As President of the PCGAA I am proud to have assembled a board of directors that represents over 100 years of feline experience These are real groomers just like you who work every day handling both dogs and cats. Let me introduce them to you by way of this blog.
Right now, I’m pleased to introduce Daryl Conner, Board of Director PCGAA
Daryl Conner is a certified Petcare Dermatech Specialist, Master Pet Stylist, Meritus, CMCG. A contributing editor for Pet Age magazine and author of the book Practical Grooming Tips, Daryl's musings have also been found in Dog World, Groomer to Groomer, and on many Internet sites. She is the recipient of the coveted 2005 Cardinal Crystal award for Journalism and the '06 and '07 award for Congeniality. She is the east coast chairperson for the Professional Cat Groomers of America. Daryl is proud to be the U.S. ambassador for the German Red Clipper. Known for her fun and informative educational classes at grooming shows across the country, Daryl's grounded, friendly style makes her an approachable and popular teacher. With more than 25 years of grooming experience, Daryl's abiding love of animals and passion for our trade radiates out to everyone she touches through her work.
Greetings groomers! I have skipped off my “regular” blog at “Hairs of the Dogs” and dropped in to share a bit of my passion for all things cat grooming with you. I have been grooming cats for over a quarter of a century. That’s a long time and a lot of cats! It all began when I was a novice dog groomer, working at my dream job in a huge, modern veterinary hospital. My boss was a genius, but moody. He walked past me one day as I was bathing a dog and said, “I booked you a couple of matted cats for tomorrow.” I froze. I had never groomed a cat. I didn’t know the first thing about how to dematt a feline. All I did know was that handling cats was very different from handling dogs. How could I possibly offer the level of expertise the cats deserved? I said, “Uh, I don’t DO cats.” He kept walking and shot over his shoulder, “Then you are fired.”
I stopped by the library on the way home from work and checked out as many cat books as they would let me take. I read everything they contained about handling and grooming cats. This was before the days of the internet, so I couldn’t look for help there. I went into work early and interviewed the other veterinarians on the staff about how to handle cats. They shared all they could with me while I took notes. Somehow I made it through grooming those first two cats. Since then I have made it my business to learn as much as I can about fabulous felines. I have haunted cat shows and groomed cats to prepare them for shows. I have owned a Persian and Himalayan (and a lot of just plain cats!) I have volunteered at animal shelters, cleaning up cats in the worst condition possible. All the while I have been reading and researching and doing my best to build up my knowledge base. For a while I worked with a feline veterinary practice and groomed all of their cats, and at the same time I had a small house-call business grooming cats all over metropolitan Memphis, Tennessee. In 2003 I presented a seminar on cat grooming at the Pet Pro Classic in Dallas, TX on cat grooming to earn the “Meritus” portion of my certification with the International Society of Canine Cosmetologists.
During all these years when I was working hard to learn as much as I could about safely and humanely grooming cats, I was saddened and concerned because there was so little information available to dog groomers who wanted to learn about cat grooming. There was lots of misinformation and confusion, and no one source where a groomer could learn things like what pet products might be dangerous for cats, and what techniques commonly used on canines could kill a feline. I toyed with the idea of writing a book, but life got in my way and I never did it. Then I met Kim Raisanen. She was working on putting an informative handbook about cat grooming together and she asked me to look it over. I was delighted to find that she and I shared much in our philosophy of cat handling. We both seek to handle cats safely, gently and respectfully. Kim has a passion for sharing her knowledge with other groomers. After I got done kicking myself for not doing the book when I first thought of it, I joined with Kim and shared some of my ideas and she completed her project, putting together a truly helpful body of material to educate groomers; Learn How to Professionally Groom Cats, A Practitioners Guide.
From there Kim went on to create the PCGAA.
I am so pleased to be a part of the Professional Cat Groomers Association of America. I am convinced that we have put together a group of experienced professionals who are truly interested in educating groomers for one purpose; to serve in the interest and well-being of felines. It is what cats deserve, and I know they wouldn’t want it any other way.
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