Cat Articles Archives | 1st Low Stress Handling Pet Groomer in SG

The new arsenal against skin problems

July 13, 2018 By [email protected]

Previously, we have talked about some of the things you can do if your pet is suffering from skin problems, from a healthy nutrition, to supplementing their diet with digestive enzymes and probiotics. Also, if you were to visit pet grooming salons, or spa centres, you might have come across micro (or nano) bubble spas. I prefer calling it nano bubble though, sounds better doesn’t it? But they’re the same thing because as micro bubble ascends, it will become even smaller, thus becoming a ‘nano bubble’ before it collapses.

What is micro bubble?

Micro bubble isn’t your normal bubble baths or Jacuzzi. The technology that creates the micro bubble produces bubbles so small, 1-50 microns to be exact, that it’s able to penetrate pores and hair follicles that’s usually 90 microns in size and remove dead skin cells, excess sebum and bacteria. Talk about deep cleansing.

An ion Anion.

First, the micro bubbles are effective in removing dirt from the pores not only because of its size. It’s also negatively charged which allows them to bond with impurities and float them out. That’s why at the end of the spa session, you’ll find a film of gunk floating at the surface of the tub. That’s the micro bubbles at work.

Secondly due to the formation of micro bubbles, enormous amounts of negative ions are also produced which also speed up the skin’s recovery process and promotes overall well-being. (No wonder I’ve been sleeping better after I started providing micro bubble spa. Imagine the amount of anions I’m getting exposed to! How nice it is to be an unintended beneficiary!)

But that’s not all

Another obvious benefit is that when you have a bubble so small, it dissolves and delivers oxygen more effectively into the skin, making it healthier.

There are also claims that when the micro bubbles burst, they produces ultrasonic waves and high temperature that sterilizes harmful micro organisms. But I’m unable to get more information on this fact so I shan’t comment more.

So how do I know it’s the real deal?

Luckily it’s simple to identify if your pet is benefiting from micro bubbles. Because micro bubbles are small tiny, the bubbles would suspend in the water and the smallest bubbles take up to 2 minutes to rise up to the surface. As a result, once the water is filled with these tiny bubbles, it turns milky white within seconds and would turn back to its transparent state only minutes after, all without the use of any chemicals.

How effective is it in treating skin problems then?

If the equipment has been sourced from a reputable company, it should bear accreditation from independent companies attesting its efficacy, be it the size of the bubbles, concentration of anions produced or sterilization effectiveness.

Of course, there’re plenty of testimonials online, but after trying it for myself, very obvious improvements can really be seen after just 1 treatment. To be honest, I was quite impressed with the results.

As for our micro bubble generator, it has been clinically proven to improve skin conditions (DermaPro Skin & Research Centre, Inc – Seoul, Korea) and further attested by the Korea Atopy Association.

How do we make it even better than it already is?

Recognizing that most pets with skin problems don’t just have itchy skin, but rather accompanied by flaky, sometimes crusty, or oily skin, we have added natural ingredients to boost the machine’s cleaning power to remove impurities, excess buildup of sebum and keratin to allow the skin to heal naturally.

Apart from removing what we don’t want, we add in minerals which are difficult to get through food but effectively absorbed through the skin to help reduce inflammation, eliminate toxins, balance nerve functions and regulate enzymes in the body, as well as a myriad of trace minerals to improve your pet’s overall well being.

Try it at least once.

Now, I want you to try it for yourself. If you feel that it’s a worthwhile long term investment (though I can’t guarantee how long the machine would last) for the whole family, especially if your family has issues with troubled skin, a set from Korea costs SGD$3,499. Another condition is that you’d need a bathtub for this.

Otherwise for most families, their pets are usually the ones having skin problems and it might be more economical to bring your pet in for the micro bubble treatment.

Our prices start from $35 for small breeds, $45 and $55 for medium and large breeds respectively. Please visit our webpage for our complete pricing list. Also, for a limited time only enjoy free spa treatments with every grooming package purchased, and any additional treatments are $15 off*.

*Terms & Conditions apply.

Pet Grooming: Mats, Tangles and Daily Maintenance

July 13, 2018 By [email protected]

One of the biggest problems I see pets owners face when it comes to grooming their pets has to be dealing with tangled coats of their long coated breeds. Given everybody’s busy schedule, what can we do? While I’m in no position to teach people how to manage their time (I think even the worst time managers are able to teach me a thing or two), I’m able to offer some advice on how to minimize the problem and make it less painful for you and your furry ones.

But what causes those tangles in the first place? Luckily, it’s not as mysterious as how earphones play boy scout knots in your pockets and there are only four factors:

Moisture
Pressure
Dirt
Friction

The one thing advertising is right about

I believe you’ve seen TV commercials for shampoos and hair treatment products and they’ll show you the difference between the damaged hair and healthy hair under the microscope. If you haven’t, imagine that our hairs are covered with fish scales, all pointing towards the tip (the fish head is at the scalp and the tail is the tip). So dog and human hair alike, when the hair shaft is exposed to the elements they will open up creating barbs and with a combination of the aforementioned factors, the coat sticks to each other, very much like Velcro fasteners.

Now recall the places where tangle usually forms on your pet:

Is it because it has not been dried thoroughly after the coat got wet (Moisture)? e.g. The overall body, feet, beard, paw pads.
Does it form on places where it has contact with resting surfaces (Pressure)? e.g. Neck, four legs.
Easily soiled areas (Dirt)? e.g. Beard, legs, between the legs.
Or does it occur on places where hair rubs against each other or against other objects often (Friction)?

Friction is everywhere this is usually the main culprit that brings all the factors together and makes it worse (it’s also the main reason why your earphones gets tangled in your bag). Therefore, it is imperative that your pet gets a good brush every other day to prevent mats from forming, paying extra attention to inside of the legs, armpits, behind the ears and neck. These are usually the areas where tangles form quickly, as well as areas we tend to neglect when grooming.

It’s too late…

So, if you are reading this but you pet is already in bad shape, what can you do?

Well, if it’s really in bad shape, please, have it groomed and use this opportunity to let you and your pet get accustomed to frequent grooming. More importantly, de-matting the pet is a very uncomfortable process. Always put humanity over vanity.

But if it’s only a 2-3 knots here and there, you could do the following:

I would suggest getting a bottle of de-tangling spray from your pet store.
Spray the matted areas and let it sit for half an hour.
Try to loosen the mat with your fingers, separating it in all directions.
Use a slicker brush and brush in all directions. Use small strokes to minimize damage to the hair and skin.
It’s going to take a while, so be patient.
Prevention is better than cure. Brush your pet every other day.

Maintenance

With the proper technique, your pet can maintain the look straight of a magazine every day. It’s not that difficult!

What you’ll need:

Brushes (Pin brush for long coats >8cm. Slicker brush for coats between 1-8cm. Any shorter, use a grooming glove or curry brush and that’s all you need.)
Metal comb (Choose a medium to wide toothed)
Spray bottle filled with water (If you feel you pet deserves better, get a grooming spray preferably something lightly scented or fragrance free. I use Fabulous Grooming Spray from #1 All Systems. If your pet is suffering from skin problems, you can add a little of Zymox enzymatic rinse or Rejuvenating Bath from Chitocure into filtered/distilled water and use it as a grooming spray.)

The how:

Lightly spritz the coat. Making the coat slightly damp will help reduce static and friction while brushing.
Using one hand to control their limbs and body, hold the brush with the other hand. If you’re using a slicker brush, make sure the face of the brush is parallel to the skin to minimize abrasion. If your pet struggles, make sure you communicate what is acceptable behaviour and what is not. Reward and reprimand accordingly.
Brush against the lay of the coat, using short bouncy strokes, rather than one long pull. This will help reduce friction and prevent you from using too much force. The section of the coat is completed when you feel no resistance from the brush.
Note that you should brush the coat layer by layer, using your hand to hold down part of the coat and only moving on when one section is completed. This ensures that the whole body and full length of the hair is covered.
If you find a sizeable mat, follow the aforementioned instructions.
Finally, go through the whole body with the metal comb. If the comb gets stuck (Girls would get this. Hurts doesn’t it?), comb out the tangle, then check with the comb again.
You’re done and great job.

Well the whole thing sounds long because I want to get into the details of it. But once you get the hang of it, you’ll do everything like it’s second nature. Besides, it’s just brushing. It’s really not that hard.

Anyways, I’ll try to do a instructional video soon. It’s tough visualizing instructions like these isn’t it? Everybody has their own interpretation right?

So if you have any tips, questions or thoughts, do leave me a comment below!

Pet Grooming: Mats, Tangles and Daily Maintenance

July 11, 2018 By Sunny Lim

But what causes those tangles in the first place? Luckily, it’s not as mysterious as how earphones play boy scout knots in your pockets and there are only four factors:

Moisture
Pressure
Dirt
Friction

The one thing advertising is right about

Now recall the places where tangle usually forms on your pet:

Is it because it has not been dried thoroughly after the coat got wet (Moisture)? e.g. The overall body, feet, beard, paw pads.
Does it form on places where it has contact with resting surfaces (Pressure)? e.g. Neck, four legs.
Easily soiled areas (Dirt)? e.g. Beard, legs, between the legs.
Or does it occur on places where hair rubs against each other or against other objects often (Friction)?

It’s too late…

So, if you are reading this but you pet is already in bad shape, what can you do?

But if it’s only a 2-3 knots here and there, you could do the following:

I would suggest getting a bottle of de-tangling spray from your pet store.
Spray the matted areas and let it sit for half an hour.
Try to loosen the mat with your fingers, separating it in all directions.
Use a slicker brush and brush in all directions. Use small strokes to minimize damage to the hair and skin.
It’s going to take a while, so be patient.
Prevention is better than cure. Brush your pet every other day.

Maintenance

With the proper technique, your pet can maintain the look straight of a magazine every day. It’s not that difficult!

What you’ll need:

Brushes (Pin brush for long coats >8cm. Slicker brush for coats between 1-8cm. Any shorter, use a grooming glove or curry brush and that’s all you need.)
Metal comb (Choose a medium to wide toothed)
Spray bottle filled with water (If you feel you pet deserves better, get a grooming spray preferably something lightly scented or fragrance free. I use Fabulous Grooming Spray from #1 All Systems. If your pet is suffering from skin problems, you can add a little of Zymox enzymatic rinse or Rejuvenating Bath from Chitocure into filtered/distilled water and use it as a grooming spray.)

The how:

Lightly spritz the coat. Making the coat slightly damp will help reduce static and friction while brushing.
Using one hand to control their limbs and body, hold the brush with the other hand. If you’re using a slicker brush, make sure the face of the brush is parallel to the skin to minimize abrasion. If your pet struggles, make sure you communicate what is acceptable behaviour and what is not. Reward and reprimand accordingly.
Brush against the lay of the coat, using short bouncy strokes, rather than one long pull. This will help reduce friction and prevent you from using too much force. The section of the coat is completed when you feel no resistance from the brush.
Note that you should brush the coat layer by layer, using your hand to hold down part of the coat and only moving on when one section is completed. This ensures that the whole body and full length of the hair is covered.
If you find a sizeable mat, follow the aforementioned instructions.
Finally, go through the whole body with the metal comb. If the comb gets stuck (Girls would get this. Hurts doesn’t it?), comb out the tangle, then check with the comb again.
You’re done and great job.

Anyways, I’ll try to do a instructional video soon. It’s tough visualizing instructions like these isn’t it? Everybody has their own interpretation right?

So if you have any tips, questions or thoughts, do leave me a comment below!

Are premium pet food worth their price?

June 22, 2015 By Sunny Lim

I believe if you have had a pet with skin problems, you would have experienced a time when you went to a vet or pet shop and they tried to push you expensive prescription diet or top of the line gourmet hand cooked free range lamb with sturgeon caviar promising to be the end all and cure all for your pet’s skin problems. Well, did it?

My guess would be most probably no. If it did however, you have no idea how lucky you are to find a particular brand of food that’s suitable for your pet’s condition (or why did it have to be the most expensive one?!). But I still know of many pet owners who chooses to stick to one particular brand even though they are not seeing significant results.

So then, is expensive food really better? The short answer is: Of course!

Reason? Is organic peanut butter better than Skippy’s? Of course! You’d get less pesticides and all of the chemicals that we don’t want, all for a few pennies more in exchange for good health, why not?

But is fancy organic peanut butter cultivated from virgin volcanic soil good for people with nut allergy?

How good a product is still has to depend whether it’s going to do any good for the body.

So how are we going to determine whether it’s going to provide the benefits? To answer this, we have to first ask what is primary result I want from the food? If you don’t you’re going to be persuaded into buying something you don’t need and most times, having more creates more problems. We’ll come to that later.

So what are some of the primary objectives you can have when choosing a food? Are you looking for any specific ingredients? Is it because your pets are fussy eaters? Skin issues? Underweight? Overweight? Kidney/Liver issues?

What’s your budget?

Just like buying a new phone, if we don’t know what’s the most important function to us, we’ll tend to go for the one that has everything and everything we don’t need (me included).

So once you have your primary objective identified, it’ll be so much easier for you and whoever is serving you.

And I always tell my customers that if they have been doing a lot of trial and error with different food, supplements and products, my good guess is that they already know what works and what doesn’t. Use your gut and trust yourself rather than what people tell you.

For me, even though something didn’t work out the first time, I’d still try two more times with different variations before I confirm its suitability.

But don’t go around changing your pet’s food every time it refuses to eat the same food. If you know they are fussy eaters, catering to their preferences may do them more disservice in the long run. Proper behavioral training is the solution to this issue.

How do manufacturers determine their price?

Luckily for pet food, where people buy it out of necessity than as a luxury, is has not reached a stage where manufacturers are charging crazy prices to position themselves as a premium brand. Of course there are brands that can give you more value in terms of the ingredients for the same price and you will learn how to choose one in this article.

But to simplify things, a $20 bag of food is not going to be of the same quality and as nutritious as a $60 bag of food even if they have the exact nutritional levels.

Why? First up, just take protein for example, I can take a whole bunch of hair, nails and skin of animals, grind them up and make them into kibbles and they will show a good level of protein, well, because they are protein.

Secondly, meat safe for human consumption will surely be more expensive than meat taken from ground up male chicks and rejects.

As for the fancy list of supplements, herbs and botanical? You probably can ask the manufacturers how many milligrams are added in a kilo. The amount is almost insignificant.

What should I look for?

If I have your attention up until now, you’d care enough to at least make sure that the food that goes into their mouth comes from the same carcass that goes into ours.

Fresh Ingredients: The definitions are confusing as there’s no regulation on the definition on the use of the word ‘Fresh’ and every brand seems to be using that now. But if the price is medium range and up, it usually is dependable.
Free range and antibiotics free: Although livestock are generally not slaughtered after their being administered with antibiotics, free range livestock especially from Australia and New Zealand have very low chances to be contaminated with antibiotics.
Suited for your pet’s activity level: If you aren’t working out, you don’t need protein shakes. If your pet is more laid back, giving him a high protein diet might do him more harm than good. Remember, less is more.

Secondly, ask around if you have friends whose pets are on raw diets.

Proponents of raw diets have been touting the benefits of feeding animals like cats and dogs on raw for a long time and it has only gained popularity over the last several years. From experience and research, putting pets on exclusively raw diets from young does produce sturdier bodies and less dental problems.

Let’s say you only have a small dog or cat under your care, commercial raw diets are generally affordable and I strongly suggest this option if you are able to allocate a monthly budget of around $70 – $100 for their food.

Watch out for these traps

Sometimes bigger companies have shareholder’s stomachs to fill: And as a result more money may go into the branding that into the quality of the food. Like buying Panadol versus any generic brand of paracetamol.
Long ingredients lists: Apart from being available in such small quantities that may not provide significant results, more ingredients means higher possibilities that something in the list is going to cause allergies.
Grain free: As long you’re buying kibbles, there’s still going to be carbohydrates in the form of potatoes, lentils, peas et cetera. It’s the only way to hold the kibbles together. Nothing wrong with grains or carbohydrates, just that increasingly, manufacturers are using the term grain free to charge a premium when the cost may potentially be the same.

Some brands have potatoes as their first ingredient, nothing wrong with that. Potatoes are 80% water and some well known brands are using dried potatoes so that they can appear lower down the ingredient’s list.

Take your money and get supplements instead

That’s right. Paired with the right food, supplements double up the benefits of proper nutrition and gives the body help it needs to heal and strengthen itself.

But nobody walks into GNC and grabs everything. For me, the gut is where I start because what isn’t absorbed is just expensive poop and piss. To enhance absorption I recommend digestive enzymes as well as probiotics – minimum. Not all our food is absorbed and diseases starts in the gut (and it starts in the mind for humans) and enzymes helps break down the food to increase the bio-availability of the nutrients and the probiotics protects the gut from harmful bacteria and yeast which if has the slightest chance, will cause your pets health to plunge into a vicious cycle.

Then if your budget allows, you could add in another one and rotate between supplements like krill oil, multi vitamins or spirulina to help reduce free radicals and boost the immune system.

As long as it works

At the end of the day, you’re a smart consumer. What really matters is that the food matches your primary objective. If you need a convenient food with the less hassle to provide them with the best benefits, then raw (and expensive) is the way to go. Contrary, finding a food that is agreeable to your pet immune system and taste buds relies on trial and error or with an exclusion diet plan.

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Do you have any tips or tricks for fussy eaters or have issues you’d like some advice on? Leave your comment below!

Are You The Overly Attached Owner?

January 24, 2015 By Sunny Lim

Does the thought of losing your pet cause your mood to go into a downward spiral and ruin an otherwise perfectly good day? Do you spend more time thinking and taking care of your pet than yourself?

Or is this you?

If you’ve answered ‘Yes’, good news is that you’re not Tin Man, but the not so good news is that you might be overly attached to your pet.

No, there’s nothing wrong with it. We all grieve when they’re gone, we all pamper them while they’re here. It’s natural. It’s what they do, and what they have that’s rare in humans that fills the emotional void and make us fall in love with them so deeply. Their unconditional love, no matter how little time we spend with them, how we look when we put on extra weight, their affection (except Mari-kun), their willingness to listen our complaints makes them the perfect companion.

Animals And Their Wizardry

However, it’s also their almost perfect character (‘almost’ because they have the innate ability to do the dumbest things) which led many into a trap.

Although a pet can bring about great therapeutic healing as seen in therapy dogs, we need to be honest with ourselves if we can deal with the fact that most animals will leave this place before we do. It can even be a dangerous event if someone is already suffering from mental illness. Even to most people, a pet is more than just a furry companion – they can even mean more than a significant other or family members.

Too Much Of A Good Thing Makes Me Sick, Especially If The Good Thing Is Chocolate

Most people I know take the loss of their pet in stride, especially pets who died of old age. But life, not only is it fragile, the outcomes of daily events – big and small, is beyond our control. How many times have you bought someone a gift but only to get an awkward smile when they opened it up?

It’s not about being indifferent, but knowing where to draw the line. Water and nutrients are essential for the growth of a plant, give it too much, it dies. Same goes for many things in life.

Pets are readily conditioned by positive things, they’ll soon know that all they need to do to get more treats and attention is to beg for it. Not only does it create obesity, anxiety and stress issues, having an unhealthy body and mind will manifest into in turn create more problems.

It’s A Matter Of Personal Reflection

It’s difficult finding the balance as most pet owners are either overly attached or nonchalant, both of which will create the same behavioral and health issues.

So in my opinion, only when we understand boundaries, of what’s expected of our pets (e.g. rules they need to abide), but also what’s expected of us – logically evaluating our pet’s best interests, will we be able to enjoy a healthy relationship.

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