As we progress at terrifying speed well into our seventh year (!!) we continue to develop and evolve our services to ensure we’re offering you the best we possibly can. Sometimes this means retiring services or even advice we may once have given; sometimes it’s tweaking existing services and ideas to improve them – for both clients and myself. As a one woman band, I have to be sensible sometimes…
Recently I decided to roll two popular services into one and simplify it: our Just Nails and Basic Groom have been combined into the service titled Scales ‘n’ Nails (or Nails ‘n’ Scales depending on the day and my memory!).
This, and Baby’s First Groom (for pigs under 6mo), are the only two packages available as mobile grooms. Experience has thrown up a few practical niggles with trying to clean boys bits, ears, grease glands on a mobile service, so I have opted to remove the Basic Groom (which included those services) and instead rebrand Just Nails.
So now, when you book Scales ‘n’ Nails, for the same price as Just Nails you now get a nail trim, foot spur removal, and a basic health and weight check with full written reports.
Another key development is the birth of the Semi-Long Haired Groom. If in doubt, book your pigs in either as long or short and I will assess them on arrival. It’s more important to get that booking made even if you don’t know what breed they are. If I identify them as semi-long haired, I will let you know accordingly.
As a rule of thumb, I class a pig as being semi-long haired if they have a top coat that grows longer than the undercoat – often seen in the form of a thin “skirt” of longer hair at the rear end, or long “tailfeathers” on the rump – often seen in a mixed breed such as an Abyruvian (an Abyssinian x Peruvian cross, sometimes called a “Sheba Mini Yak”). If a pig has longer or thicker than usual hair on their underside, especially around the back legs and groin presenting with what I like to call “bloomers”, I will also tend to trim this area shorter to prevent the hair absorbing urine and becoming soiled, as is more likely to happen than with short haired pigs.
Semi-Long Hairs tend not to have the thickness and length of coat associated with long hairs and it’s rare they matt heavily, but their hair is still longer and thicker than a short-hair and does absorb urine if given the chance, along with forming some very small matts particularly between the back legs. Because they require a small amount of extra time and work, introducing them as a category of their own with a very small fee increase made more sense than charging for more, or indeed less, work than needs doing.
For Full Long Haired Grooms, I’ve added an option to the booking form to allow you to request a more specific cut. I will always put welfare over aesthetics, but I’m seeing some owners who want their pigs cut as short as possible to make the hair last in good condition for as long as possible, while others want to keep the long hair but trimmed to above floor level and with a short underside and groin. I hope by adding in this question it allows people to enjoy the longer hair of their piggies, especially if they have chosen a long hair specifically for a love of the breed. Many have no idea they will end up with a long-haired when they acquire their pigs, hence many finding it far easier to opt for shorter hair all over.
For a summary of prices and each grooming service, I’ve copied the details from the Grooming page and shared them below.
I’ll be releasing a “How To” video walking you through how to book a grooming appointment. Although it’s mostly self-explanatory, there are several forms I do need before your appointment, and it makes life endlessly easier if you follow a few key points and complete the booking upfront. That’s for another day though. For now, I’ve waffled on enough so I’ll leave this here and, as always, if you have any questions not already covered on the website or in our FAQ, then please do drop me a line!
GROOMING
Service & Number of Pigs | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Nails ‘n’ Scales | £5 | £8 | £11 | £14 | £17 |
Baby's First Groom | £5 | £8 | £11 | £14 | £17 |
Skinny Care Package | £12 | £24 | £36 | £48 | £60 |
Full Short Haired Groom | £12 | £24 | £36 | £48 | £60 |
Semi Long Haired Groom | £13 | £26 | £39 | £52 | £65 |
Full Long Haired Groom | £15 | £30 | £45 | £60 | £75 |
* NAILS ‘N’ SCALES
Nail trim, foot spur removal, basic health and weight check with written report
* BABY’S FIRST GROOM
Nail trim, gender check, foot spur removal, basic health and weight check with written report
* SKINNY CARE PACKAGE
Nail trim, foot spur removal, ear clean, boar maintenance/clean, grease gland, gentle bath, massage in coconut oil followed by wipe down with damp cloth, final moisturise with coconut oil, basic health and weight check with written report
* SHORT FULL (short-haired full groom)
Nail trim, foot spur removal, ear clean, boar maintenance/clean, grease gland, skin treatments, bath, massage and dry, basic health and weight check with written report
* SEMI LONG (partial long hair, full groom)
Minor hair trim, nail trim, foot spur removal, ear clean, boar maintenance/clean, grease gland, skin treatments, full bath, massage and dry, basic health and weight check with written report
* LONG FULL (long-haired full groom)
Full body haircut, matt removal, nail trim, foot spur removal, ear clean, boar maintenance/clean, grease gland, skin treatments, full bath, massage and dry, basic health and weight check with written report