Grooming your cat without a fight

Cats groom themselves fine. A weekly assist keeps shedding down and gives you a quiet moment to notice things off. Mats, fleas, lumps, sore spots.

The short routine

1. Wait until they're sleepy. Right after a meal or a long sunbeam nap is ideal. A bored or wound-up cat is a moving target.
2. Start with the cheeks and chin. Friendly zones. You're mimicking their own scratching, and it calibrates the brush pressure to their tolerance.
3. Work outward along the grain. Neck, shoulders, back, flanks. In the direction the fur lies. Long-haired cats may need a wide-toothed comb before a brush.
4. Skip the belly the first few times. It's a vulnerable area for a cat and will earn you a bite long before it earns you trust. My ginger cat let me brush her belly only after eighteen months of patience. Worth it. Worth waiting.

What to avoid

• Don't pull at mats. Snip them out with rounded scissors, or get a groomer to shave the spot. Tugging teaches your cat that grooming hurts, and that's a lesson you won't unteach for years.
• Don't bathe a cat unless a vet tells you to. They stay clean on their own. Soap strips the oils that keep their coat healthy.

When to stop

Tail starts twitching, ears flatten, you see the start of a swivel-and-look. Stop. Drop the brush, let them walk away, try again tomorrow. Two short sessions a week beats one long fight.