Within our little family of cats, two are long-haired, or fluffy. There is Fluff (okay, not the most original name, but she likes it), and Flump (which actually combines Fluffy and Grump, because she will go from full on loving to hissing in a heartbeat!).
Flump, the younger of the two, has a grey coat and it is not as thick as Fluff, so she is not really affected by the heat, but Fluff has had a big problem this year, because her thick, dark coat has been keeping her far too hot in the summer heat.
Having read a lot via Google, the fur is important to keep them cool, so caution must be exercised, but a haircut can also help ease the heat, and so that is what Fluff has had.
I should also say that Fluff is one of those pesting cats (in a nice way) in that she has to be involved in anything and everything, so resting to cool down is not really in her normal psyche. She is also extremely tolerant, even liking things like the vacuum cleaner, and so using the Baby Shark to clear loose fur is a pleasure to her.
That said, attacking her with clippers might not be such a success, so the first thing I did was try our own, human hair clippers, so see if she minded. She didn’t mind one bit!
Next job then, off to Amazon to buy her her own set of pet clippers. They arrived as promptly as ever and then off we went for a summer haircut!
I don’t really know why, perhaps I had seen or read it somewhere, but I decided to leave the top of her back and along her spine alone, with a strip of about 5 cm. Perhaps I was thinking of the old hat idea of most heat being lost through your head, and so just doing the sides would regulate the heat loss more. I don’t know why, but that is what I did. As it happens, a few days later, I saw a dog with exactly the same styling!
Anyway, these clippers were so good, really powerful, and quiet, and with a shield on just cut through the thick fur without any problems at all. I did have to remove the shield a couple of times to remove a couple of matted clumps, but they worked a treat.
We actually did the haircut over about 4 or 5 sessions, partly to get her used to it, and partly just to monitor the success.
In the end, what we went from was a cat lay in the heat panting, to a cool cat quite content with her surroundings, and no panting, and so I am in no doubt it was the right thing to do, and that is one fluffy cat who is now cooler than ever.
Needless to say, perhaps, this solution might not work for you and your cat, and so you should always check with a professional if you have any doubts, but for Fluff it certainly made a huge difference.
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