To Shave a Cat....or Not?

Before we get to the de-hair-ing of my cat, first a shameless self-promotion! My vet school application is 95% done! Whoohoo!!!!!! It was a monster....and except for my reviewers actually turning in their reviews, recieving my UCD transcripts, and paying the gazillion $$$ application fee, I'm done! I will probably hit the magical "submit" button sometime in August after proof reading it a gazillion times and begging my mom to proof my 5,000 character (including spaces!) personal statement. Is it a good or bad thing that my entire life can be summed up in approximately 30 pages of neatly typed responses?

I have my 3 required reviews requested, all of them business, work, or vet related. I can have up to 6 reviews and so, there are 3 very close friends whom I'm going to ask to submit personal recommendations who have been extremely influencial in my life, and whom it would be an HONOR to take them to lunch, catch up, and see if they would be willing to write me up....(in a good way). I feel like it's chicken to just call them up and ask for the reccomendation - there really should be some effort on my part - like going to lunch and having a REAL visit......and so, after Tevis, this will be my focus.

Reasons to Shave Jonah:

• He gets really hot in the summer time (I don't own fans and I refuse to run the air conditioning, so my apartment gets HOT. I think of it as heat training for Tevis). Poor thing spends his time sprawled on the linoleum panting.
• Jonah is a pocket kitty. Like the top breast pocket, pocket kitting. Really close to your face. He insists on sleeping with me. He cries when I leave and when I come home and has to be touching me at. all. times. Which is sad because.....as cute and adorable as he is, I HATE holding him because he has the "floating" kind of cat hair that is very fine and kinky and sticks to EVERYTHING, including nasal passages.
• He HATES being brushed.
• He's constantly doing things like falling in my bubble bath (remember the need to be with me at all times?) and then manages to sling sudsy water ALL OVER as he chases his soapy tail.
• I have hair balls all over my apartment, couresty of Jonah.
• He likes to "play" very roughly with my sweet Mickie cat, who can't give him the comeuppance he deserves because she can't get through is GINORMOUS furry coat.
• I have cat hair on ALL my clothes.
• I get to play with my clippers!

Reasons NOT to shave Jonah

• He's cute. And furry. And looks like a pumpkin.
• He has the SOFTEST fur and I LOVE sinking my fingers into it and kneading it.
• He's so cute, NO one can resist picking him up upon first sight.
• did I mention he's cute? And round? and fuzzy? and adorable.

I think I can simpify this whole situation in 2 very simple (not very) mathmatical equations:

• Not shaving Jonah = vanity
• Shaving Jonah = comfort of cat AND owner.

So Jonah got a hair cut - and I got a very big suprise - Jonah LIKES being shaved. He didn't run away, hide, try to kill me, or try to bite me.

I didn't shave him to the skin since I do walk him outside and let him travel with me. I don't want to worry about sunburn. So, I clipped him with the direction of the hair. That left about a quarter inch of hair on him that was pure undercoat. His fur doesn't really have a "direction" to it - it's so soft and fine it's more of a fuzzy "poof".

I started out just shaving his midsection and belly (see pics in previous post). It was GREAT. He felt like the velveteen bunny!

When trying to take a nap yesterday afternoon (an activity that Jonah INSISTED on participating in) I decided he was STILL too fuzzy so.....I extended his hair cut to the base of his neck, down each of the four legs to the knee, and shaved off more of his belly hair. (sorry - no pics)

Much Better! He still has a fuzzy head, fuzzy chest, fuzzy paws, and a fuzzy tail. That's quite enough fuzzy for me!

Now at night, I feel like I'm snuggled up to a plush toy, rather than something I emptied out of the vacuum canister.

Even with the 100+ degree temps this weekend, he didn't pant and seemed quite comfy. AND with all that hair off, I can really see his body condition. He's actually at quite a nice weight - not NEARLY as rolly polly fat as I thought he was!

Best of all? ZERO SHEDDING.