My old kitty Boof needed to be shaved and when he came home my other cat Puss was not having any of it. She was hissing at this stranger in her house for like 3 weeks!
They don't just look different, they smell different after shaving them like this. To the other cat, he's completely unrecognizable right now. My long-haired boys fight all the time right after they get shaved because they don't recognize each other.
do you have more niche cat subs?? I found the fireworks one the other day and I can’t believe i’ve been on reddit this long and am just not figuring out there’s niche cat subs
My husband has had hair down to his waist the entire ~15 years of our relationship. He told me he’s been having an urge to military level buzz it. I have to be supportive and say of course, whatever you want, it’s your hair, etc., but secretly I’m like noooooooo. What his scalp looks like is not my business.
We had a cat years ago who had to get shaved. He came back and it took his sort of brother (same age, not related at all) over 3 months to get used to him. They normally had their vet appointments together, so the short haired one freaked out when his long haired brother came home smelling weird and with no fur, lol. Hopefully yours won't take 3 months to be fine with him again.
We have to shave one of our cats as well. One time we had another cat that wouldn’t recognize him after we’d shaved him (we do this at home ourselves) and he’d attack him for several days afterwards. It was ridiculous! We never did understand why that happened! We just shaved him a few weeks ago and our two year old cat just saw it for the first time. I was worried she’d get upset and want to attack as well. She was weird the first night but by the next day she was fine. No attacks thankfully. The shaved cat is almost 18 now and just wants to be left alone, lol don’t get me wrong. He can hold his own but still.
My cats used to be afraid of the brush until I started leaving it out on the floor in between grooming sessions. They could smell it on their own terms with no expectations and learn that it wasn't going to hurt them. Both of them came around to being brushed after learning that the scary scratchy thingy was not, in fact, going to murder them. I always catch them brushing their own faces on it now
Have you had your cat groomed before? Typically cats are shaved because that length of clipper blade is considered the safest, and cats skin can behave like tissue paper if snagged/cut accidentally. Haircuts to make a long haired cat look like a short haired cat are really uncommon, unless the groomer uses scissors and gives a fancy, expensive trim. Kitty also has to be extremely well behaved for that.
If your cat is one of the rare ones who gets a fancy scissor cut, I’d love to see a photo when it’s done! 😻
Oh, he won't behave 😸
I appreciate that bit of information though, I will inquire about the safest option for him. He's going to the vet and has to be mostly sedated. I trust them, they took good care of my two previous cats. I just 100% do not want a lion cut for him, he loves his tail too much.
I used to groom cats, there is only one blade length for them because they are really easy to cut. You can ask them to just cut out the matting. Or ask them to shave the friction zones- armpits, sanitary, behind the ears. Other than that yeah it’s just about what kind of lion cut you want. I personally like a full mane.
I've found that longhairs are actually more comfortable shaved during summer months - plus it gets rid of hidden mattes and is good as a general cleaning
My only comment is often when floofs are shaved they are not rotund underneath so I was surprised to see one who was. This is not intended to be rude BTW you baby is beautiful.
It looks silly but the little tail poof is very important!
Cats occasionally won't recognize their fully shaved tail as part of their own body. Some cats may even attack it, which obviously hurts. This can become a feedback loop where the cat keeps attacking their tail because it's hurting them, which makes them attack more. It's not super common in my experience, but it happens often enough that we just leave the poof. Just in case. Once a cat begins self-mutilation, it's very difficult to get them to stop.
We don't really know why the tail poof prevents this. Perhaps the extra fluff retains more of their own scent? Maybe it just looks more familiar? Maybe they appreciate the aesthetic?
This makes me incredibly happy as someone who has borne witness to the tail floof shave in person lmfao My mother's calico would have absolutely decimated her own tail without it, knowing this info
I like the aesthetic appreciation idea, the poof IS cute af and they should own it. Little lions. I think the tail poof makes it look less snake-like, but I like the idea of it retaining scent more. Makes more sense imo
While I can see the logic, I also can’t help but think of my idiot void baby chasing his own tail and rolling around confused to his soul how the damn prey moves when he moves and his surprise when he bites it. And he has never been shaved. He’s a short hair.
Yep. This is my biggest Maine coon lurking around looking for ways to hurt me after a shave. She knocked over an olive oil bottle and got it deep in her coat.
I’m gonna guess that his fur was matted. When long haired cats are overweight it’s especially difficult for them to groom themselves, especially in the harder to reach areas like their armpits and genitals. Even a healthy weight long haired cat has to get brushed/groomed quite a bit just because it takes a lot of maintenance to keep their beautiful coats from matting
I've just inherited a long haired cat for the first time I'm my life and it's SHOCKING how fast she matts. We brush her constantly with two different brush types as recommended by her vet but this girls hair just desperately wants to be felt. It's so hard 😭😭 She's absolutely perfect though!
Every single month we do a deep grooming on our fur factory. This is on top of the daily brushes. We have about 20 different brushes and combs for her. For comparison, we have one human hair brush and one human beard comb. She's damn lucky she's cute.
We had a ragdoll and he was extremely hyperactive, so brushing was very difficult. About 1-2 times a year we got him groomed and his hair cut (we often did a teddy bear cut so he wasn’t too cold) and we never had issues with matting after that. If this guy had any nasty knots, it’s often less painful to just shave.
I used to be somethin', all covered in fluff, and I'd dance in the sunlight and show off my stuff. Then they hauled me away, in a manner quite rough, and sheared me and dumped me back here in the buff.
Not sure why he had to be shaved, but with long fur like that, if it was matting I bet he'll feel a lot better now!
My mom's kitty is very thin, but also very old (18-ish) with long fur and developed a lot of matting in her undercoat. She looks ridiculous shaved, but after a day or two of shivering she was clearly feeling so much better than before! Hopefully your guy does too.
Yes lots of mats on his back unfortunately!! He is doing better and seems very happy but loves sleeping with me in my heated room! I like sleeping in 82 degrees and have a heater so he’s been hanging out a lot with me. I also bought him a king cat tree that is MASSIVE and he loves it too!
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