Best cat groomers in South East Melbourne

The ranking

1. 1

   Number 1: Fantastic Felines

   Cat-only home salon with a stated feline master certification and a sedation-free policy, and first in that tier alphabetically.

   A feline-exclusive home salon in Dandenong North. The site describes itself as a “HOME BASED CAT GROOMING SALON” and states that “Angela has received certification as a Certified Feline Master Groomer (CFMG)”, with membership of the National Cat Groomers Institute of America. It states the business is “a sedation free service”, and “Over 25 Years Experience Working with Animals”, worded as the groomer’s experience with animals rather than the age of the business. Booking is by text on 0478 970 420. No email address and no service area are published. The Dandenong North suburb is confirmed: checked on ABN Lookup on 2026-08-11, ABN 22 467 513 802 is active from 2018 with GST currently registered and no end date, and it is registered in the VIC 3175 postcode that covers Dandenong North. The site itself publishes no ABN, so that is where the number above came from.

   www.fantasticfelines.com.au

2. 2

   Number 2: sophisticated-manes

   The other cat-only business with a stated feline master certification, and the only one here that publishes a suburb, phone, email and service area.

   Cat-only mobile grooming, run by Sandi from a fully equipped trailer at your home. Based in Officer, with no street address published because the service comes to you. The site states “Sandi does not take dogs”, and on sedation, “Your cat is never put under sedation. Sandi leaves that to the expert vets.” Credentials published on the site are Certified Feline Master Groomer, National Cat Groomers Institute, since 2018, and the experience claim is twelve years of grooming, feline exclusive for the last four. Long-haired and flat-faced breeds including Persians, Himalayans and Exotics. The published service area is South East Melbourne, as far as Drouin in the east and Hastings on the peninsula. It sits second rather than first because the cat-only tier is ordered alphabetically, not because anything separates the two on the criteria above. Disclosure: tyso built and maintains this business’s website. It is placed here on the criteria above, not on that relationship.

3. 3

   Number 3: AlphaPet

   Grooms cats alongside dogs, but publishes a dedicated cat grooming page with named cat-grooming locations rather than treating cats as an add-on.

   A multi-salon dog and cat grooming business, written “Alphapet” on the site. The locations in or near South East Melbourne are Mentone, Mornington, Bentleigh (trading as Doggies Day Out), Brighton, Huntingdale and Boronia, and it also has St Kilda, Port Melbourne, Essendon and Montrose salons outside the area. Each South East location publishes its own phone number, and the business publishes email addresses. What it does not publish is a sedation policy, any grooming certification, or how long it has been operating, which is what separates it from the two cat-only businesses above.

   alphapet.com.au/cat-grooming

4. 4

   Number 4: Peninsula Dog & Cat Groomery

   A dog and cat salon that states sedation-free cat clipping, but its stated certification is a dog grooming one.

   A purpose-built salon at Somerville, on Frankston-Flinders Road, with “Barking Mad Grooming” also shown on the site. It lists “Cat Grooming, Sedation free clipping, de-shedding bath & brush out”, which makes it the only business outside the cat-only tier to publish a sedation-free position for cats. Its stated credential is “Certified Dog Groomer”, and no feline-specific certification is stated anywhere on the site. Phone and email are published. Years operating and service area are not.

   peninsuladoggroomery.com.au

5. 5

   Number 5: KB’s Pampered Pets

   Mobile grooming for dogs and cats, with the clearest published service area on the list but nothing published about cat-specific practice.

   A mobile groomer working the Clyde to Frankston corridor from the Langwarrin area, taking both dogs and cats. The published service area is “Clyde North, Cranbourne, Berwick, Botanical Ridge, Langwarrin, Skye, Frankston, and surrounding suburbs”, and phone and email are both published. It publishes a booking lead time of four to six weeks, which no other business here does. It does not state a sedation policy, a grooming certification, or how long it has been operating.

   www.kbspamperedpets.com.au

6. 6

   Number 6: Hampton Park Veterinary Hospital

   A veterinary clinic where grooming is a clinical service, and the only listing here that states plainly that cats are groomed under sedation.

   A vet clinic on the corner of Somerville Road and Outlook Drive, Hampton Park, offering grooming alongside its clinical work. The site states “we offer cat grooming services under sedation to keep your feline comfortable throughout”, which is a different service from the sedation-free groomers above rather than a worse one: for a severely matted, aggressive or unwell cat, it is often the safer route. The published service area covers Hampton Park, Lynbrook, Narre Warren South, Narre Warren North, Lyndhurst, Berwick, Hallam, Doveton, Dandenong South, Cranbourne, Cranbourne East, Cranbourne West, Cranbourne South and Endeavour Hills. No grooming certification and no years operating are stated.

   hamptonparkvets.com.au/pet-grooming-hampton-park-lynbrook-narre-warren-south

7. 7

   Number 7: West Gippsland Vet Care

   Clinic-based grooming at the eastern edge of the region, with trained groomers but no cat-specific certification stated.

   A veterinary practice with clinics at Warragul and Drouin offering grooming for dogs and cats. The site states “Grooming services available for your dog or cat include bath, clipping, breed clips, stripping, trimming, nails etc.” and that “Our groomers Sam and Michelle are both professionally trained and Fear Free certified”, which is a handling certification rather than a cat-specific grooming one. Sedation is not addressed on the grooming page, and no service area is stated beyond the two clinic towns. It is included because Drouin is the eastern edge of the South East Melbourne corridor that the mobile groomers on this list describe.

   wgvc.com.au/companion-animal-services

Side by side

Compared

Questions

About this list

How is this list ordered, and what does it not measure?

By the three criteria at the top of the page, applied in that order. Businesses are grouped into tiers by specialisation, then ordered inside a tier alphabetically, because there is no verifiable basis to rank one against another within a tier. It is not a quality verdict: nobody at tyso has used any of these services, and no rating, review count or review text appears anywhere on this page. Sophisticated Manes is a tyso client and is marked as such wherever it appears. Client status does not affect position and position is never for sale.

Is this every cat groomer in South East Melbourne?

No. It is every one we could confirm is currently offering the service. Four other names that come up in searches for cat grooming in this region were checked on 2026-08-11 and left off: two have websites that no longer resolve at all, and two are veterinary clinics whose own sites no longer mention grooming anywhere. None of them are named here, because a quiet website is not a statement by a business and we are not going to publish an inference as though it were one. If you know one of them is still grooming, send a correction and we will check it again.

What does “cat-only” grooming actually mean?

The groomer takes cats and does not groom dogs. Two of the businesses on this list state it directly: Sophisticated Manes (“Sandi does not take dogs”) and Fantastic Felines, a feline-exclusive home salon. The practical differences are that the space does not smell of dogs, the handling techniques are built for cats rather than adapted from dog grooming, and the equipment and clip styles are feline-specific. Everyone else on this list grooms both.

What does “sedation free” mean, and is sedation ever the right call?

Sedation free means the groom happens with the cat awake, using handling and pacing rather than drugs, and the groomer will stop if the cat cannot cope. Groomers are not vets and cannot sedate. When a cat is severely matted, aggressive, or in pain, a veterinary clinic clipping the cat under sedation or anaesthetic is often the safer option. Hampton Park Veterinary Hospital states plainly that it grooms cats “under sedation”. Both routes are legitimate. They suit different cats.

What is a Certified Feline Master Groomer?

CFMG is a certification issued by the National Cat Groomers Institute, a US body with an assessed, cat-specific syllabus. Two businesses on this list state it: Fantastic Felines and Sophisticated Manes. It is not an Australian government licence and it is not required to groom cats in Victoria, so its absence does not mean a groomer is unqualified. It does mean the groomer has passed a cat-specific assessment rather than a general pet-grooming one. Ask to see the certification if it matters to you.

Mobile or salon, which suits a cat better?

It depends on the cat, not on which is better in the abstract. Mobile removes the car trip and the strange building, which are often the most stressful part for a cat, and the groom happens in the van or trailer at your home. A salon means a trip, but a fixed, purpose-built space and, in the case of a vet clinic, immediate access to clinical help. Cats that panic in carriers usually do better mobile. Cats that are fine in the car may not care either way.

What actually happens in a cat groom?

A typical full groom is a bath, a full dry, comb-through and de-shedding, nail trim, and a clip if the coat requires one, plus attention to sanitary areas and ear and eye cleaning. Long-haired and flat-faced breeds such as Persians, Himalayans and Exotics need more of it and more often, because they cannot maintain their own coat. Matting is the usual reason a cat ends up needing a full clip rather than a tidy-up.

How far ahead should I book?

Cat-specific groomers in this region are few, so lead times are long. KB’s Pampered Pets publishes a booking lead time of four to six weeks. Others do not publish one. Assume weeks rather than days, and book a regular slot rather than waiting until the coat is matted.

What should I send when I enquire?

Groomers on this list ask for a recent close-up photo of the cat, the cat’s age, and an honest description of its temperament. Fantastic Felines states this explicitly when booking by text. For a mobile groomer, send your full address too: whether the van or trailer can park at your place decides the booking as often as the distance does.

How can I check a groomer is real before I book?

Look for a suburb, a phone number and a business name on the business’s own website, not just a social media page. Check the business name and ABN on the ABN Lookup register at abr.business.gov.au. Ask directly whether they are insured and whether they groom cats only or cats and dogs. Anything a business does not publish is shown on this page as “Not published” rather than filled in with a guess, and that never means the answer is no.