Cats are known for being highly efficient when it comes to self-maintenance. There are no other animals that can spend hours and hours in brushing its fur and licking her paws to puurfection. Cats are simply said – clean animals.

Regular grooming keeps them happy and healthy, above all. However, with season change and many other external factors, your BFF (Best Feline Friend, of course) needs some additional hand when it comes to keeping her grooming game on.

Make sure to choose the best grooming tools so you can be a pet owner for example. Read about essential and best grooming tools.

Although, cats are considered to be a low-maintenance pet, don’t’ be fooled in believing that you won’t have to do anything about making them purrfyllicious.

Cat Grooming

Cats are not only about regular trim and brush. They can benefit even more from regular grooming, cleaning, regular check-ins overall. Regular check-ups are a part of good grooming program. Especially when you have a kitten that’s ready for kitten vaccination.

Have you ever wondered, how often do I have to brush my cat? Every morning? Also night? Do I clean the cat’s ears? How to trim cat’s nails? Can I bath my cat? And if I have to do all that how to choose the right equipment? Is this the right brush? Should I have more than one brush? Can I trim nails, or vet should do it? Or a professional groomer? Is my cat in pain when I trim her nails? Does my cat like grooming?

Don’t worry, we know that it may be overwhelming, but with proper instructions, you will be set to safely and successfully groom your cat, and become the best cat groomer ever!

Therefore, we are set to share with you the top 5 essential cat grooming tools.

Deshedding Tool

One common trait in every single cat ever is that they shed. As a result, cat owners love is marked with traces of fur on pants or shirts. Sometimes it is often, sometimes occasionally or even never. It simply depends on how well you are dealing with grooming.

A good de-shedding tool is ‘a must’ of every cat’s owner home. If you are head over heels for your cat, but you are not so keen toward her hair, make sure to create a space accordingly. Remove the mats in common areas, tangles and avoid material that makes cats hair stick to it. And yes, keep a lint roller on hand.

Top 7 Essential Cat Grooming Tools

1. The Mighty Brush

To choose the perfect brush you need to determine your cat’s coat type. It means that the same tool won’t have the same effect on a long-haired cat as on short-haired cat. Their coats are made from three different hair layers.

Getting familiar with its structure will help you be prepared better for your grooming sessions. You will know how much time you need to end grooming action.

Down coat, known as an undercoat, is the layer that lays closest to the skin. Awn hairs are significantly longer and this layer makes the most of your cat’s coat. And final, but not the least is the guard hairs, which is the longest one. The third layer has a protection role. It’s designed to protect the undercoat.

Cat’s hair goes from being extremely long to non-existing. Nevertheless, by understanding your cat’s hair length you can choose the perfect tools for grooming.

Best Brush For Short-Haired Cats

Your cat is short haired if its hair is two inches long or slightly shorter. The most common short-haired cats are Siamese and American Shorthair.

These hairs require the least amount of grooming – once or twice a week. It’s recommended to groom them twice a week, with a slicker brush. The slicker brush is usually with metal rings, so you need to put additional attention when you are grooming the sensitive parts of the body, like the area around the belly, or belly itself.

Make sure that you start grooming this easy, calm and soft moves.

Best Brush For Medium-Haired Cats

Cats with hair two inches long or slightly longer are known as the medium hair cats, or semi-long. The most common cats in this category are American Wirehair and The Bengal.

Daily grooming is ‘a must’ with this cat group. Therefore, make sure that you spend at least 10-15 minutes per day for grooming these beauties. The best tool to use is a shedding comb. However, you can try the slicker brush as well and see what works the best.

Best Brush For Long-Haired Cats

Flickr: Paul Joseph

Cats with hair up to five inches or longer are considered to be long haired. Long hair cats are known for demanding a significant amount of grooming and are known for shedding. The most common long hair cats are adorable Himalayan and The regal Persian.

Long hair cats are not all about looking beautiful and standing still. No, they are entirely opposite, These gracious beings love to move around as much as they like owning a place.

With every move, they could leave a furry trail. Therefore, this group of cats is the most demanding when it comes to grooming. Daily grooming is a must and usually lasts between 15-25 minutes. For these long-haired beauties, the best brushing option is a mix of slicker brush and shedding comb. The most known pets equipment brands have got you covered for this quest.

2. Grooming Glove

Grooming gloves come with silicone or rubber nubby teeth on one side that is spread across the fingers and palm. They are designed for a soft, but strong, petting motions to remove the hair, and even stimulate cat’s skin. These gloves are great for cat/kittens who are not fond of brushing by their humans.

Gloves can let them believe that they are getting petted. These gloves are usually adjustable so you can move your hand naturally and apply the same pressure all over the cat’s body. They are often machine washable – talking about being sustainable and on a budget, no?

Furthermore, similar to these gloves are cat brush mittens, that are more suitable for larger cats. However, you may find the use of these mittens challenging if your hand are small because it can be hard to control them. The gloves are mostly right-hand only.

Fast fact: Grooming gloves are not suited for detangling.

3. Bath Without Water

Firstly, you should know that, if possible you should avoid bathing your cat. Cats are clean animals and they don’t need a regular bath, or bath whatsoever. However, there are some external moves that just require actions like this one. Like after being all day out and getting dirty.

Secondly, when and if it comes to this ‘bathing moment’ you should be aware of cat’s dislike bathing so be prepared for possible running and scratching.

Thirdly, you can always try with waterless bath. What does it mean? Waterless bath means that using the right say shampoo could be O.K. It will keep your cat clean, fresh and moisturized. In addition, your fluffy fur of cuteness will smell extra nice. Not that they don’t smell nice already, just nicer.

Quick tip: You can use one tablespoon of vinegar mixed with three glass of warm water to spray your cat in small fractions and towel her immediately.

4. Nail Clippers

You have two options when it comes to nail clipping. You can take your BFF to the vet and pay for nail clipping, or you can use that action for some bonding and do it yourself.

The most important thing about nail clippers, as equipment, is the fact that they are inexpensive, and they rarely go over $10. In addition, they are easy to use and its the fastest way to be ahead of your cat scratching the furniture.

However, it doesn’t mean that you should declaw your cat or go overboard with clipping, it just means that you should maintain regular nail hygiene.

If you really want to save your furniture, you can learn how to stop your cat from scratching furniture in many different, painless methods.

Make sure that you learn the basics of clipping before you start, and that you have a quality nail clipper.

And no, you can’t use nail clipper that you use for your dog.

Bear in your mind that your cat has to allow you to trim her nails. Get your cat used to touching and handling in general their paws. Make sure that your cat is comfortable with sitting in your lap. At any sign of negative body language stop until cat relaxes again. Negative body language signs are seen in folding her ears back and moving tail rapidly. If it happens to stop what you are doing and wait for a cat to relax once again.

Fast fact: Claws are an important part of cat’s anatomy. They use it for protection, balance, exercise and stretching. They use it for what’s known in the human world as toe-walking. Entire cats weight and body goes across its toes.

5. Flea Collar

Regardless of your cat’s cleanliness and her 24/7 indoor lifestyle, fleas still can happen. It happens even to the cleanest of cats!

However, it is always better to go with the logic – better safe than sorry. Because once the flea enters your home you need to wash and disinfect every single bed sheet, pillow, and every clothing piece. Therefore, make sure that you use a flea repellant. The flea collar is the easiest one as you can use it even for months.

Just make sure that your cat is comfortable with having a collar around her neck all the time. Therefore, the best way to get used of your cat to wear is to start as a kitten. Next, you can use even spray or some flea resilient in drops. Some of these products you can use monthly.

6. Toothbrush

There are some things and certain motions that cats can tolerate, and some they won’t. For example, messing with their mouth is one of the things that they are not fond of. Therefore, the best way is to get them to enjoy teeth cleaning as kittens.

Cats do require dental care, just like humans, because they have a tendency of developing tooth decay, gum disease, and even tooth resorption.

A regular toothbrush will save your extra vet bills and it’s a great way of prevention. All you need is a paste kit and toothbrush, in addition to a significant amount of patience. If necessary advice with your veterinarian.

7. Pet Wipes

Pet wipes are something that always comes in handy. They are great to serve as disposable towels. Furthermore, they are great for when a disaster occurs.

They are always non-toxic and safe for kittens and adult cats. Some of them contain Aloe Vera or/and Vitamin E, and it is great to boost your cat’s coat softness and shininess.

In addition, you can use it to clean the cat’s ears. Ears are usually overlooked when it comes to cat healths. Mostly because they don’t like being touched there. But they are great indicators of infections in early stages. The same principle goes for regular eyes check-ups, especially if you are having a kitten – they tend to have an eye infection.

Actually, when it comes to keeping your cat healthy and well-groomed there is no such thing as having ‘too many’ grooming tools. Items listed above are just a regular, basic, equipment that every cat owner should possess.

You will probably have to try different tools to find the one that fits your cats the best, and yourself. Especially when it comes to choosing the perfect brush. In addition, having a knowledge about these tools is great if you are set for cat adoption.

Nevertheless, investing in proper grooming tools is always a good idea, and we are not kittening about it.