Shaving

Because of the summer I am wanting to shave my cat. The question is will this harm his hair when it grows back? I can't find a cat groomer and the vets are too expensive. I trimmed my females mane once because there was matting and it never grew back properly. I'm aqfraid I might harm my males appearance. Anyone one know??

No it won't harm his hair. Lots of people do the lion shave on their cats for summer.

You'd have to find a professional groomer to do it right. Usually takes a few months to grow back in - depending on how long the coat was to start.

I agree with others. You'd have to have it done proffessionally for it to grow back nice and even. Plus, it's never a good idea to try to shave a cat yourself if you're inexperienced. They have a very (tissue paper or thinner) layer of skin that is easily knicked/cut and that can always introduce infection etc. Ask your vet if they know of a groomer in the area. I hope you find one somewhere close by.

I have just taken my 18 year old long haired tortie to my vet to see if he could do anything with her fur. Due to her age she was unable to groom properly and her fur although brushed by me, became matted and eventually turned to what is known as felt. It is an old long haired cat problem that is almost unavoidable. The vet, who has been looking after my cat (Phyllis) for the last few years, checked her over and warned me that her kidneys were very small and this combined with her age could cause her a huge problem when under anaesthetic but we both agreed that the risk was worth it as she was very unhappy and in pain with her fur that had felted up. She did survive and when I went to collect her she looked so much happier, tail held high, purring like crazy and eating for England!! She has no fur on her now except a fluffy head, the rest has been shaved off but to see her looking a little odd is worth it when she is so obviously so happy.
So to those of you with longhaired cats try the vet to see if he can help you out. For those people contemplating a long haired cat, remember that as young cats they are great, but as they get older that coat really will take a huge amount of effort.

I used to shave Tux. He was a giant mat when he showed up as a stray, so I had no choice (I was a groomer for 9 years and so was used to shaving cats). We leave his fur long now, he looks very handsome.

The worst bite I ever got as a groomer was from a cat we were trying to shave. Put me off work for a week. After that if a cat got aggressive I refused to work on it.

My personal view on it is that unless your cat can't look after it's coat itself and you can't brush it, the cat's shouldn't be shaved. I never understood why people get Himalayans and persians and then got them shaved all the time.

my friend's kitten was shaved due to a some kind of fungus infection one month ago and now her hair is starting to grow back nicely

I also wanted to mention that if you shave on a regular basis (not just once a year) it does seem to affect the fur. We had some himis that had been getting shaved for years that hardly grew any fur, just a strip of coarse hair down their back, and this really weird frizzy fuzzy stuff in patches. Golden retrievers get the same way if you shave them too often. This might not apply to all animals, obviously, but we noticed it a fair amount.

Tux's fur was starting to get that way, so we stopped shaving. Eventually it came back in normal again.

Just my .02

My cat is at the vets as we speak getting a shave. She is getting matts removed. She was so unhappy and distanct for the past few days that I thought she was dying on me. But it was her matts that where making her so upset. They are putting her under to shave them off. They asked me if I wanted just the matts removed or all the fur. I told them that since all the matts are clumped together to just shave the whole section where they are. So Gem is going to have a huge bald spot for awhile hehehe. I just don't want her to feel like she's ugly with no hair at all...Plus, Hobbes won't recognize her if she was completely bald. I will be sure to take pictures of the little lady when I pick her up today lol. Poor little girl..I miss her.

Originally Posted by Gomer

My personal view on it is that unless your cat can't look after it's coat itself and you can't brush it, the cat's shouldn't be shaved. I never understood why people get Himalayans and persians and then got them shaved all the time.

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Ditto! Pretty much my thoughts.