Grooming

[Guest Guest]

I have a 6 1/2 month old male Cairn. I'm completely confused about how to groom him. I have the book from the Cairn Association (and others), but still......! I have tried to hand strip and I don't seem to get anywhere. Most of the time I don't get any hair. What am I doing wrong? I brush him and in 10 minutes he looks like I've never touched him. His hair is long and straggly. We do not bathe him. Of course, the groomers want to use the clippers, etc. and I've avoided that.

What shoud I expect of his coat at this age? This is our first Cairn, as you have probably guessed. Ears and tail are very long. Tail does not look like a fat carrot. I really do not want to start the clipping thing.

All help will be really appreciated.

Nancy

[Guest posting as: McRebel]

I have a 6 1/2 month old male Cairn. I'm completely confused about how to groom him. I have the book from the Cairn Association (and others), but still......! I have tried to hand strip and I don't seem to get anywhere. Most of the time I don't get any hair. What am I doing wrong? I brush him and in 10 minutes he looks like I've never touched him. His hair is long and straggly. We do not bathe him. Of course, the groomers want to use the clippers, etc. and I've avoided that.

What shoud I expect of his coat at this age? This is our first Cairn, as you have probably guessed. Ears and tail are very long. Tail does not look like a fat carrot. I really do not want to start the clipping thing.

All help will be really appreciated.

Nancy

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sorry, I forgot to put my name on the first post.

Nancy

[kayharley]

Hi...

This is a good site for grooming tips..

http://www.cairnrescue.com/general/groom.htm

I do not have show Cairns so the grooming I do is minimal. The top 1/3 of the ears should be stipped and that hair comes out quite easily. I do clip the front part of their paws so it's rounded, I cut the fur on the bottom of their feet and I tidy up the backside under the tail. The tail shouldn't look feathered so I combine a little stripping with some clipping only because my Cairns do not enjoy that part of grooming and there's no need to cause excess stress/discomfort.

I use a Mars Coat King to help remove some of the soft undercoat. It's like a "rake" that you use like a comb. When I get done with that tool, I have a ball of fur the size of a soccer ball.

[Guest posting as: McRebel]

Hi...

This is a good site for grooming tips..

http://www.cairnrescue.com/general/groom.htm

I do not have show Cairns so the grooming I do is minimal. The top 1/3 of the ears should be stipped and that hair comes out quite easily. I do clip the front part of their paws so it's rounded, I cut the fur on the bottom of their feet and I tidy up the backside under the tail. The tail shouldn't look feathered so I combine a little stripping with some clipping only because my Cairns do not enjoy that part of grooming and there's no need to cause excess stress/discomfort.

I use a Mars Coat King to help remove some of the soft undercoat. It's like a "rake" that you use like a comb. When I get done with that tool, I have a ball of fur the size of a soccer ball.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[pookiegirl]

kayharley,

I am considering purchasing the Mars Coat King. I just thought I might ask you a couple of questions about it since you have experience using it.

How many blades does yours have? I know they come with a different number of blades and wonder which is best for general overall grooming.

I am just afraid that I will "chop" the fur instead of actually stripping it because of the blades.

Thanks for any infoormation you can provide.

Barbara

[tena]

I just got a Mars coat king- 12 blade. It doesn't cut Sophie's coat, it simply gets out the 'wool'. I had brushed and brushed and brushed and she just got woolier. So now I use the coat king.

Sophie came with 3 years of untended fur on her. It was nasty. After a short clip, some shear trimming and then the coat kind...her fur is finally in good shape

I don't know why they call the thing blades, there is no cutting that I can tell

[bradl]

Look carefully at the inside edges of the 'curled' part - quite sharp.

[tlwtheq]

I just got a Mars coat king- 12 blade. It doesn't cut Sophie's coat, it simply gets out the 'wool'. I had brushed and brushed and brushed and she just got woolier. So now I use the coat king.

Sophie came with 3 years of untended fur on her. It was nasty. After a short clip, some shear trimming and then the coat kind...her fur is finally in good shape

I don't know why they call the thing blades, there is no cutting that I can tell

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

We just got our Mars Coat King in the mail. I can tell that I'll be going through the same drill with Olie and Teddy....lots a stuff needs to come out. If I do just a little bit each day they don't seem to mind (so far.)

Great tool, great advice!

Tara, Olie and Teddy's Mom

[tena]

I did spot the part Bradl was speaking of. Ok now I know why they are called blades.

It's amazed me just the amount of wool that we raked off of her. I admit to being skeptical about the tool, and it was a bit of a pricey item to experiment with, but we took the plunge. Sophie really doesn't mind it either...seems to almost like it.

Tena

[toomanypaws]

I've got the 16 blade, not sure which one is recommended. Also, does anyone know if these blades ever need sharpening?

[tena]

I got really confused about the blade size...many members here use 16, and on one site it recomended an 8 for cairns. I went with 12 and it does fine. I wish I had a 16 for my angora cat though....that would be nice since they are a Undercoat critter.