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I give you our Lars, in his floofy glory!
Lars is, as you can see, a big ol' Floof Ball. It's getting a bit out of hand; blowing his coat like mad, lots of coughed up furballs, mats around the top of the base of his tail, clingons, you name it as an issue with a long-hair, he's got it!
He came to us last August freshly and largely de-matted and very well groomed. We've not done our all-out best to keep him that way, as we've not been as incredibly fastidious with the grooming as we should be, but we usually do a pretty good job overall. That being said, we've dropped the grooming ball a bit more than we should have...
I had a floof cat when I was married; her name was Maddie. She came to us with deep mats, too, mats we were unable to work with without her getting mean. So we did the only thing we could do, and that was to get her a lion cut to rid her of the mats and "start over" with the bulk of her coat so we could successfully groom her. It worked out well--her coat grew in nicer than it was pre-lion cut and it was much easier to work with in the ensuing months. For the duration of the rest of the time we shared her, we didn't need to get her another lion cut.
Going back to Lars, his mats are quite workable, but we've had to cut a few of them out of his hind furs, leaving some thinned looking places on his kiester by his spine at the base of his tail. We've been grooming/combing/zoom grooming him pretty much every night (yeah, I know it needs to be an every night habit to be successful--we're working on that) and he's still blowing coat like mad. He's always been a waller/sprawler cat--laying on his back with his legs splayed, letting the ceiling fans blow on his belleh--but with the weather (and the house) getting a bit warmer now that it's summer, I in particular worry if he's not getting a little bit too warm.
J and I talked about it a bit and, largely together, came to the decision to get Lars a Lion Cut to relieve him of the remaining, tighter mats and to "start over" with his coat for grooming purposes. Our previously second choice for veterinary care, (now third, second being VCA Aurora now) Brookville Animal Hospital, has a certified groomer on staff, so I'll be taking Lars there tomorrow for a noon appointment. We could've had one of the techs at Aurora Cat Clinic do it, but they charged more for the service, it's a longer drive there and back, and Veronica is not, to my knowledge, a certified groomer with 9 years' experience. So Brookville it is. I neglected to ask how long it will take for his bath/cut/ear cleaning/nail trim, but their starting level price is $50 for all of that--more if they need to give Lars a whiff of gas if he becomes too rowdy to work with. I daresay he's polite as all get out with us when we're working on his grooming, and even more polite (docile is more like it) with vets/vet staff, so I don't think he'll get rowdy. Aurora gives a whiff of gas straight away, which is the primary reason they charge more, but I'd rather whomever works with Lars gives things a try without the gas for obvious reasons.
So that's that--Lars will be getting de-floofed. I will share pictures of his freshly de-floofed self tomorrow when we get back...I hope he doesn't end up looking too ridiculous--Maddie ended up looking a lot like a bald hammerhead shark kitty from the view from above after we got her cut, so...yeah, not hoping for that for my Lars, too... ;)
Lars is, as you can see, a big ol' Floof Ball. It's getting a bit out of hand; blowing his coat like mad, lots of coughed up furballs, mats around the top of the base of his tail, clingons, you name it as an issue with a long-hair, he's got it!
He came to us last August freshly and largely de-matted and very well groomed. We've not done our all-out best to keep him that way, as we've not been as incredibly fastidious with the grooming as we should be, but we usually do a pretty good job overall. That being said, we've dropped the grooming ball a bit more than we should have...
I had a floof cat when I was married; her name was Maddie. She came to us with deep mats, too, mats we were unable to work with without her getting mean. So we did the only thing we could do, and that was to get her a lion cut to rid her of the mats and "start over" with the bulk of her coat so we could successfully groom her. It worked out well--her coat grew in nicer than it was pre-lion cut and it was much easier to work with in the ensuing months. For the duration of the rest of the time we shared her, we didn't need to get her another lion cut.
Going back to Lars, his mats are quite workable, but we've had to cut a few of them out of his hind furs, leaving some thinned looking places on his kiester by his spine at the base of his tail. We've been grooming/combing/zoom grooming him pretty much every night (yeah, I know it needs to be an every night habit to be successful--we're working on that) and he's still blowing coat like mad. He's always been a waller/sprawler cat--laying on his back with his legs splayed, letting the ceiling fans blow on his belleh--but with the weather (and the house) getting a bit warmer now that it's summer, I in particular worry if he's not getting a little bit too warm.
J and I talked about it a bit and, largely together, came to the decision to get Lars a Lion Cut to relieve him of the remaining, tighter mats and to "start over" with his coat for grooming purposes. Our previously second choice for veterinary care, (now third, second being VCA Aurora now) Brookville Animal Hospital, has a certified groomer on staff, so I'll be taking Lars there tomorrow for a noon appointment. We could've had one of the techs at Aurora Cat Clinic do it, but they charged more for the service, it's a longer drive there and back, and Veronica is not, to my knowledge, a certified groomer with 9 years' experience. So Brookville it is. I neglected to ask how long it will take for his bath/cut/ear cleaning/nail trim, but their starting level price is $50 for all of that--more if they need to give Lars a whiff of gas if he becomes too rowdy to work with. I daresay he's polite as all get out with us when we're working on his grooming, and even more polite (docile is more like it) with vets/vet staff, so I don't think he'll get rowdy. Aurora gives a whiff of gas straight away, which is the primary reason they charge more, but I'd rather whomever works with Lars gives things a try without the gas for obvious reasons.
So that's that--Lars will be getting de-floofed. I will share pictures of his freshly de-floofed self tomorrow when we get back...I hope he doesn't end up looking too ridiculous--Maddie ended up looking a lot like a bald hammerhead shark kitty from the view from above after we got her cut, so...yeah, not hoping for that for my Lars, too... ;)
