Feb
PetHack – De-Mat a Cat
We love our fluffy adopted kitty Somewhere. Although I swore I’d never own long haired pets, her sweet snugly disposition won us over and we brought her home from the shelter, despite my fuzzy misgivings. She is a great cat, worthy of her feline heritage, but we were right about the hair.
Before we had Kahlan we tried to maintain a regular brushing session to keep her fluff from matting. Somewhere would get the occasional small tangle, which was easily removed by cat power, so she stayed in control of her mighty mane. Unfortunately, having a new baby doesn’t leave time for much else and I’m embarrassed to admit we let the cat slip into such a matted state that nearly a third of her rear became home to three of the biggest hairballs I’ve ever seen.
Now, with our new tightly implemented budget, it wasn’t financially appealing to pay a groomer $30+ to shave her butt. After attempting to tackle her with the hubby’s beard trimmer ourselves we learned how strong and willing to shed blood our snugly cat was to avoid the noisy treatment. By this time, the now golf ball sized mats, were too invasive to simply cut out with scissors. The thickness, combined with her struggling, would make it far to easy to accidentally cut into her delicate flesh along with the fur and we faced a dilemma. Shell out the cash for a groomer or face an unhealthy kitty situation.
The Solution:
Since Somewhere really only had a problem with the noise from the electric trimmer I got to wondering, if I could shave her without the noise would she let me? My first attempt to muzzle the sound failed. I had wrapped a towel around the trimmer to dull the vibration but it was still to loud, difficult to handle, and the cat was on to me. Necessity breeds creativity and an idea struck. I dug into my cabinets and found a pack of good ol’ Bic plastic disposables. By keeping or against the edge of the worst mat and rubbing it in a shallow repetitive arc I managed to start peeling out the mats. Since the blade is relatively protected I wasn’t as likely to tag skin and the lack of noise allowed me to work at them for a solid 2-3 minutes at a time before kitty lost patience. It was a slower process for sure, but given the circumstances a much more viable alternative. Continuing our little sessions throughout the afternoon, I managed to remove the biggest one same day, and the two others a day later.
My advice for shaver-phobic cat owners? Try a cheapo Bic razor, it’s an unusual yet effective alternative.
