Medical Grooming Centre

The Medical Grooming Centre is led by fear-free certified veterinarian Dr Esther Lam. We adopt a Fear-Free approach in medical and/or sedated grooming sessions for your dogs and cats. The MGC team, including Dr Esther Lam, has a strong interest in animal welfare and prioritises your pet’s comfort.

During sedated grooming at our centre, the pet’s vitals will be monitored by trained personnels throughout the procedure.

Fear-Free is an initiative developed by expert behaviourists and veterinary professionals to help reduce fear, anxiety and stress (FAS) experienced by animals.

Fear-Free methods help make it more likely that your pet is happy when he or she comes through the doors of the centre.

No more waiting, sitting on cold surfaces, or mingling with other sick patients. Need extra help with your pet’s stress and anxiety? Medication can be prescribed upon consultation. Read more about a Fear-Free approach in this article.

While many vets deem fear, anxiety, and stress (FAS) to be part and parcel of a pet’s emotions during a vet clinic visit or a grooming session, our team at the Medical Grooming Centre (MGC) and the broader PNC Medical Group commits to better pet health and well-being. This is based on an understanding of the detrimental effects of fear and stress on animal health, and the damage it does to the veterinarian/groomer-owner-pet relationship.

Medical grooming includes the treatment or management of skin conditions in pets, extra caution and care for pets with mobility problems (especially senior dogs), and Fear-Free methods that may involve anti-anxiety medication or sedation for pets requiring extra stress reduction.

Sedated grooming, which is a type of medical grooming, is sometimes required for pet patients who need sedation or anaesthesia to achieve adequate grooming. During sedated grooming at the Medical Grooming Centre, the pet’s vitals will be monitored by trained personnels throughout the procedure.

Read more about medical grooming in this article.

Medical pet grooming:
The main priority in a medical grooming session is the patient’s safety and comfort, in order to achieve adequate grooming such as nail trimming for overgrown nails, ear cleaning, medical bath, treatment of skin issues, or shaving to resolve heavy matting. Sometimes, this requires sedation or anti-anxiety medication for animals who may be easily stressed, have aggression, or struggle with physical pain.

We only use medical-grade shampoos and creams for pets — instead of over-the-counter shampoos that contain ingredients like fragrance and alcohol which could irritate the sensitive skin of your furkids.

Fancy pet grooming:
In contrast, traditional or regular grooming does not have a medical focus, does not deal with skin issues, and does not involve special care when grooming pets who have mobility problems. The aim is to clean and tidy up your pet’s appearance, and could also include some pampering for your pet such as a luxurious spa bath as well as fancy haircuts like lion cuts or teddy bear cuts.

Fancy grooming therefore typically uses over-the-counter pet shampoos, and not medical-grade shampoos and creams approved by veterinarians.

Read more about medical grooming vs normal grooming in this article.

Medical grooming may be recommended for animals with skin issues such as allergies, hotspots, yeast infection, seborrhoea (dandruff), ringworm lesions, and more. Animals with skin conditions may therefore require regular medical baths or other types of treatment.

To deal with skin issues, the Medical Grooming Centre has skin diagnostics available — including allergy testing, microscopy, infectious or parasitic disease testing, hormonal disease testing, and more.

In addition, medical grooming could be suitable for easily stressed or fractious and potentially aggressive pets, who typically require pre-visit pharmaceuticals (PVPs) or sedatives for grooming.

Lastly, senior or older pets and/or pets with mobility issues will require more care and caution to achieve adequate grooming.

Learn more about our services and view our price list.