Cat Grooming: Persian Cat Drying Techniques

Persian Grooming 101 School E-Course: Lesson 6

Persian Cat Grooming! Blow Dry your Persian Cat fast and easy . . . Persian Stain removal too!

 

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International award-winning Purrinlot Persian cat breeder Laura Thomas discusses various methods of drying your Persian cat after a bath in this FREE online Persian cat grooming 101 course. In Lesson 5 Laura discussed the itchy itchies and how to save your kitty's fur from incessant scratching. Now it's time to talk about the proper methods of drying your Persian once you've finished giving him or her a bath. Lesson 6 will cover proper Persian cat drying techniques and also how to deal with light staining.

Overview: drying your Persian cat

This class is designed to save you some time and keep your Persian kitty safe and comfortable during the drying process.

Persian Cat Drying Technique #1

One simple way to dry your kitty is to get a carrier (Petmate Two Door Top Load 24-Inch Pet Kennel, Metallic Pearl Ash Blue and Coffee Ground Bottom .) Do not use a small tiny one; it will cook the cat! A medium sized carrier works good, and 2 towels. Place one towel inside the carrier and insert the wet cat. Prop the dryer up using the second towel in front of the door of the carrier. Set the dryer to high force COLD air making certain the dryer is sitting so it too can breathe and not over heat. Turn on the dryer (Revlon RV408 1875 Watt Full-Size Turbo Dryer, Black .) You need to watch the kitty and pull him/her out when they are about 3/4's dry. Finish up the drying with a metro force dryer (Air Force Commander 2-Speed Dryer 4.0 HP Motor S ) or one that blows forced cool air at a high rate. It might be helpful to set a LOUD timer as a second note of precaution to not forget the cat is being dried. I normally allow the cat to dry for 30-40 minutes in this manner before I do the final dry with the blow dryer and cat in my lap.

The first metro dryer pictured is a more powerful 2-speed, the second dryer pictured is not quite as powerful and has only 1 speed. I personally prefer the second one but I thought I'd share both options.

A note of CAUTION: Please do not forget about the cat!! I had a friend who dried her cat in this way and she got online and starting chatting and the time slipped away from her. When she returned, the cat was dead. Another friend got online and started emailing. When she returned, the cat was still alive but overheated. Thank goodness she was smart and thought fast. She took the cat outside in a dry towel and tried to cool him as quickly as possible without sending the cat into shock. It was winter and snow was on the ground. After about 20 minutes outside she brought the cat in and took it into a room where it was still cooler than the house but warmer than the outside. She held the cat, talking to him and giving them lots of support and apologies through the entire process of cooling down.

I shared this information mostly to make certain you are remembering the kitty in the carrier. Please don't leave them in and go off to forget them.

Persian Cat Drying Technique #2

Another drying technique is to completely blow the cat dry with the hand held dryer on cool high, and then, after the cat appears to be dry, put the cat in the carrier with the dryer propped up for a another 15 minutes. This gets the undercoat dry and adds a little volume.

My favorite way to get the cat used to the dryer is to lay the cat in my lap and start with the lowest part of the belly towards a leg- dry one leg and then the next- work my way around the cat like you might work yourself around washing a car, working from the bottom half around and then the top half. Finish up with the back, neck, and head last. Then blow the tail out a bit more. I do this at the age of 6 weeks, 9 weeks, and 12 weeks. They are small enough to hold on to still this way and grow into good kitties....

For Persian cats who have never been near a blow dryer, start with the carrier and then start on the back side near the butt while having their head faced into your lap. Stay away from the head as much as possible.

Never dry so that the dryer blows into the ears or eyes!

Ok, onto stains.

Dealing with stains on your Persian's fur

Stains should never be cut or clipped. Instead, simply wash them every single day. Use the Anna face shampoo once per week, twice for bad stains. Use water as hot as you can make it without burning. Use the Anna Face Wash daily to loosen the protein of the stain. Always blot dry before adding powder of any kind. Try applying Anna's Face Powder to the clean, dried stain area each day. The more you do this, the faster the stain will disappear. These products carry bleaching action that helps restore oxygen to the fur and break down the protein of the stain. The protein is the stain in itself... and protein is something that takes time and patience to remove, one thin layer at a time. Think of your stain as 100 layers. Each time you clean and pack it, you remove 1 of the 100 layers. When you get down to only about 5 -7 layers left... it tends to take a little longer to remove but the powder seems to cover it very nicely!

anna tear stain remover large trio

 

 

 

Anna Designer Pet Tear Stain Remover Trio (Large)
Pro tip: get all three Anna Designer Pet tear stain remover products at bundle pricing when you order our large trio.

 

 

 

 

If you find the stained fur or the fur surrounding the stain is very DRY, condition it with a white or clear conditioner. Never use anything of color, especially yellow as in the color of the hot oils, or the stain will pick up the color from the product and be that much more stained.

Another solution is to wipe the stain with a protein enzyme cleaner that is also used to remove protein from contact lenses. Just wipe daily as many times as you can.

One note: You should find out what is causing the stain and stop it. If the eyes are watering, get some antibiotic and see your vet to make the eyes clear up or drain clear. If it is a water bowl, switch to a water bottle. And If it is food, change the dish or the food. If it is the inner paws legs, the cat is washing his face and staining the leg fur in addition to what ever is going on with the face. If it is the ruff, use a bib. If it is the private area, clip the fur up with hair clips or do a slight trim to help keep the area dry.

Well, I hope this class helped you out somewhat. There are many ways to remove stains a tad faster, but it requires drying out the fur and using peroxide. When you use methods that dry out the fur or rely on peroxide, you will find yourself fighting a losing battle almost every time. The stain disappears quickly, but then the fur is porous and the slightest eye drainage or food eating can recreate the stain. Now that the fur is porous, it is soaking up everything and not removing new stains well at all. What I have found over the years is that a well-conditioned coat hardly ever stains, and a dry, dull coat stains quickly... so a healthy coat is a cleaner coat all the way around.

For more stain help you can get our ebook- Lookin' Good or the Ringside DVD.

Next issue:

Our final Grooming School E-course Issue - Finishing Touches

 

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Review Links Articles that might interest you:

Grooming 101-E classes:
How to: Great Stuff!

  1. Grooming- Tools of the trade
  2. Persian Cat Shampoos the differences
  3. Persian Coat Conditioning
  4. Getting the GUNK out
  5. The itchy Itchies
  6. Drying Techniques
  7. Finishing Touches

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