Just a Little Off the Top, Jimmy...

The Whys and Hows of Kitty Summer Shave-Downs

- Iris Zinck

The season has ended. The wins are scored. The awards have been collected. And the cats—especially if they are of the Persian purrsuasion—are probably shaved down. Or soon will be.

To someone who takes extreme pleasure in running her fingers through the long, luxurious coat of a Persian, this common practice appears almost sacrilegious. It’s like drawing a mustache on the Mona Lisa or spray-painting the Pieta. How can you do such a thing to a creature so beautiful it stops traffic?

So, given that we’re in the heat of the summer and cat owners with longhairs of every variety are looking to keep their cats cool and comfortable, this writer let her curiosity about kitty haircuts run rampant in hopes of gaining info that would be useful for Persian and non-Persian longhairs alike. Heartfelt thanks to the three longhair experts who agreed to answer my questions.

How Necessary is it to Shave a Longhair?

Strictly speaking, it’s not absolutely necessary and whether you do it or not is most likely related to the number of cats in your house and the amount of time you want to allocate to grooming them. Certified Feline

Master Groomer Sandra Gonyea explains her compromise approach as follows: “I personally do not feel it is necessary to continuously shave my Persians. However, keeping a lot of hair on them is a big commitment of my time and energy. . . so I very often shorten the coat and put them in a lion trim or a comb clip (a longer version of the lion clip).”