Interview! Liz Illg, Owner of Puff & Fluff Grooming & Pet Sitting

“Not every single groomer can groom a cat … A cat feeds off people’s energy, and so the person working on that cat needs to be very gentle and kind and understanding.”

Liz Illg, owner of Puff & Fluff Grooming & Pet Sitting, located in Phoenix, Arizona, joins Stacy to talk about cat grooming, and about how Puff & Fluff helps area rescue groups. Growing up on a farm in Iowa, Liz has always had a strong connection to animals. During her college years in Arizona, she began taking on pet sitting clients, and after graduation, she decided she wanted to find a business that would be complementary to that work. She purchased a grooming business from its retiring owner, and she now has four shops in the greater Phoenix area, plus she has added pet sitting to the company’s services.

Liz serves as a consultant to other area businesses, and as a board member at Gabriel’s Angels, an organization that assists local at-risk children by using therapy animals to help them work through issues they are experiencing. Liz is currently working on a large, day-long event with Puff & Fluff during which a number of area rescue organizations will be able to bring foster animals—particularly cats—in for grooming and photographs. The public will also be invited in to adopt animals that day.

When Liz first took over Puff & Fluff, they business saw only a handful of cats each year, but now, five years later, just one of her shops grooms over 30 cats each week.Most of these cats are mixed breeds, and many are elderly cats that are having trouble grooming themselves. Liz tells us that it takes a special, calm person to be able to groom a cat. Her shops offer a 50% discount for rescue and foster animals, and she encourages anyone listening to call around to area groomers to see if they offer rescue discounts as well, as foster and rescue animals can often benefit from professional grooming to improve their adoption prospects.

Liz & Stacy talk about some at-home grooming tips for those who aren’t able to bring their cat(s) in to a pet spa, including why you need both a brush and a comb to properly care for your cat’s coat. They also talk about addressing dry or oily coats, and about some of the things Liz clients do to dress up their pets around Halloween!

Liz also offers some great tips on how to tackle the often overwhelming challenge of social media promotion. Her tips and ideas are applicable to anyone working in rescue or adoption, as well as to business owners. If you have a social media presence, you’ll definitely want to listen to Liz’s thoughts on how to break the process down into a more manageable one.

To learn more about Puff & Fluff Grooming & Pet Sitting and the causes they support, follow @puffandfluffspa on Instagram, look them up on Facebook, or visit them at puffandfluffspa.com.

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