What the Fluff Paw Spa owner shares love for animals

Jul. 31—Chelsea Maslar became a pet groomer in order to make some extra cash.

Little did she know that choice would change everything and lead her down a career path she never even considered.

"I just fell into it and never fell back out," said Maslar, 33. "I absolutely love it."

Not only is Maslar now the proud owner of What the Fluff Paw Spa, 1115 Lafayette St., Scranton, which has been a staple in the community for over 20 years, she also recently won Best Pet Groomer in the Times Leader's Best of Lackawanna Reader's Choice awards.

"It's very cool to have this recognition," Maslar said. "We get close with pretty much all of our clients. They ask us how our kids are, they've seen us through pregnancies, we've seen their kids grow up and it's a really cool feeling."

Maslar, who is from Pittston Township, first took over What the Fluff in 2022 when the previous owner, Dara Villani, retired.

"Everybody was super happy that we weren't going anywhere," said Maslar. "Dara had a huge following and she ran a beautiful business here and we're just trying to keep it going."

Carrying on Villani's legacy was a mission close Maslar's heart. After all, it was the place she began her journey as a pet groomer more than a decade ago.

"Everything that I learned, I learned within these four walls," she said. "I started out just washing dogs and continued to learn on my feet."

For Maslar, who is a life long animal lover and owns several dogs and cats herself, playing a small role in keep her client's pets healthy is one of the most rewarding aspects of the job.

Although she stressed that she is not a veterinarian, she did say that being familiar with an animals' body can help identify potential issues that owners might not know how to spot.

That way, clients can then take their animals to the doctor in order to make sure everything is okay.

"We see pets more than most vets do throughout the year. We literally feel them from head to toe; we feel if there's lumps or bumps," Maslar explained.

Although she mostly works with dogs, she does groom quite a few cats as well, which is surprising to some people because cats are usually seen as fairly self reliant when it comes to hygiene.

While cats can be far more temperamental that dogs, some of them actually don't mind being groomed.

"They will let us scrub in between their toes and everything. It's such a magical, fun time. Scrubbing cat's toe beans is the greatest thing ever," Maslar said.

Cats and dogs make up the majority of the pets groomed at What the Fluff, although Maslar said they have encountered a bunny or two.

"I would love for somebody to walk to the door with a goat one day, but I haven't gotten that lucky yet," she laughed.

Although she found her dream job by accident, it was a lucky break Maslar is thankful for every single day.

"I get to be myself and work with animals and it really doesn't get much better than that."