NCGIA National Cat Groomers

Faster, Safer Mobile Cat Grooming Without the Mess

PRESS RELEASE

Wag’n Tails Offer Catty Shack Vac Option on Mobile Grooming Vehicles
Growing Market For Cat Grooming Prompts Addition Of Optional Catty Shack Vac Equipment

Granger, Indiana, June 9, 2011

In response to a growth area of the mobile grooming industry, Wag’n Tails Mobile Conversions has added the Catty Shack Vac option to it’s popular Pet Stylist Elite and Endurance Sprinter grooming vans. This version of the Catty Shack Vac has been specifically designed for Wag’n Tails mobile grooming vehicles.

The Catty Shack Vac was invented by Danelle and Michael German to provide cat groomers with a containment drying system that eliminates the loose hair when drying, detangling and de-shedding a cat. The system can also be used for smaller dogs. Danelle German is the founder and president of the National Cat Groomers Institute of America, Inc. The Institute operates a school that trains and certifies groomers for feline grooming exclusively.

“We are always listening to our customers and we found that many of them are seeing demand rapidly rising for cat grooming” said Wag’n Tails President, Dennis Gnetz. “Because of the intrinsic advantages mobile grooming affords the pet and the pet parent, it is ideally suited to cat grooming. This option opens up the cat grooming market to mobile groomers who might otherwise overlook it” Gnetz added.

“We are always looking for methods to improve the profitability of our clients and this option will enable us to offer them another niche to tap in the lucrative mobile grooming market” said Chris Herron, Wag’n Tails Business Development Manager.

The Catty Shack Vac is now available and can be ordered immediately.

www.wagntails.com

Photos shown are of Pandra Dillard’s new Wag’n Tails Elite. Pandra is a CFMG located in SC.

There is definitely a market for mobile cat grooming. Now it can be safer, faster and cleaner!

The compact, mobile version of the Catty Shack Vac built directly into the Wag’n Tails Elite model.

 

Tackling the Tough Cases

I recently received this testimonial from one of our CFMGs who owns a mobile cat grooming business in Illinois.

“I am finding that people are liking the whole “certified” aspect of my credentials. I did a cat earlier that I was the perfect person to do because you wouldn’t want someone who didn’t know what they were doing to touch this cat. She was a 20-year old, very thin Persian who had been cut in the past by a groomer, and she had health problems. My vet recommended my service to the mom who was reassured that I was a CFMG and would do the best job possible on her precious kitty, whom she was very attached to.

There was a second client who also called me specificially because of the CFMG. Her cat was also extremely matted and she wanted the reassurance of the training I had received through Danelle and the NCGIA. I was glad the Air Muzzle had been invented for that cat! And it still took 2 1/2 hours with no assistant; the cat was that matted and angry.”

Cheryl Maibusch, CFMG
The Cat Groomer
Mobile cat groomer in IL

 

Dog vs. Cat/Man vs. Woman

At the Atlanta Pet Fair this past March I had the pleasure of dueling it out with Jay Scruggs on the big stage. Jay had a dog on his grooming table, I had a cat on mine.  We spent 1 hour bantering back and forth while we groomed our animals and talked about the finer points of each of our specialties.

Jay does not groom cats.  In fact, he is deathly allergic to them.  I do not groom dogs. I have no interest in it whatsoever.  So Jay and I have our own opinions about who has short end of the stick in this scenario.

Here are some photos of our Dog vs. Cat/Man vs. Woman seminar that was recently held at the NDGAA Colorado Groomfest.  This is the 3rd time we’ve duked it out on stage. If you’re asking, I think I won the first round, Jay won the second, and the third was probably a tie.

We’ll see who wins next time!
Join us in the future for a seminar that is fun and educational all at the same time.

 

Great Opportunity

Coming Soon!
Free eJournal from PetGroomer.com

 

The first issue, due by the end of June, will include articles by a variety of leaders in the pet grooming industry, such as Melissa Verplank, Mary Oquendo, and Danelle German.

Cat groomers will particularly be interested in the first issue, as it highlights cat grooming!

Features include:

“Do’s & Don’t’s of Cat Grooming”

“Identifying and Handling Feline Temperaments”

“Common Stress Signs in Cats”

“Understanding Feline Coat and Skin Care”

“Feline Grooming Procedures”

and an interview with NCGIA founder and president, Danelle German!

The eJournal is free and available in both electronic format and hard copy.

To sign up visit PetGroomer.com

 

From the PG website:

The creators of PetGroomer.com have had a dream for a very long time to publish a very unique, very special publication, eGroomer Journal.

The eGroomer Journal is NOT a trade magazine. We highly suggest you subscribe to trade magazines such as Groomer to Groomer and Grooming Business. These are excellent pet grooming trade magazines with whom we are not competing. In fact, they have our complete support.

The eGroomer Journal is something new. It’s a valuable keeper of interest to both career seekers as well as pet groomers. We are not going to say more because it’s a secret format! It’s like nothing else you’ve ever seen in the pet grooming industry.

 

A Little Bit of Creative

Meet Little Bit. A brown classic tabby domestic long hair with slightly crossed eyes and a really sweet disposition.

Little Bit gets groomed by the students at our school. Sometimes it’s a regular groom and sometimes it’s a creative groom.

The upcoming summer issue of the CGQ: Creative Groomers Quarterly magazine will include an article explaining how Little Bit’s latest creative design was achieved.

Sign up with the NAPCG (National Association of Professional Creative Groomers) to get your copy of CGQ!

 

Apples, Cats, and the Cutting Edge

                                                                                                                                                        At the NCGIA we are constantly trying to improve efficiency, whether it involves actual cat grooming or the running of the business. Technology is a great tool and one that is constantly changing. In an effort to make our business better, we utilize whatever technology we deem appropriate.

Recently, we changed our merchant service provider. The new system and provider we are using allows us the ultimate in mobile capabilities as well as efficient tracking of sales, customers, and inventory. It’s cutting edge stuff.

 

I, personally, am an Apple fan. The Mac kind of apples. So our new credit card processing service had to be compatible with our Mac devices. This required a trip to the local Apple store to buy a cable.

I told the guy at Apple what I needed. It was an odd item, as it turned out. It was also a very new item – as in, they weren’t even sure they carried it yet. This prompted the sales clerk to ask me why I needed this cable. I explained that it was for my iPhone so I could bypass the normal charge port while using my iMag swiper.

“Cool,” the clerk said, “That’s some real cutting edge stuff. What kind of business are you in?”

“Uh, well……..” I stalled. (How do I explain so people don’t think I’m nuts – some crazy cat lady?)

The guy interrupted, “You’re the first person I’ve met who is using that new technology. That stuff just came out. I just figured you must be in some line of work that is really cutting edge or something.”

“I teach cat grooming,” I said. “It’s pretty cutting edge.”

“Oh, cool,” was his response.

Ya, it’s pretty cool. I left the store a few minutes later with a cable in an Apple bag, headed back to the office. Cutting edge……… I liked the sound of that. Being ahead of the times is always a good thing. Changing the times is even better.

 

Using the Air Muzzle

Awhile back we published in our Purrfect Pointers newsletter a “how-to” on using the Air Muzzle.

It’s not for every cat.  However, it does make grooming the majority of cats a whole lot easier and safer.  In my opinion, it’s great insurance for a mere $80. My hands are worth a whole lot more than that!  My hands are my livelihood.  And I kinda like having them around.  They come in handy.

Spending less than a 100 bucks to protect my hands AND increase the speed of my work (time=money) is a no-brainer.   What are your hands worth?

Here is the “how-to” write up once again…..AirMuzzleInsert copy

 

Recycle?

I received a phone call yesterday from an employee of Duke Energy, our local electric provider.  The lady on the other end of the line wanted to ask me a series of questions in order to better provide our business with “incentives.”  I normally don’t take that sort of call – such time wasters to take a survey, which is what it turned out to be (under the guise of offering us special incentives).

Three questions into the survey, it was obvious to me that the purpose of the call was to make sure our business was being “earthy friendly” and “green,” doing our part to save mother earth.  I fully appreciate our planet and all of its beauty.  I do my part to not litter and think outside of myself, but I’m not the bleeding-heart-save-a-tree-worship-the-environment-SUVs-are-evil type.  I leave that work to Algore – he’s doing a fine job all by himself.

The lady was wasting my time and desperately trying to make me feel bad about using standard light bulbs in some of our building’s fixtures.  I was about to hang up and get back to work.  But then she asked the recycle question.

“Do you recycle?” she inquired, using a tone of voice that implied if I didn’t recycle I was personally destroying planet earth all on my own.

“Yes,” I said,  “We recycle everyday.”

“What do you recycle,” the lady asked.  “Bottles, cardboard, cans?”

“Well, we do recycle those things, but mostly we recycle cat hair,” I told her.

There was a long pause.  I thought maybe the phone call had been dropped or maybe she had hung up on me for being a smart ass.

“Cat hair?” she asked.

“Yep, cat hair.  Lots of it.”

“May I ask what you do with the cat hair?” the Duke Energy employee asked.

“Certainly, We send it to a lab that uses it to make allergy shots for my fellow citizens of this great planet,” I explained.

“Oh,” she replied.  And then there was another long pause.  Then she said, “Thank you for your time,

Mrs. German.”  And then she hung up.

She’s probably still wondering if I just made that up to mess with her.  I may not save every pop can from ending up at the landfill, but I do my dead level best to keep as much cat hair as possible from cluttering our planet.  And as an added bonus, a good many allergy sufferers find some relief.

A few years ago, when I had more time in my days, I also reused the clean cat hair – to make handbags.   All in all, I’d say we run a pretty good recycling program,