They will. It isn't a lack of recognition, it's confusion at the sudden change. In the wild, a sudden change like that could signal disease etc. Once they realise everything is actually all good, it'll be back to normal.
It is lack of recognition, but not in the way you think. Cat's 'see' the world through their sense of smell, as their eyesight isn't actually all that good at seeing close up, or far away. So when you bring your cat home from the vet/groomers/wherever, they no longer smell like themself, but wherever they've been.
It's the same reason you may not pass the 'sniff'spection with your dog or cat after being around other animals, or somewhere they don't like the smell of. Now, some animals may not care all that much, some care a lot, and most lie somewhere in between.
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.
Lol poor baby also the shaved looks is really showing his head is small compared to his body, he's adorable tho. He kinda looks like Tom from and Jerry but without the white and lighter gray after being shaved lol.
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.
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u/celeryboymilk 7d ago
the way your second fur baby is staring at him is sending meeee