How to choose a dog groomer in Medway
Dog grooming is unregulated in the UK, so the checking is on you. This directory covers 30 phone-confirmed groomers across the Medway towns: Rochester (ME1), Strood, Frindsbury, Cuxton & Halling (ME2), the Hoo Peninsula & Wainscott (ME3), Walderslade & Lordswood (ME5), Snodland (ME6), Gillingham (ME7) and Rainham & Wigmore (ME8). Read this before you pick a groomer.
Chatham (ME4) has no confirmed groomer
No dog grooming business could be confirmed with an actual ME4 postcode, so Chatham has no listing of its own in this directory. Every "Chatham"-labelled business found during research turned out to carry an ME5 postcode instead, placing it in Walderslade, Lordswood or Luton rather than Chatham's own town centre around the High Street, the Pentagon Centre and the Historic Dockyard. This looks like a genuine gap in home-based and small-salon grooming around Chatham centre itself, rather than a research miss, and it's worth trying a Walderslade & Lordswood or Gillingham groomer willing to travel if you're based in ME4.
Check how well the business is documented
Of the 30 businesses listed, 7 were confirmed from a first-hand working website plus at least one other source (marked high confidence): The Only Way Is Grooming, K9 Dip N Klip, Charlie's Paw'fect Cuts, Pristine Paws, House Dog Barber, Your Dog Grooming Salon and All Star Quality Professional Dog Groomers. Twenty-one are medium confidence, usually meaning the details come from a directory listing, a Facebook page, or a phone number confirmed independently rather than the business's own working site. Two, Kapooch Pet Grooming (Rochester) and Parkwood Paws (Gillingham), are low confidence, and their listings here say so plainly, with a note to confirm details by phone before booking.
A note on postcodes
Halling sits in the ME2 postcode district alongside Cuxton and Strood, not ME6 as an earlier grouping assumed, so it's bundled with Strood here rather than with Snodland. Several addresses labelled "Chatham" by the business itself actually carry an ME5 postcode, since ME5's own post town is Chatham even though it covers Walderslade, Lordswood and Luton; those businesses are grouped here by their real postcode district, not by the town name printed on the listing.
Who was left out, and why
Six businesses with a confirmed address had no phone number that could be verified and are not listed: Room 2 Groom and The Dog Spa in Upnor (both Strood), Moore's Paws (Hoo Peninsula), Buddies Mobile Dog Wash and Maddy's Dog Grooming (both Walderslade & Lordswood, the latter's only found number reading as a placeholder rather than a real one), and Town & Country Mobile Dog Grooming (Snodland). A later phone-lookup pass has since confirmed a number for three businesses previously excluded on this ground — Fine & Dandie (Rochester), Burnt House Farm Grooming (Hoo Peninsula) and Premier Pets (Rainham) — and they are now listed above. National chains are excluded throughout: Pets at Home Groom Room branches in Gillingham and Chatham. A cat-only grooming business in Walderslade was left out as out of scope for a dog grooming directory, and a small number of named businesses with no confirmable address or phone at all, plus many out-of-area results from Maidstone, Tonbridge & Malling, Sevenoaks, Gravesend, Sittingbourne and further afield, were excluded throughout.
Qualifications
City & Guilds training is named by two of the 27: Pristine Paws (Level 3 qualified, Wainscott) and Bark&Groom Spa (City & Guilds certified, one-to-one grooming in Gillingham). All Star Quality Professional Dog Groomers cites over 16 years' experience, and Your Dog Grooming Salon has been trading since 2004. Ask for the qualification by name if it matters to you.
One-to-one and home-based setups
Several businesses describe grooming one dog at a time rather than running a busy multi-dog salon floor: Bark&Groom Spa and Fur Babies Grooming both mention a one-to-one format, with Fur Babies Grooming specifically aimed at pets that find a busy salon stressful. Hallsfield Hounds Dog Groomer, Hoochie Poochie Grooming and Pet Services, Jade's Dog Grooming and Fur Babies Grooming all work from a home base in the Walderslade & Lordswood area. If a calm, single-appointment setting matters for an anxious dog, these are worth asking about directly.
Mobile groomers
Three of the 27 businesses here work from a van rather than a fixed premises: Parkwood Paws (Gillingham, run by two named groomers each on their own mobile number), Panda's Pet Pampering (Snodland, dogs under 10kg plus cats and small mammals, covering the Medway towns and part of Tonbridge & Malling) and Furfix Mobile Grooming Salon Pet Spa (Snodland). All Star Quality Professional Dog Groomers and The Only Way Is Grooming both state they also cover a wider area than their own postcode, so it's worth asking any salon whether they travel if you need someone to come to you.
Cats and other animals
Your Dog Grooming Salon, Dog Go Spa and Fur Babies Grooming all groom cats alongside dogs, and Panda's Pet Pampering also takes small mammals. Everyone else in this directory is confirmed for dog grooming only.
Reviews
16 of the 29 groomers listed here show a Google rating, taken from the business's own Google profile and linked from the listing; the others have no rating from a source this directory can link to. A handful of online listings show star ratings alongside contact details for some of these businesses, but none of those ratings comes from a source this directory can verify and link to directly, so none is shown here. Ask to see recent work, a reference, or photos of previous grooms rather than relying on a rating you can't check yourself.
Where they are
Coverage is heaviest in Gillingham (8), followed by Walderslade & Lordswood (6), Rochester (5), Strood, Snodland and Rainham (3 each), and the Hoo Peninsula the thinnest with two confirmed businesses (Pristine Paws and Burnt House Farm Grooming). Chatham has no confirmed listing at all, as explained above. If you're in a thinner area, the nearest well-documented option or a mobile groomer covering your postcode is worth trying first.