Long coats
Persians need a specialist.
Yes. Persians, Himalayans and Exotics ask more of a groomer than most cats do. Their coats are long and dense, so they mat faster and closer to the skin. They need degreasing and a thorough dry to clear the dead undercoat, and the face and the eyes need patient work. A groomer who handles cats and nothing else is what keeps that session calm. Sandi grooms cats only, sedation free, at your place.
What makes a Persian coat different?
A Persian coat is long and dense, and it carries far more undercoat under the top layer than a short-haired cat does. That undercoat sheds constantly and has nowhere to go, so it stays in the coat, held there by the grease at the base of it, and compacts. The same eight weeks that leave an ordinary coat untidy can leave a Persian coat felted against the skin.
The matting you can see is rarely the matting that matters. It forms at the base of the coat first, under a top layer that still looks and feels perfectly fine, which is why a long-coated cat can look immaculate from above and stop a comb an inch in.
How often does a Persian need grooming?
A long-coated cat needs grooming more often than a short-coated one, and the schedule is what keeps it out of trouble. Kept on a cycle of eight weeks or less, a Persian coat stays on maintenance sessions: a bath, a full dry, a comb out, and the trims that stop mats before they start. Past nine weeks a coat has usually compacted far enough to need a full single session to restore it.
Where inside that band a particular cat sits is something Sandi decides after she has seen the coat, not a number given over the phone. Four and six weekly are the two cycles she holds standing appointments in, as Monthly Manes and Sophisticated Six.
Why does cat-only handling matter for a flat-faced cat?
Handling matters most where the work is closest to the face. A flat-faced cat has less room around the nose and the eyes to work in, so the face is done slowly, by hand, and stopped the moment the cat says so. A groomer who works on cats every day of the week reads that moment. That is the whole of what cat only means here, and it is why Sandi does not take dogs.
The mobile studio takes the rest of it out before the session starts: no car trip across town, no waiting room, no dogs barking through the wall. Your cat goes out to the trailer in its carrier, for safety, gets one groomer’s whole attention, and is back inside when it is done.
What happens in a session?
Every new cat starts with a full coat and behavioural assessment inside the first session, which runs up to two hours. On a long coat that usually means degreasing and a bath with products formulated for feline skin, a full blow dry, and a comb out that clears the dead undercoat the grease was holding in. Trims are decided from there: a hygiene shave, a mane trim, a comb clip or a lion clip.
One groomer and one cat, sedation free, at your place. If the coat has already matted, it is booked as a single session and cleared from underneath rather than combed at from above.
Long coats, answered
Does a Persian have to be bathed?
A long coat needs a bath in a way a short one does not. A cat licking itself moves saliva around, it does not lift the grease at the base of the coat, and it is that grease which holds the dead undercoat in place.
A bath with products formulated for feline skin, and the blow dry after it, is what clears the undercoat out. That is the part a cat genuinely cannot do for itself.
Can I keep a Persian coat up at home?
Combing at home helps and it is worth doing, as long as you comb to the skin rather than over the top of the coat. A comb that stops short has found the beginning of a mat.
What home combing cannot do is lift the grease that holds the dead undercoat in, which is what a bath and a proper dry are for. The two jobs are different and both are needed.
What is a lion clip?
A lion clip takes the body coat down short and leaves the head, the lower legs and the tail, which is where the name comes from. It grows back.
It is one of the trims Sandi offers, alongside a comb clip, a bolero clip, a hygiene shave and a mane trim. Which one suits a cat depends on the coat and on how far any matting has gone, and it is decided in the session rather than in advance.
Do you come to my suburb?
Sophisticated Manes covers Cardinia Shire and the City of Casey, across South East Melbourne, and the trailer comes to your driveway.
Officer, Berwick, Pakenham and Cranbourne are inside the usual run, and so are the streets between them. If you are not sure, confirm with Sandi that your area is within her range when you book.
How do I book a first session?
Send Sandi a question through the form on the contact page, or phone her. She reads it herself and calls or texts back to arrange the session.
She speaks to every new client before their first groom rather than handing them a calendar, and she asks for your address at booking, so she can tell you whether your place works.
Persians, Himalayans and Exotics are all welcome. If you are not sure where your cat’s coat sits, ask Sandi rather than guess.
Learn your cat’s coatWhat to do about a badly matted catWhat each session includes