Teaching Your Cat to Accept Grooming & Medical Care

Many cat caregivers think that struggling with grooming and medical care is just a normal part of having a cat. The truth is you don't have to choose between fighting with your cat or skipping their care. If your cat won't let you administer their medication, brush the mats out of their fur, or trim their nails, this article is for you! If going to the vet is the worst day of the year for your cat, or the vet team reports difficulty drawing blood and administering vaccines for your cat, this article is for you, too.

What is cooperative care?

Credit: Kerri Lee Smith

Cooperative care is a growing movement towards completing grooming and medical care with as minimal stress and anxiety (for both parties) as possible. It usually involves teaching your pet a skill that allows them to "opt in" for these procedures as well as dictate when we stop. While it won't be possible to allow your pet consent 100% of the time, we are finding that the more we do operate with their consent, the more likely they are to give the consent again.

What can success look like?

When you've become successful with cooperative care, it may look like a cat who:

• Gets on a stool to say they're ready for the cooperative care to start

• Lies down while you trim their nails

• Holds their mouth open for their pill

• Holds a bite block in their mouth while you brush their teeth

• Holds still for a blood draw or vaccine

But there are always two sides to the training equation, and cooperative care also looks like a caregiver who:

• Watches their cat's body language carefully

• Stops touching their cat when they "opt out" anytime it is possible

Why should we use cooperative care?

When we think about medical and grooming care from our cats' perspective, we can imagine why it might actually be quite scary. When you go to the doctor and have a procedure done like bloodwork, vaccines, a nasal swab, or your regular checkups below the belt, your medical team explains what they're going to do and generally does not start touching you until you confirm you're ready. If you didn't sit down on the exam table and stood by the door instead, they would question whether you're okay to proceed.

The same goes for visiting a hairdresser or a spa. You can be pretty confident they wont start your full-body massage in the waiting room. If the hairdresser started yanking on your hair in an uncomfortable way, you'd let them know! If they ignored you, you probably would not be booking with them again, because that's in your power.

When our cats have no idea what we are about to do to them and they have no way to verbally tell you they're uncomfortable and want you to stop, they have to resort to either shutting down or using their teeth and claws. In either situation, they will want to avoid you the next time you bring out the nail clippers or medication.

If we teach our cats that 1) good things (rewards) will happen when we touch them and 2) they will have some say in whether or not we touch them, we are much more likely to get cooperation from them.

How do I get started?

If you've made it this far, thank you for caring so much about your cat's comfort! Cooperative care is not a quick fix or something accomplished in a few training sessions. In fact, if your cat has been struggling for a long time, you may need professional assistance going through the process. However there are a couple things you can try out first.

1. Voluntary distraction- You still use the rules of opting in and out, however, you allow your cat to enjoy a long-lasting food reward while you do the trimming, brushing, injection, etc. If your cat stops eating the food while you're touching them, you should stop what you're doing. You can actually "poison" the positive association they have with their favorite food if you continue making them uncomfortable.

2. Teach a "start button" that allows your cat to opt in to whatever you're doing- If you can't use voluntary distraction (like for giving pills or teeth-brushing), teach your cat to stand on a stool or mat where they can easily get off. Reward them for getting off and on that station until they understand they have the choice to be on there or not and will still get rewarded. If they resist when you start touching them or begin the care routine, you should stop. You'll need to start much slower or risk poisoning the whole process and reduce trust. If they allow you to do it without resisting but they immediately get off the station when you're done, that is valuable information for when you try again.

If it turns out that your cat needs a much slower approach, that is very normal and very common. I recommend reaching out to a qualified behavior professional with experience teaching cooperative care techniques. We'd be happy to help you here at Purrfect Paws University. With professional guidance, you can go through the delicate processes of desensitization and counter conditioning that teach your cat to feel better about being touched in uncomfortable ways.

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Christian Flournoy, CPDT-KA

Christian is a professional trainer and behavior consultant for Purrfect Paws University and Wiggle Butt Academy. She is a Fear Free Certified Professional who offers training and behavior consulting for dogs and cats of all ages. Christian enjoys working with pets experiencing fear and clients with disability and illness that make living with pets more complicated. She is passionate about making low-stress pet ownership accessible to more people.