shaving my kitty (safe for work)

[mellowtigger]

T'Reese is named after her fur color which is brown and black like Reese's peanut butter cups. If she were male, she would've been named Reese. Since female, though, she became T'Reese instead. (In English, Terese is a female name, similar to Mother Teresa.)

Her fur is a medium-longhair coat. It's long enough to mat into blocks, and it does so in places where she has trouble grooming herself. She tends to get them around her neck, along her spine, and at her rear end. I first started shaving her with an electric razor a few years ago, trying to get rid of the fur mats. I discovered afterwards, though, that she had a dramatic reduction in hairballs coughed up on the floor too. Less fur, less furball. It makes sense in hindsight.



She's none too happy about the process. Her occasional hissing and growling attests to the terrible affront to her dignity that I impose. I put on shorts and then sit on the tile floor with her draped over my leg for easy access to her body. I lift lightly on her scruff for a few seconds if she gets too rambunctious.  The most difficult area to shave is her rump. She crouches down on her hind legs, and she pulls her tail in tight. I wish I had a way to gas her long enough to keep her unconscious for just 60 seconds. That's all the time I need to shave the mats out of her behind, but it drags on to take many minutes while she's awake.

After it's all finally over, though, she doesn't even run away to hide any more. She escapes the bathroom and then stands outside the door to watch me collect up all the bits of fur on the floor and throw them into the trash. She does groom herself right away, collecting more strands of hair into her stomach. After one last hairball coughed up, though, she'll be good for several months. Until it's time for her next shave.

Comments

AW

[otterlover01.livejournal.com]

She´s beautiful, I had never seen that color before! She´s adorable-looking too! :o) Being a cat, she may consider the shaving less an affront than a bath anyway! lol Thanks for sharing, L.

Re: AW

[mellowtigger]

When she was younger, she would poke her head past the shower curtains to watch me shower. She hasn't done that in years, though. I think she'd be terrified of water if I ever tried to bathe her. :)

What you have here is....

[bearbarry.livejournal.com]

a long-haired tortoise-shell kitty. The two genetic mutations that when combined cause this pattern (and the calico pattern too) will only be seen if both mutations are present on the two X (sex) chromosomes of a female kitty. It is rare in males and usually means that he has the cat equivalent of Kleinfelter's Syndrome (XXY) and is also sterile. She's a handsome lady!

Re: What you have here is....

[mellowtigger]

Ah! I didn't know that calico was the same thing but with white color added. And the article mentions the genetics behind it also, 2 alleles that must "take turns" for expression in different patches of skin. Very interesting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortoiseshell_cat

And, yes, I think she's very nice to look at. She was much darker in her youth. She was the last kitten of her litter that was left, all of her siblings had found homes already. The owner thought he wasn't going to be able to adopt her out because of the "unlucky black cat" superstition. I thought she was very nice though and took her home that same day that I met her.

X inactivation

[bearbarry.livejournal.com]

I see you're friends with Chuck Anziulewicz here on LJ. He has a short-haired tortoise-shell named Boo Boo. You'll have to trade stories and pix.

Because females have two X sex chromosomes, only one will be active while the other one will be inactive in any given cell. This can lead to mosaic patterns like this.

We have a long-haired kitty too, but we have never shaved her like this. About once a month she goes out on the back porch and we use a shedding blade on her. At first she protested quite a bit, but she is getting more accustomed to it now. It beats spending $75 to have her groomed.

[brianrdu.livejournal.com]

While you're at it, I hope you get your balls, too. Ptooey!

Aw I'm joking! Haw haw!

[mellowtigger]

I'm shaving the kitty, but the jewels need their velvet cushion, ya know. ;)