Why should you bother to groom your cat? After all, if they're not sleeping, eating, or pooping, all they seem to do is groom themselves. However, grooming your cat is a great opportunity to check on his or her current physical condition:

• While running your hands through your cat's fur, feel for any cuts, tumours, sores, lumps and bruises. Part the fur to look for any raw patches, or signs of fleas.
• While stroking your cat's coat more intensively than usual, you can gently pull apart any matted areas, or use a detangling product.
• Deep stroking will stimulate your cat's circulation, and increase the release of body oils to the cat's coat.
• Removing clumps of shedding hair will reduce the likelihood of hairballs.
• A quick examination of your cat's eyes, ears, teeth, and nails might identify problems that you hadn't yet seen.

The Petz Central range of grooming products can help you groom your cat more easily and effectively. (Note: Several of these products are suitable for both dogs and cats.)