Targeted areas to focus on
- Eyes and creases between nose and eyes
- Fur around the bum
- Body fur
Unlike their close cousins the Persians, the Exotic Shorthair requires a little less maintenance, but more than other feline breeds.
Bye bye eye boogies
Due to their brachycephalic (smoosh) faces, Exotics have poor eye drainage and tend to tear up frequently. If left unattended, this can lead to staining of the fur under the eyes, or worse infection from blockage of the tear ducts.
To keep the eye area clean, it is best to wipe around the eyes once a day to every other day with a dry facial tissue. Of course this will differ from cat to cat. In our experience with Robbie, we could sometimes get away with once a week!
Once in a while Robbie will get extra teary and his eye boogies harden quick. This is usually when a dry facial tissue will not do much. If you come across a similar situation, you can take a damp cotton ball (keyword DAMP, you will want to squeeze out as much water as possible) and gently rub out the eye crusties. Sometimes the crusties will get stuck between the eye and nose crease, and in this case you can use a q-tip. It may take some time to loosen up the eye boogies, but never put too much force as this gets uncomfortable for your kitty. You can also use eye wipes, we like EarthBath Eye Wipes.
Bye bye dingleberries
A fluffy tush comes with great responsibilities. Every now and then poop may get stuck on the surrounding fur of the bum. I am sure no one wants their kitty to lick their poop and then lick you. That is why it is very important to keep an eye on your kitty’s bum area. If you see poop, just take a damp paper towel and wipe away any residuals. If it is dried and stuck, use a wetter paper towel and hold it against the bum to soften the dingleberries. There are also commercial pet wipes you can purchase such as EarthBath Hypo-allergenic Grooming Wipes or PetKin PetWipes.
Dingleberries aren’t the only issue though! Sometimes your kitty will have problems pooping and may need to be anally expressed, I won’t go into details but luckily I have only had to do it once. The act of dropping a deuce helps push out any secretions held in the kitty’s bum, but if no poop is coming out then the secretions are stuck and left to accumulate. If you smell a strong fishy odor coming from your kitty’s bum, keep your eye on them to see if they poop in the next couple of days, because if they don’t you may need to take them to the vet to see what is going on. Try to feed them some pumpkin, it does wonders.
Cat hair is lonely people’s glitter
As much as we love our boys, having cat hair on our clothes and around the house is unpleasant. If we don’t vacuum at least once week there are literally little tumbleweeds of Robbie’s fur rolling around.
The beauty of Exotics is that they have short hair and unlike Persians they don’t really get mats in their fur. However, they still have a thick undercoat that sheds! The Furminator grooming tool does wonders in helping to remove all loose hairs. The brush itself looks intimidating and possibly painful, but our boys have had no complaints. If you want something less aggressive, we would suggest the grooming glove. It looks like it doesn’t work but it does (watch out review here)!
Clean and happy
Of course there is more to just these three things to keep your Exotic groomed and happy, but we found that these are the key items that need the most attention on. Good luck and we nope these tips are helpful!
Sven and Robbie 