Struggling with feisty felines? ???? Learn the safest, most effective techniques to handle and groom cats with confidence!

For Grooming Practices • Veterinary Clinics • Animal Care Providers

TANDEM Cat® Care for Service Providers

A licensed, trauma-informed framework that turns “difficult” or medically sensitive feline cases into safe, repeatable workflows. Integrate TANDEM Cat®, TANDEM Touch™, and Feline-Form technique to reduce sedation reliance, improve outcomes, and elevate team safety.

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Clinical Positioning

What TANDEM Cat® Care Delivers

TANDEM Cat® is a two-person handling and technique system that preserves feline agency while enabling complete grooms on fully alert, non-sedated cats. The handler co-regulates arousal and maintains natural positions; the lead practitioner executes Feline-Form technique—layered, light passes that respect skin travel and reduce overstimulation.

  • Reduced sedation reliance for pelt removal, severe matting, and hygiene resets
  • Lower incident rates via role separation, micro-pauses, and arousal gating
  • Faster behavioral re-entry and better client adherence over time
  • QOL gains for seniors, palliative, and medically complex cohorts
Co-regulation Natural Positions Low-Force Handling Clinical Sequencing
Two-person TANDEM Cat® team providing synchronized care
TANDEM Cat®: handler + lead practitioner, working in sync.
Grooming Practices

Convert “Can’t” to “Completed”

  • Team roles: Lead Groomer (Feline-Form) + Handler (TANDEM Touch™)
  • Environment: quiet rooms, padded surfaces, light control
  • Flow: intake triage → arousal baseline → consent micro-pauses → recovery

KPIs

  • High-complexity completion rate
  • Incidents per 100 grooms
  • Duration vs. complexity index
Veterinary Clinics

Add a Non-Pharma Option

  • Triage: select TANDEM vs. chemical restraint
  • Orders: coat release, hygiene reset, pain-aware handling
  • Handoff: tech → TANDEM team with vitals & flags

KPIs

  • Sedation-avoidance rate (indicated cases)
  • Post-discharge complication rate
  • QOL deltas in palliative cohorts
Shelter/Rescue & Care Providers

Stabilize, Reset, Rehome

  • Matting/pelt resets for intake & long-stays
  • Hygiene and odor reduction to improve adoptability
  • Behavioral re-entry after prior restraint trauma

KPIs

  • Time-to-groom from intake
  • Adoption readiness improvements
  • Incident reduction across cohorts
TANDEM Touch™

Handling That Protects the Nervous System

  • Consent-seeking micro-pauses and arousal gating
  • Behavior-responsive adjustments (breath, tension, micro-movement)
  • Fluid positioning—no forced holds; spine & joints remain supported
Intake & Baseline — arousal, red-flag mapping, environment set.
Stabilize — tactile co-regulation, natural posture alignment.
Execute — Feline-Form sequence with layered, light contact.
Recover — towel wrap, transition choreography, discharge notes.
Feline-Form precision deshedding in natural positions
Feline-Form: precision work that respects skin elasticity and travel.
Case Criteria

Where TANDEM Cat® Excels

  • Pelted or severely matted coats with anesthesia/cardiac/orthopedic risks
  • Shutdown, flattening, or high reactivity to restraint
  • Chronic coat-bound inflammation, dermal odor, secondary infections
  • Failed sedation-based grooms; palliative comfort releases
Operational Value

Why Teams Adopt It

  • Safety: fewer startles and injuries via role separation
  • Throughput: optimized sequencing shortens total case time
  • Retention: guardians return for consistent success on hard cases
  • Reputation: become the regional referral for complex cats

Licensed Training & CE Partnerships

TANDEM Cat® is offered under a licensed training model (starting at $45,000) that includes instructor-led intensives, on-site coaching, and 12-month implementation support. Use rights include protected materials (e.g., Felting Model™, Matting Severity Scale™). CE-ready documentation and optional RACE/IAABC submission available.

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Comfort hoodie aiding co-regulation during sensitive handling
Comfort tools stabilize arousal without force or restraint.
All Cats Welcome banner
From first-timers to medically fragile: protocols scale to need.

TANDEM Cat®, TANDEM Touch™, Feline-Form™, Felting Model™, and Matting Severity Scale™ are proprietary to TANDEM Cat®. © 2025 Cats in the City. All rights reserved.

Shawn and Dan are the inventors and developers of TANDEM Cat® Care, the founders of Cats in the City, and the founders of The TANDEM Cat® Institute. This method is a safer and more relaxed experience for your cat. When the TANDEM Cat® Grooming technique is used, two or more professional groomers attend to your cat, comfortably and naturally positioning them while the lead groomer focuses on the coat. Solo grooming involves only one groomer, which is unsafe and stressful.