cat's new haircut

well, the cat finally got her haircut. although she did outsmart us the first time -- details here -- the next time we went in to the situation a lot more prepared. we looked like we were building barracades, as we used furniture to block all the service doors under the jacuzzi to prevent her from hiding there again.

summer came out to help, as she's the one who can handle the cat the easiest w/o getting mangled or losing a limb. she gave the cat a dose of "calmer downer" and left her in the bathroom for 15 minutes for the medicine to take effect. as summer walked out, she drug a bookshelf across the bathroom door. believe it or not, the cat CAN open the bathroom sliding door.

summer went back to check on her in 15 minutes and gave the cat another 1/2 dose of "calmer downer" (as the instructions state) and then left her to chill a few more minutes. again, blocking the closed door with the bookcase. when we judged the time was right, we headed into the bathroom to get this job done. we had the cat drugged, our game faces on, the supplies out and ready to go.

only thing -- we ran into another problem. the clippers weren't working! we started into this haircut process and the clippers were barely running and hardly cutting any hair! we started to laugh hysterically, which upset the cat, because we thought we were going to have to admit defeat again on getting this done.

jerry came in to check on us, and i told him about the clippers. we had just bought a new set recently, and i couldn't believe they were already not working. he went up to check scott's room, and he found the clippers up there where "mr. clean" had been using them for his personal hygiene regimen.

now rescued from the "bad clippers," we were off and running on getting this haircut done. once we had our appropriate supplies, it was quick clipping as the "calmer downer" wears off on the cat fairly quickly. we were shearing as fast as we could go, but we weren't going fast enough. we had to take a break for her to have another 1/2 dose of "calmer downer," and then we moved on.

we cleaned her up and trimmed her up as neatly as we could. for those of you who have comments about the missed spots or uneven spots -- i would invite you to help hold her down next time! i think you would then agree w/ me in that she looks just wonderful like she is! we're all about getting done as fast as we can as neat as we can -- but the fast part is the most important.

as soon as we got done shaving her and cleaning up the mess, summer started the shower running to rinse her off. well, she had had enough of our grooming -- so she ran as fast as she could and we decided it wasn't worth the effort to catch her. or maybe it wasn't worth the reward of catching her? anyway, she got her haircut and checked out before she got her bath!

the funny thing of it is, though -- after she has a haircut, she's the friendliest cat! seriously!! not to strangers, of course, but to us she is. that's totally out of character for her, too. when she has short hair, she's friendly and likes to snuggle and likes pet. when she has long hair, if you try to pet her, she'll start scratching you. weird, huh?

so, she hates the haircut part but loves the after-effects of it. we hate the haircut part, too, but love the after-effects of it enough to keep up the major family event. here's a picture of her after the shearing where she looks more like a big white rat than a long-haired himalayan. while she's not near as prissy looking now, she's definitely a cuddler now.