Cat grooming cost
Cat grooming cost: $45 to $120 at Dogtown and what each tier includes
Cat owners usually arrive at this page after a mat, a hairball season or a senior cat who has stopped keeping up. The three tiers below cover most of those situations; the sections after explain what pushes a cat from one tier to the next and how Cape Ann's indoor winters and spring coat drop affect the bill.
Line by line
Three tiers and a nail trim: $45, $95, $120 and $20
Minimal Trims at $45 is the no-bath option: a sanitary trim, a belly or mat-area shave, or tidying the feathering on a long-haired cat, done dry. The Full Bath at $95 is water, cat-safe products, careful drying, nails and a thorough brush-out, for the cat whose coat is greasy, dusty or shedding heavily but not matted. The Full Service at $120 is the whole sequence: bath, shaving or a lion cut where needed, trims and nails.
Nail clipping for cats is $20 and can be booked alone or added to a groom. There is no separate evaluation appointment before cat grooming as there is for dog daycare; the assessment happens in the studio at the start of the visit, when our cat behavior specialists look at the coat and read how the cat is coping before choosing the approach.
| Service | Price | Includes | Typical cat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimal Trims | $45 | Trim and partial shave, no bath | Sanitary or belly mats, a tidy-up |
| Full Bath | $95 | Bath, nails, brush-out and drying | Heavy shedding, oily or dusty coat |
| Full Service | $120 | Full bath plus shaving, trims and nails | Widespread mats, lion cut, full reset |
| Nail clipping | $20 | Nails only | Any cat, alone or with a groom |
What changes the price
Matting and tolerance move a cat between tiers; weight and breed do not
There is no weight banding for cats and no breed pricing; a Maine Coon and a domestic shorthair pay the same $95 for a Full Bath. What moves the price is the coat's condition. A few felted patches at the armpits or the base of the tail are Minimal Trims territory. Mats across the back and belly mean the safe choice is to take the coat down, and that is a Full Service, because the shave is the groom.
Tolerance is the other variable, and it is not a surcharge. The groom is low-stress by design: minimal restraint, a quiet room, an unhurried pace, and a groomer who stops when the cat says stop. If a cat cannot be groomed safely on the day, we stop and refer you to your vet rather than push through, and we tell you what was completed.
How often you come back decides the annual cost more than the tier does. A long-haired cat kept on a Full Bath each shedding season costs less over a year than one Full Service after a winter of mats, and a $20 nail trim every few weeks is the smallest bill. Ask our groomers what interval they would suggest for your cat's coat.
- No weight bands or breed pricing for cats
- Isolated mats: Minimal Trims $45; widespread mats: Full Service $120
- Shedding or an oily coat without mats: Full Bath $95
- A cat who cannot be groomed safely is referred to your vet
Which to choose
Pick by coat length and by what the coat is doing this month
Long-haired cats, Maine Coons, Persians, Ragdolls and the fluffy domestic longhairs adopted through Cape Ann Animal Aid, are the Full Service and Full Bath customers. If the coat is clean but dropping fur everywhere, the Full Bath. If you can feel felt rather than fur under your hand, the Full Service, and expect the groomer to recommend shaving the matted areas rather than combing them out.
Short-haired cats rarely need the Full Service. A domestic shorthair that sheds heavily in spring and fall does well on the Full Bath, and one with a single sanitary problem needs only Minimal Trims at $45. Senior cats who have stopped grooming their own back end are the classic Minimal Trims case: a quick, dry tidy-up that takes far less out of them than a bath.
Kittens and cats new to grooming should start with the $20 nail clip, so the carrier, the room and the groomer become familiar before anything bigger is asked. Book online or in the Dogtown app. The building opens at 6:30 AM on weekdays and 8 AM on Saturdays; ask the front desk which studio times are open for cats.
- 01
Run a comb through the coat at the armpits, belly and tail base and note any felted patches
- 02
Choose Minimal Trims for isolated mats, Full Bath for shedding, Full Service for widespread matting
- 03
Book online or in the app; no evaluation is required for cat grooming
- 04
Bring your cat in a secure carrier; the studio is a separate quiet room away from the dogs
- 05
Let the groomer assess the coat and temperament and confirm the tier before starting
- 06
Ask at pick-up what interval suits this coat, and book the nail clip in between
Cape Ann factors
Indoor heat, spring shedding and a small-town vet list shape cat grooming here
Cape Ann cats live indoors through long winters with the heat on, and dry indoor air is hard on a long coat: static, then tangles, then mats by February. The spring coat drop that follows, and the second one in fall, is when our Full Bath bookings peak, because a bath and brush-out lifts the dead undercoat that hairballs are made of.
The studio at 210 Eastern Ave is a separate room, away from the dog floors, and it is the reason many Rockport, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea owners make the drive rather than book through a clinic. When we refer a cat to a vet, Gloucester keeps a list of local and emergency veterinary offices, and the 24-hour Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital in Woburn is the regional emergency option.
The Pup Van is booked with daycare, Academy and overnight stays, so cat appointments are a carrier drop-off at the front desk, and the groomer will tell you when to come back. Cats adopted through Cape Ann Animal Aid often arrive with a coat that has been neglected for a while, and the assessment at the start of the visit sets the tier for that coat, not the breed.
- February mats and the spring coat drop drive most bookings
- A quiet cat room away from the dog floors at 210 Eastern Ave
- Referred to your vet when a groom cannot be done safely
At Dogtown
The cat studio behind the prices
Low-stress baths, trims, shaves and nail clips in a quiet room away from the dogs, booked online with no evaluation.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this
Short, complete answers you can act on today. More in the full FAQ.
How much does it cost to shave a matted cat?
Is the $95 Full Bath worth it for a short-haired cat?
Do I need an evaluation or a vet note to book cat grooming?
What happens if my cat gets too stressed during the groom?
More questions? Read the full FAQ
Sources
- Gloucester emergency veterinary offices
- Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital
- Cape Ann Animal Aid
Rules and dates change. We re-check every beach, licensing and ordinance page each spring and fall; the source above is the current word.
Keep reading
Next step
Book a calm groom for your cat.
Choose Minimal Trims, the Full Bath or the Full Service, or start with a $20 nail clip, and book online or in the Dogtown app. No evaluation needed.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
