You become a cat groomer by building general grooming skill first and adding cats on top of it.
The doors are the ones dogs travel — bather and assistant jobs, salon training, grooming school, an employer academy — and the cat work comes through in-house cat training, a feline certification, or practice on cat appointments.
This page walks the skills, the routes in, and your first cats.
The skills a cat groomer needs
Cat grooming runs on the same coat skills as dog grooming — bathing, drying, brushing out, de-matting, nails, ears, tidy trims — and adds the layer that makes it a specialty: the handling.
The bath, the dry and the brush-out carry over; reading the cat, pacing the groom and keeping holds short are what you train for on the cat side.
Reading the cat.
Watch the signals and pace the groom to them — tail flicking, ears flattening, skin twitching, a low growl, or a stillness that suddenly breaks.
Work in small, slow movements, watch the cat more than the clock, and end the appointment early rather than push a cat past its limit.
Coat work by coat type.
Longhaired coats mat and shorthaired coats shed, and both run through the same practical skills: line brushing, de-matting, humane shave-downs, lion cuts and tidy trims, plus the nail trims and ear cleaning that round out a cat's service menu.
The transferable floor.
If you already groom dogs, the bath, the dry and the brush-out carry over — what you relearn is the handling and the pace.
If you are starting from zero, a bather or assistant job builds that same floor on dogs first, and the skills move across.
Stamina and calm.
It is physical work — PetSmart's grooming postings describe a wet environment with abundant pet hair — and it takes a steady temperament: the patience to work at the cat's pace, and the judgment to stop before a wiggle becomes a bite or a scratch.
Training routes into cat grooming
There is more than one door, and every documented route builds general grooming skill before the cats come.
Which one fits depends on your budget, your timeline and whether you want a paycheck while you learn.
Start at the tub.
Each employer documented on this page posts an entry-level grooming role: PetSmart's published path starts at the bather station, Petco hires Junior Groomers, Petsense hires Groom Techs in Training, and a Pet Supplies Plus franchise in Waxahachie, Texas, posts a "Grooming Technician" (Bather / Student Groomer) role.
That one franchise's posting lists no prior experience among its requirements — it asks instead for a high school diploma or GED, age 18+, and hands-on training plus online grooming coursework.
Learn in a salon and add cats on the job.
The documented lane is PetSmart's: bathers hired before March 2, 2026 can elect cat training, and stylists can be trained in cat grooming through the 3-day in-house Academy — both detailed below.
The wider route — bather to assistant to groomer, with school and apprenticeship options along the way — is the same one dogs travel, and our guide to how to become a dog groomer covers it step by step.
Train through an employer academy.
PetSmart's published path runs bather to paid Grooming Academy to Pet Stylist: bathers bathe over 125 dogs before advancing, the academy is a 4-week, 160-hour program, and trainees then groom 200 dogs as Pet Stylists in Training.
The cat work sits inside that system in two ways.
Stylists can be trained in-house in cat grooming through a 3-day Academy, with cat-specific grooming and safety equipment provided.
And cat services now reach the entry job: PetSmart bathers hired on or after March 2, 2026 are required to provide standalone grooming services for cats, while bathers hired earlier may opt in to cat training.
Retail and franchise groom-tech programs.
Petsense by Tractor Supply hires "Groom Techs in Training" into Paragon, a virtual distance-learning course its posting describes as 15 weeks of bathing and grooming fundamentals, safety, pet first aid and CPR, handling and dog anatomy, with Level 1 due within five weeks.
Its Groomer posting asks for at least 1 year of grooming experience, Paragon Level 1 & 2, and comfort with dogs and cats — worth noting when you scan a posting for whether a salon grooms cats at all.
Programs and postings change — confirm with the employer
Cat grooming certification
Certification sits on top of the training, not in front of it.
BLS states certifications are not required for animal care and service workers — the occupation group that includes groomers — so the credential is a voluntary add-on.
One feline-specific credential is the Certified Feline Master Groomer (CFMG), a title issued by the National Cat Groomers Institute; the Institute sets the requirements and the exams, so check its own pages for the current details before you commit.
Keep the employer programs separate in your head: PetSmart's 3-day cat Academy is that company's in-house training for its own stylists, not an industry credential.
Getting cat experience before your first cat appointment
Animal experience counts, even before your first grooming job.
Petco's Junior Groomer posting asks for 0–1 year of animal-related experience and says shelter volunteering or pet sitting count toward it.
Shelter and rescue volunteering is handling practice for this work: many unfamiliar cats, including fearful ones, and no owner watching.
Every shift counts.
At work, ask for the cats.
If you bathe or assist in a salon that takes cats, tell the lead you want onto cat appointments — holding, drying and brush-outs on cats are the apprenticeship for taking your own.
PetSmart builds a formal lane for this: bathers hired before March 2, 2026 can elect cat training, and once trained, cat grooming becomes an essential function of the role.
Photograph your work as it lands.
A small portfolio of brush-outs, de-mats and trims — cats or dogs — gives a hiring manager something to judge beyond your word, and it grows into your cat book.
Your first cat grooming jobs
Cat grooming work sits inside the same job market as dog grooming.
The settings, the day-to-day and the pay context live in our cat groomer career guide; this section stays on getting hired.
Read the posting for the cat.
PetSmart titles its stylist posting "Pet Stylist (Dog and/or Cat Groomer)", and that title signals the role can include cats.
The posting requires prior grooming experience, or 6 months as a Stylist in Training with its Salon Academy training and safety certification completed, or passing the salon's technical evaluation.
Entry roles hire on potential instead.
The Waxahachie Pet Supplies Plus franchise's bather posting asks for no prior experience, a high school diploma or GED and age 18+, and lists 65-pound lifting among its physical requirements.
Check the age rule per employer.
Federal child labor rules under the FLSA set 16 as the general minimum age for non-agricultural employment.
Employers add their own policies on top: PetSmart's grooming postings require applicants to be over 18, except in Montana or where state or local law requires otherwise — the company's own policy, not a general legal minimum for grooming.
Expect physical work.
PetSmart's grooming postings list frequently lifting or moving up to 50 pounds, occasional team-lifting of more than 100 pounds, and noise that is moderate but can be high at times.
Petco's grooming postings describe bending, kneeling, lifting up to 30 pounds and an environment that "can be noisy and wet".
The numbers differ by employer, so read each posting's own list.
After that, the specialty builds itself: volunteer for the cats, keep the appointments short and well-handled, and your cat book grows one clean, calm cat at a time.
Career information, not legal advice: the program and posting details above come from the employers' own pages and change, so confirm them with the employer. Check any licensing or permit question for where you work with your state agriculture department and your city or county.