been forced from it's
sheath. You want to clip the white, opaque end of the
claw, and stay away from the 'quick' which is the blood
supply to that nail. We, in fact, "take just the tip" in
our cats because we don't want to accidentally hit the
quick where it will hurt, and you will lose some of their
trust for you doing the procedure. Using a guillotine
style clipper will also put some pressure on the quick -
the scissor type clippers will if they are dull. So the
further away from the quick, the better. The nails will
grow back quicker, however, and you may be clipping
claws more frequently this way. But you are likely to
have a more cooperative kitty that will recognize this as
a routine rather than an hardship.

If you do cut into the quick, your kitty may cry and withdraw their paw (or hiss, spit, or give
you the evil eye). They will not bleed to death, but you should hold some pressure over the end
of the nail for a minute until the bleeding stops, and talk soothingly to them. Some nail clipper
kits come with a substance you can put on any nail that was cut into the quick.

Main

Back

See Playtime for info on scratching post importance

November 26, 2012

Read THIS PAMPHLET by a company that
specializes in dental care for pets - great
pictures of teeth & kitty gums with gingivitis

How to Brush your Kitty's Teeth

Dental Care: Kitties have teeth, too

Cornell University -brushing teeth
Cornell University - dental info
Virbacvet: Terms and Facts on Feline Dental Care

Matt Removing Tool - note the dog on the
cover. Several good 'cat' tools are found in the
dog section. This one that we use has curled
tines that have a sort of an irregular, razor
sharp blades edges inbetween the tines. You
can insert it in the mat and gently curl it thru
the mat - it cuts the fine underfur that causes
the matting

This 'brush' by Four Paws is great for
combing thru the fur before it gets to
a bad matted stage. The tines again are
metal - careful when you comb because
the cat's skin is sensitive and the
metal tines are hard. You can use this a
bit like a wool-parter - use it gently to
pull the mats apart enough so you can
either get them fully combed out, or
away from the skin to be able to cut
them out (see below)

NOTE: You do NOT need to buy all of these tools before bringing your kitten home. We would only
recommend getting the Zoom Groom, and then see how your babies fur develops as they get older.
Often if you have a Siberian Colorpoint, or Torbie that has a lot of white, you may not even need
such tools as described above. We can help you determine what the consistency of your babies fur
will be like as they grow older (it will be like one of their parents or a combination of the two).