Cat grooming, boarding business opens on Main
Cats now have their own place to be groomed and boarded in Tea.
Jennifer Biggins, who has run Paws & Reflect Pet Grooming for 16 years, has groomed cats in the afternoons after most of the dogs have gone home for the day at the building on the west side of Main Avenue. When the building at 220 S. Main Avenue became available, she thought it was the right time to open The Cat Tails Feline Grooming Spa & Hotel Suites exclusively for cats.
“This opportunity came about and I always thought cats were an afterthought and cats get the shaft on grooming and boarding as well,” Biggins said. “I wanted to do an all-inclusive cat grooming salon and feline suites for them.”
To prepare the building for boarding, she built 4-foot-by-8-foot suites made out of PVC paneling so they are easy to sanitize and clean. Each suite has a mesh metal door for ventilation and the cats won’t destroy it.
She also created a home setting with a couch, coffee and end tables, patio door and TV. She officially opened Jan. 24.
“We wanted a home setting. We wanted it to feel like a home when they’re away from home,” Biggins said.
She hopes to create an enclosed “catio” on the porch area this spring, along with bird feeders and flowers to create an outdoor space for the cats.
She accepts cats of any age as long as they are current on their vaccinations for rabies, distemper and feline leukemia.
Biggins has been grooming for about 20 years. With the cats, she does one appointment at a time so she can work straight through with them from shaving, de-shedding, bathing and drying.
“I encourage all cats to get a bath because I would feel like I would be giving a disservice to clients if I just did a de-shed or shave and these cats weren’t clean,” she said. “Cats do collect a lot of dirt, dander, fecal matter and they’re kind of an afterthought. They don’t think to clean their cat. Cat’s groom themselves - no they don’t. They lick themselves; they don’t groom themselves. They just distribute saliva all over their body.”
Biggins believes in preventing mats. She said cats are naturally oily so that holds in the dander, dirt and dead hair and that’s where mats start.
She said heavier cats and older cats do not keep their bottoms clean so she does sanitary shaves.
She will also do lion trims and shaves, along with ear cleaning and nail caps.
Biggins said the bathing process isn’t that bad. She starts with any de-shedding or shaving before the bath.
She uses a sink for the bath where she places the cat into an empty sink. She puts cotton balls in their ears and uses a happy hoodie so their face can stick out. Biggins applies the shampoo first then adds warm water and lathers a section at a time with her hands before rinsing them out with warm water. After the bath, she uses a high velocity drier.
Start to finish, a long hair cat takes about an hour and a half.
“A clean cat is a healthy cat,” she said.