PUBLISHED ONMarch 08, 2023 10:00 AMByChing Shi JieThere's a recent study that finds men who post photos of themselves with cats in dating apps are less likely to get matches than others.
But for pet groomer Desmond Chan, he doesn't get why this is so.
"Oh really? I didn't know that," the bemused 34-year-old tells AsiaOne at Hey Good Cat, a pet grooming studio in Joo Chiat he owns with his wife.
"I thought a loving photo with their pets would be more attractive for their partners."
Desmond, who has taken care of pets as a living for over a decade, knows that he is a minority in his industry. After all, he's the only male pet groomer in his studio.
About 90 per cent of the job applications he has received are from women, Desmond says, but adds that he does not believe gender any has part to play on being a good pet groomer.
"At the end of the day, it requires you to express your creativity. It also allows you to build your nurturing side as well."
'Gender not an issue'
Desmond loves his mixed shih-tzu Chocolate — so much so that he has a tattoo of the pooch on his arm.
It also reminds him of how he started his journey as a pet groomer.
"After adopting Chocolate in 2009, I sent him for grooming at a studio around my place. But it wasn't a good experience [for the both of us]," recalls Desmond. "We didn't get any updates, and his hair still had tangles after his grooming session".
After not having peace of mind due to the underwhelming experience, he decided to wash and clean his dog on his own.
This incident led him to take his first step into the industry, with Desmond, a university student at the time, working part-time at a pet grooming studio.
It helped reaffirm his belief in "speaking up for these animals", he shares.
"The focus of the studios [I worked at] was trying to do it efficiently and fast.
"I thought we could do better and care more about the animals' well-being during the grooming session," he says.
But was his gender ever an issue while learning on the job? Not at all, according to Desmond.
"The boss was quite pleased because some dogs can be quite big and heavy. So having physical strength has helped me cope with the animals," he says.
A cat whisperer?
Months after setting up their first pet grooming studio Bubbly Petz in 2014, Desmond started getting requests from other pet owners — or "guardians" as he calls them — to groom their cats.
But there was a caveat, he had zero knowledge of working on cats.
After completing a cat grooming course in the United States, Desmond and his wife opened Hey Good Cat in 2019.
Describing how the studio only caters to cats, he tells us: "Cats are more sensitive to what they smell. So we wanted to create a calming and relaxing environment for cats and their guardians."
Grooming cats presented a different set of challenges for Desmond at first, but he says it's all about "understanding them" during the one-hour grooming sessions.
And while he might not profess himself to be a cat whisperer, Desmond says "good job" to the felines while washing them and gets meows of agreement in return.
"When a dog and cat wag their tail, they are sending different messages. So I have to be aware of it," the pet groomer says. While dogs generally wag their tails when they are happy, cats do the same when they're irritated or excited.
The joy of working with cats come in the form of the transformations after the grooming sessions, Desmond tells us.
When "cat guardians" bring their pets in, there are times when the pet groomer would be warned that they are timid, aggressive, and are unable to be groomed.
"After months or years of grooming sessions together, they become confident, resilient and calm during the sessions," Desmond says.
"We're changing lives for the better, just that they are animals. But that matters as well."
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