Sitting on a heating pad trimming Hattie, the long-haired cat, Sally Staples takes up her clippers and zips under the cat’s tail.
“It’s a kitty Brazilian,” laughs the cat groomer during one of her house calls. “It’s a sanitary trim so you don’t get dingleberries and then the cat’s don’t track litter and poop in the bed.”
When Staples arrived at the Colwood home, Hattie was scruffy and greasy, but after a little care and attention to detail the house cat was donning a lion cut with a mane and little puff of fur on her tail.
“Cat’s are great, they are magical and sassy creatures who happen to come with great people,” Staples said.
Staples has become the first certified feline master groomer in B.C. after graduating from the National Cat Groomer’s School in Greenville, South Carolina.
She graduated top of her class in January. Prior to attending the two-week master’s program she studied at the school online completing a two-year program.
Staples began her home grooming business in 2010 and now she has 350 clients from across Greater Victoria.
“We all have our calling,” she said.
Since taking the master’s program, Staples said her technique and quality of her services has improved.
For the clients Staples is much more than just a groomer.
“She is a real cat whisperer,” said Kathy Freeman, Hattie the cat’s grandmother. “Having Hattie groomed at home is fabulous. She has less stress here, she is old and not very mobile.”
Prior to hiring Staples, Hattie was groomed at the veterinary clinic under general anesthesia.
“If you take a cat to the vet you get a lawn mower job,” Stapled said, having worked in clinics for more than
a decade.
“Our pets are our babies. We have stopped having them in our backyards and now they are not only in our homes, but in our beds,” said the Colwood groomer. “I become part of
the family.”