How To Help Your Cat Enjoy Being Brushed
Some cat’s love being brushed, others hate it but most can learn to tolerate it, if not love it with positive reinforcement. It just takes a bit of time and patience or a lot of time and patience depending on the cat. It’s important they connect positive things with being brushed. We find it best to show them the rake/brush, let them sniff it and reward them with a treat. Leave the rake/brush out where they see it regularly, put it near the food dish so they associate good things with it. Do this until there is no negative reaction to the rake on seeing it.
Choose the right time, once they have had a play and are a bit sleepy, smear his favourite soft treat onto the LickiMat (we find the Dine creamy treats work brilliantly) to begin with just stroke him a couple of times with your hands as he’s licking off the treat, once he’s comfortable with that, (you might have to do this a few times depending on the cat) you move on to the next step.
Show him the rake/brush, let him sniff it, then place the LickiMat treat in front of him and using the rake/brush gently start brushing him with short, gentle strokes. To begin with you might only do a couple of strokes, it’s important to read the body language and stop before he gets frustrated and annoyed, we want to leave it on a positive note. Each time you have a brushing session try and lengthen it but make sure he’s able to leave when he’s had enough. Some take to it straight away others need a bit more time. Eventually you shouldn’t need the LickiMat every time but some cats do, you’ll know what’s best for your cat.
At Mishcats we use and recommend these brushes and combs.