Mobile Cat Grooming
The shortcut: Cats aren't tiny dogs — get NCGI Certified Feline Master Groomer (CFMG) before pitching cat-only. The credential is what separates you from generalist mobile groomers who advertise "cats too" and lose those clients by visit 2.
Industry: Pet Services
Investment level: Small — $4,000-$8,000
Time to launch: 8-14 weeks (NCGI training + van outfit + insurance bind gate the first paid call)
Best for: Anyone who's worked in a grooming salon or vet clinic, can read cat body language before a paw goes up, and would rather do 3 careful 90-minute appointments than 8 rushed dog baths. What you'll likely make: $2,000-$3,500 month 3, $4,500-$6,500 month 6, $7,500-$10,000 month 12. Math is in Section 4.
Market Opportunity
A single vet-supervised sedation grooming appointment — gabapentin prescribed, clinic time reserved, anesthesia monitoring if the cat needs full sedation — routinely runs $300-$500 before the actual groom happens. That's what a cat owner pays when the alternative is a matted Persian who no mobile groomer will touch, or an 18-year-old tabby whose owner stopped trying years ago. A mobile specialist who comes to the driveway, knows how to read a cat's stress signals, and finishes a basic groom for $100-$160 isn't a luxury — she's the cheaper, calmer option by a wide margin.
That buyer exists in every zip code and almost no one serves her well. Most mobile groomers in your city advertise "we do cats too" — meaning they trained on dogs, handle cats like small dogs, and lose those clients by appointment two when the cat draws blood and goes home traumatized. The opening: be the person who only does cats and knows what she's doing. The National Cat Groomers Institute (NCGI) certification is the market signal that splits specialists from generalists, and almost no one in any given metro has it.
The economics work because cat owners who take care seriously pay a 30-50% premium over salon prices to skip the carrier trip. You'll do fewer sessions per day than a mobile dog groomer — 3-4 cats versus 6-8 dogs — but at higher revenue per session and with clients who rebook every 6-8 weeks without being chased. A monthly route built on a few hundred high-care households, not a thousand casual ones.
Start with this idea — free signup, no card required.
