Huh, what's this?

It's the war zone.

Clippers, combs and scissors vs Bucky.

And this was only Round 2 of 4.

Every Spring, we have Bucky shaved into a lion cut. People ask us why on earth would we have the cat shaved. Well, simple answer. 

FUR BALLS. 

Fur balls that lodge in his stomach that create huge vet bills.

Fur balls invade the house as his winter coat sheds. Our carpet turns from oatmeal color to polka dotted black splotched. I'm constantly picking up and vaccuuming up enough fur balls to make a sweater. I've actually thought about that before. Hmmmm, a Bucky fur sweater, I bet it would be warm.

His fur is very fine and long. By the end of winter, he has massive fur matts under his legs, on his belly, and dangling from his butt fluff. Not to mention that said butt fluff harbors all kinds of stick-to-the-fur nasty poopy residue, pewww-eeee. 

The first crack of Spring brings on the big shed. One year, despite our smearing fur ball Petromalt glue in his mouth every day, he still ended up in the vet with a massive fur ball that required 3 enemas to pass it. The vet said if the 3rd one didn't work, they would have to surgically remove it. Um, no we don't want to go there again, so lion cut it is. 

I took him to Petsmart for the first couple cuts. The groomer was impressed with how well behaved Bucky was during the process. He became a statue, stayed in any position she laid him, while the clipper buzzed his fur off. $60 please for less than an hour of clippity clip.

That looks like a piece of cake I thought. Being the do-it-yourselfer that I am, I bought the exact clippers the groomer used and decided to clip him myself the next time. Plus in my naive thinking, I could do a quick clip job once a month during the summer months without the 2 to 3 Petsmart visits per season. The time was now so no time like the present. I gathered towels, combs, brushes, scissors, shaver, and Bucky and locked us in the bathroom for our first session. Immediately the screaming protests began as Bucky stink-eyed all the scary looking instruments around him. 

Now do you think for a second that Bucky would behave for me like he did the groomer. HA! No, No, NO! It took all the muscles I had to hold him down with my left arm while the right manuevered the clippers very carefully over the moving target body. His back and smaller areas, that I could get to, took me over an hour . . . enough for the 1st day. I could see this would not be as easy as I once thought. Plus I was exhausted, covered with fur and sneezing. So for 2 more days, I clipped a little here, a little there reassuring Bucky the whole time, that yes he would survive another day . The fourth day included a bath for a clean rear end, and one more day of clipping the butt fluff . . . by far the hardest and worst. I did most of it with comb and scissors. He would not let me even come close to the nether regions with the blue buzzing monster. Do you blame him?

And before anyone thinks, oh how mean to shave your cat, think again. When all is said and done, Bucky actually loves his new do. He begs for more petting because he can feel it on his skin. And I know not having to lick all that long hair is a relief for him. He seems very happy and more energetic once the fur and the process is history.

Before and after

So, here I sit, with sore arms, a few unintentional scratches, and a bruised ego to think my 20 lb cat can put ME through such misery and fight. 

But I love him anyway.

And I have a whole new appreciation for the groomer too.