Short answer
Check the licence first — pet groomers are not licensed in Australia, so check qualifications and public liability insurance instead. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 1,810 Australian pet groomers in this directory, only 2.9% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 1.9% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Pet Groomers handle bathing, clipping, de-shedding, nail trimming and breed-standard grooming for dogs and cats. This is what to check before you leave your pet with a stranger, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
There is no pet groomer licence — so check something else
Pet grooming is not licensed in Australia and no qualification is legally required, though many councils require a permit for premises where animals are kept. Sedation is the line that matters: a groomer cannot legally sedate your animal, and any grooming requiring sedation has to happen at a veterinary clinic.
There is no licence to check. Ask about insurance covering animals in their care, ask which grooming qualification they hold and where they trained, and confirm the ABN on the national register. If anyone offers sedation, that is a veterinary procedure and a reason to go elsewhere.
What 1,810 Australian pet groomers actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For pet groomers:
| What we checked | Pet Groomers | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 2.9% | 9.8% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 25.1% | 39.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 1.9% | 4.8% |
| Website responded when we checked | 46.5% | 64.7% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 92.3% | 94.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 43 | 29 |
What goes wrong with pet groomers
- Sedation offered or implied by someone who is not a vet
- Matted coats clipped short without warning, which is sometimes necessary and should always be discussed
- No insurance covering injury to an animal in their care
- Anxious or elderly animals left waiting in cages for hours between stages
What to ask before the work starts
- Are you insured for injury to an animal in your care?
- How long will my pet actually be with you, and will they be crated between stages?
- What will you do if the coat is too matted to brush out?
A pet groomer who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.
The median matters more than the average
The median pet groomer in this directory has 43 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.
It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.
Where the pet groomers are
Melbourne (208), Sydney (192), Brisbane (128), Perth (125), Adelaide (92), Gold Coast (63). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best pet groomer in the country is no help if they are four states away.
Where to check a licence, by state
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICVictorian Building Authority, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Common questions
- Do pet groomers need a licence in Australia?
- No. Pet grooming is not licensed in Australia and no qualification is legally required, though many councils require a permit for premises where animals are kept. Sedation is the line that matters: a groomer cannot legally sedate your animal, and any grooming requiring sedation has to happen at a veterinary clinic.
- How do I check a pet groomer's licence?
- There is no licence to check. Ask about insurance covering animals in their care, ask which grooming qualification they hold and where they trained, and confirm the ABN on the national register. If anyone offers sedation, that is a veterinary procedure and a reason to go elsewhere.
- What percentage of Australian pet groomers have a verifiable ABN?
- 2.9% of the 1,810 pet groomers in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 9.8% across all trades.
- How many reviews should a pet groomer have?
- The median pet groomer here has 43. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Compare pet groomers near you
1,810 pet groomers, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.
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