Self-Grooming

If there were an animal Olympic for self-grooming, the cat would win the gold medal. Cats are enthusiastic self-groomers, spending a large amount of their waking hours grooming. So addictive is the grooming behavior that after throughout cleaning itself, a cat will often attempt to groom a companion, whether another cat, a human, or the family dog. Mother cats are dedicated to cleaning their kittens. It is not unusual to hear a young kitten squeal in protest as 'mom' holds it down and licks, licks, licks. A cat may groom meticulously after being petted, possibly in an attempt to remove the scent of the person who touched it.

The above video shows how Kurimu turns to be so obsess licking hubby's hair! 
Best view picture resolution: 720p HD


Anyone having experienced the rough kiss of the family cat realizes that the feline tongue is not smooth. It is actually covered with hard, strong,backward-facing hooks called papillae that are very useful for cleaning the cat's coat. Acting like a comb, the tongue removes dirt, oils and loose hair as it licks the coat. The cat will use its tongue to lick all the parts it can reach. A grooming session typically begins with a thorough licking from shoulder to flank followed by the underside, tail and hind legs. Special attention is paid to cleaning around the anus and genital regions. Paws are inspected, biting any debris that may be stuck in the hair between the pads. 

Once the cat has groomed all the areas it can reach with its tongue directly, it moves on to grooming the difficult to reach areas like the face and behind the ears. Assuming a sitting position, the cat will continuously lick the inside of a front paw and leg until it is wet. It then rubs the wet paw along the side of its face and cheeks, around the eye, the forehead and behind the ear. Once it completely  cleans the side of its head,it changes paws and repeats the procedure on the other side of its face.

 
So efficient is the abrasive tongue at removing dead hair from the coat that the cat often ingests so much loose hair that it forms a ball in the cat's stomach. Unable to pass through the digestive tract, the cat usually vomits up the ball of hair. If the hair does enter the intestine, there is a danger it may become impacted in the gastrointestinal tract. This is one reason why it is important to comb your cat frequently, especially during shedding season.Long-haired cats need daily grooming. Short-haired cat should be groomed at least once a week.

Although Kusky is a super-short-haired tom cat, I still have to do combing for him in every next three days, this is to prevent serious hair fall inside the house. While for Kurimu, once in a week is more than sufficient. Most of the time i find bunch of flying hair balls at home, especially just after they play fight! 

I tried a few kind of combs, unfortunately they don't work well until I bought a 'Furminator'. No doubt that this comb really helps to remove excessive hair fall that is trapped under the coat. Imagine I just did roughly 10 times of combing for Kusky and this was what I got! Most of the time I could get roughly 5-6 bundles of hair balls (as big as what is shown in the photo).

If I collect this, I am sure I could make myself a high neck sweater!!