is there a shaver for cats?

Tiki's long hair is a real problem for making sure she is flea free. We gave her the best flea treatment there is, and we saw no flea on her other than a bit that could be suspected as flea dirt. But she loves to go out - so it could be just dirt.

The fact is that I got dozens and dozens of flea bite on me so we suspect that she is the flea bag. Is there a shaver made for cat where I can do a do-it-self grooming for her to trim her hair down to 1 inch or so?

Many pet shops carry pet groomers type shavers, however they tend to nick the thin skin of cats.

Getting rid of fleas takes quite awhile once they have set in. What type of treatment are you using? Some drops are a flea birth control and don't actually kill the fleas, some kill the fleas and not the eggs and the larval stage.

The key is to vacuum often, throwing the bag away right after you finish, and bathe your cat at least once a week and dry with a blow dryer on low so you won't burn your kitty.

Trimming the hair won't make the fleas go any faster.

We use frontline plus for Tiki and Advantage for the little one. Her long hair made it difficult to comb through using a flea comb and a big project to bath and dry her. She is 17 lb and parts of her body is covered by 4" long hair. That's a lot of fur to soak through and to dry Hence the thought of giving her a short hair cut during the summer so at least we can wash her more often and examine for fleas.

I have thought about giving her some extra flea medication because she is so big, but the feedback I got was negative. I spray the furniture she sleeps on using the flea mist you can buy from Petco.

I have Persians and understand the problems you describe with bath time!

It would probably work better to vacuum the furniture to get rid of the fleas, under the furniture as well. Make sure to throw the bag away right after as the fleas will crawl out and get right back to work making your kitty, and you miserable.

By using a blow dryer to dry your cat, it will cause the remaining fleas to jump off your cat into the tub, and they can be washed away. Of course you have to dry the cat in an empty tub for this to work.

It takes about two or three months to kill all the eggs and larva. I started with advantage on month one, then frontline the next, and Revolution the third and that wiped them out. I washed and vacuumed all their bedding and the carpets in every room. If you can rent a steam cleaner it will kill alot of the larva and some of the eggs in the carpet.

I wish you the best of luck with this. I know some Petco's have a self serve pet wash that is inexpencive. It saves you a huge clean-up at home! Some also have full time grooming and this can be less of a hassle getting the hair cut. Tell them just a lion cut and no bath and it will be much less expencive.

"By using a blow dryer to dry your cat, it will cause the remaining fleas to jump off your cat..."

Humm... interesting comment because I noticed the dozens of bites on me soon after I gave her a bath, blow-tried her, and gave her a monthly dose of frontline plus. I wonder if the fleas were jumping off of her onto me when I was holding her while drying...

But why did she have fleas to begin with? She was on frontline plus the month before. It was supposed to be working overnight according to my vet.

Just depends on the number of fleas on the property. The eggs hatch and the larva live in carpets and grass outside. These eventually turn into fleas that haven't yet been treated. Some fleas are beginning to build up a resistance so I switch brands as they are chemically different.

Revolution kills fleas, ticks, earmites, and prevents several species of worms. I use this in the third volley of treatments and it seems to wipe out what ever the frontline and advantage missed.

Fleas can come into your home on your pant legs just walking in through the yard. Keep me posted as to how your kitty is doing. Best of luck!

I am a professional pet groomer and I think you should know 2 things:
1) shaving a cat is HARD to do by yourself. It REQUIRES at least 4 hands. AND their skin nicks VERY easily
2) even though long cut blades are available for pet clippers, cats do 100% better with the SHORT blade. In other words, either SHAVE her or do not shave her.....no in between cuts, please. And NEVER use a scissor on a cat!

Fleas are really tough to get rid of some times. persistance pays off.

I agree with you Jen about either shaving the cat or not shaving the cat, they are so much harder to control than dogs!, I have actually just started working as a pet groomer and have been doing it for about 8 months (6 months of which was school). So any advice you could give me as a new groomer I would love it!!

You might think this is wrong, but for shits and giggles me and my boyfriend used people clippers to buzz down some hair on my cats tail, poodle-stylz.

Here it is after a couple of weeks of regrowth:





The end had a round ball tip on it, but it's grown back quickly. Hee hee!

By the way, he's a very docile cat or I wouldn't have done this experiment to his tail.

Also, this isn't my cat but one I saw on the internet. He had to be shaved because of matted fur.