Pampering Pets with Pizzazz

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This article was published 28/06/2018 (2639 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If anyone ever calls Crystal Smitzniuk a crazy cat lady, she said she takes it as a compliment.

A mom of two “fur babies” — a female cat named Misty and a male named Stormy — Smitzniuk said the nickname is kind of accurate since she loves them both like crazy.

“We love having cats in our house … both of them have their own unique personalities. They’re funny at times, they’re annoying at times, but they’re always around, and you miss them if they’re not,” Smitzniuk said. “They’re part of our family. My husband and I don’t have kids, so we have two fur babies that are our cats and our kids, in a way. I do believe pets become family — you love them just as much.”

Misty came into Smitzniuk’s life approximately 12 years ago, she said, when her and her husband took Misty in from a family member.

They adopted Stormy a few years later after his mother, a farm cat, abandoned him when he was only three weeks old.

“I used to have to mix him formula, so he was like a little baby and he still is,” Smitzniuk said. “He’ll sit in my lap and he’s a good cat. He’ll follow me around the house … I can still wrap him up in a blanket and he’ll just fall asleep.”

Like any pet mom, Smitzniuk likes to make sure her cats are living their best life, and recent trends in pet care have made that a little easier.

Smitzniuk has a nanny camera set up beside the cat’s automatic feeders, she said, so when they go out of town they have peace of mind in knowing their cats are doing okay while they’re gone.

The feeders also have Smitzniuk’s voice programmed into them so they can call the cats for dinner by name, Smitzniuk said, which the cats seem to find comfort in as well.

Smitzniuk even has a pet stroller she bought from PetSmart, which allows her to take Stormy on summer walks.

“(Stormy) likes to kind of go anywhere with me … so I got this cat stroller and he doesn’t mind it,” Smitzniuk said. “Once we get outside he talks to me the whole way … there’s a little flap at the back of the stroller so he’ll face front and then turn around a give a little, ‘meow’, so I’ll assure him I’m right there and he’ll turn back around and face the front again.”

For Alyssa Fletcher, owner of Grassroots Grooming in Brandon, pet owners that go the extra mile for their best friends — as she likes to refer to her pets — is nothing new.

Business has been steady since Grassroots Grooming opened their doors, Fletcher said, with programs like their deshedding program growing more and more popular among dog owners and creative grooming requests on the rise.

“(Grooming) has always been in really high demand,” Fletcher said. “I think people are caring for their dogs more all around … they’re coming out from the backyards and they’re in our beds and on our couches … it is a body and you want it taken care of, it’s dog hygiene, really.”

But taking care of your pet’s hygiene doesn’t have to be boring.

They’ve started doing airbrush tattoos, Fletcher said, where dogs can get a little paw print airbrushed onto their backside.

And just like their owners, dogs can enjoy getting pampered with a manicure, too.

“Kyle (a groomer at Grassroots Grooming) has a bulldog that comes in every month and every time he paints that bulldog’s nails pink,” Fletcher said, laughing. “It’s pretty great.”

The shop has also recently introduced mineral mud baths, which help exfoliate, purify and detoxify the dog’s coat and skin, as well as blueberry facials, which are ideal for white dogs looking to prevent or clean up tear stains.

“It’s been surprisingly popular … It’s not for everybody but the people who like it, like it,” Fletcher said. “I think dogs like any extra bit of attention … they know when they’ve got that little extra bit of pizazz.”

Overall, Fletcher said there was been a “massive shift” toward kindness and mindfulness in dog owning, including training.

People are working harder to socialize their pets, taking them to doggie daycares around the city and letting them mingle with other dogs, Fletcher said.

Grassroots has a daycare that is small dog specific, Fletcher added, which allows the dogs to have run of the shop all day without having to be rotated out to accommodate large dogs at play.

“We were once taught you had to be alpha and dogs needed to mind. I’m so glad this has been disproved and will be in our rear view mirror soon,” Fletcher said. “Now it’s all about slowing down, teaching dogs in tiny approximations what is expected, and leading with kindness …Welcome to 2018 and the shift toward a balanced life for families, including our pets… seeing pets as individual beings to be respected and the friends they are.”