I happened to notice this show on my cable guide the other day and on the next episode, "Meowza", they were going to be grooming cats so I set the DVR thinking that maybe I could pick up some tips. The only tip I got was to be really careful who I let groom my cats. The contestants are all groomers already but then they are on this reality show to win the title of "Groomer of the Year". Actually, the episode was not about hair cuts and they were just bathing and brushing out Himalayan cats and getting mats out. I was completely horrified. Who on earth would turn their cat over to a bunch of people with no cat grooming experience for the purpose of a reality show? So the show ends with Malissa being eliminated because she cut the freaking cat's whiskers off. They were specifically told NOT to use scissors on the cat's faces and the little moron goes and trims up the face and then claims she was doing what she was told by "scissoring the face" and then lies and says she meant that she plucked the face. So now this cat will be handicapped by the loss of her whiskers until they grow out. This is why I don't watch reality shows.

The poor kitty cats! Lets cut that girl's wiskers off and see how she likes it. What a complete idiot! I hate reality TV.

I don't have cable at home, but when I'm at work on the weekends, I have a habit of turning on Animal Planet in my resident's rooms - not only do I enjoy it, but it is something many of the residents enjoy watching, and many can still talk to me later about the dog show, or about dog tricks, or about how naughty one of the dogs were. One women remembers I have a corgi and is convinced it is the same one on the dog show every saturday morning while she gets up, and will tell me gravely at breakfast every moring that she is sorry my dog didn't win. I caught previews of the meowza episode, and some of the other groomer has it episodes, and I'm not impressed with the selection of contestants, as it seems they went for personality over competence. The whisker thing would p*** me off! Nikki has a cousin who still lives in his mother's house, he's 21 and his mother has 7 cats. He will cut there whiskers off and then laugh at them when they are unbalanced or run into things. Nikki's aunt doesn't stop him cause she thinks it makes them look "cute," like when they were kittens and had short whiskers - "and it doesn't HURT them." They also have a habit of going through cats like potato chips, find new stray kittens every year and the older ones end up who knows where. As for trimming their nails, netuering the males (but the females are spayed, thank heavens) routine shots... don't ask.
Anyways, I am addicted to other reality shows on Animal Planet, Barking Mad, Good Dog U, and It's Me or the Dog I try to catch as much as possible every Saturday and Sunday morning. Though many a time I have to ask myself WHY are these British Folk ALLOWING their dogs to run amok about the house, "Barking Mad." This Sunday on It's me or the Dog, there was this woman who was willing to leave her partner because he didn't help clean up the, ahem, mess in the kitchen that their two ADULT Greyhounds would PURPOSELY deposit on the kitchen floor 3-4 times a day. An amazing amount of it too. Obviously that is where they thought they were suppose to go... how could you TRAIN your dog to think that, its beyond me.

I accidentally cut some of Allie's whiskers because she turned her head when I was trimming a clump on her neck a few weeks ago. I felt like a total jerk for it but she's fine because she was a klutz before it happened. If anything, I have seen her jump to some places she was afraid of before. But that is why it made it harder for me to see somebody deliberately do it to "clean up" the cat's face. They are all spikey and they poke me when she snuggles but she doesn't seem to mind. But that's so funny about threatening to leave the guy for not cleaning up after the dogs. My Max had a horrific accident on the rug ONE time in his life when he got into some chocolates he stole off the counter and made himself sick. My boyfriend who does not live with me found it first and called me at work. I insisted that he just pile paper towels on the poo and leave it for me because it was too much to ask of someone else. He piled an entire roll of Bounty on it! It is unbelievable how far those people let their dogs go before they call in that British trainer. That's what I was watching when I caught the ad for Groomer Has It and decided to watch. But it was a crazy Pomeranian. The owner was ridiculous and it was clearly her fault the dog got that way. I treat my animals like babies but they still show respect and know how to behave. Gosh I wish I could live without cable at home. Saving $92 a month would be awesome!

I don't have cable, and by what you guys say, I never will, I would get way too addicted to it! I don't watch much TV as it is, probably because I sit in front of a computer almost all day at work. I think pets are a lot like children. You teach them how to behave and what is and is not appropriate. Some people are better with children, some with dogs, some with both, some are terrible at both. So they have a doggie version of Supernanny, huh? Go figure! I'm the kind of person that thinks you should know how to deal with them BEFORE getting a pet (or having children for that matter), but that's just me. I guess it makes good television. If nothing else it makes us feel better about ourselves.

A few weekends ago on Barking Mad there was a woman who had a beautiful smush-faced persian cat, who HATED to be brush out. Worse than my Calla, though I could hardly believe it. Growled and scratched and bit the owner. Calla is very vocal, but if she scratches me it is only in trying to get away, not intentionally and has yet to bite. I didn't get to see how it was resolved because, you know, I had to... work. Unfortunately I don't get paid to watch cable television.

cats are much harder to train than dogs. And it has always seemed to me that the smarter the cat was, the harder it was to train it to do ANYTHING! They just get sooo obstinate! I had a cat that was a total dingbat and I trained her to do all sorts of stuff, use the toilet, roll over, beg, stay, etc. But her litter mate was very smart and could problem solve like you wouldn't believe, but only if HE wanted to. I couldn't get that cat to do a darn thing, but he could figure out anything he set his little furry mind to.