Bad Hair Cats

I'm no whiz with clippers.  Um, I might be getting better.  Definitely am improving.

My long hair cats get the clip job twice yearly. To free them, and this house, of excessive hair.  Hairy more often because he is, well he's super hairy!  Sure he's feral, but he likes his hair done.  I start out with him in a fish net, reaching into the net with the battery powered clippers from behind while he hides his face under a towel (too cute).  Gradually he gets into the clipping, leaning into it, as I also massage his back, and the net can go.  He's really rough in asking for attention in the days and weeks after his hair clip job.  But it makes him feel special, loved, and for weeks after that clip, he demands it from me, by slapping at me with his paw.  He hasn't learned social graces enough to know to make me want to pet him, maybe he should retract his claws when asking.

I had not quite finished his hair cut in this photo.  The clipper battery went dead.

I'm updating the cats on their shots, flea and ear mite treatment, wormer and....haircuts if they need them this month.  Both Soloman and his sister, Panda, both seven years old, were clipped in the last two days.  Panda is easy.  She goes limp.  She loves it.  Soloman, not so much.   He doesn't like the clipper sound.

Afterwards, same old, they come searching me out, after not doing that for months, because they felt special getting that hour of personal spa treatment.  I think I did ok, on the hair cuts, an improvement over the last fall hair cuts, if you ask me.  But see for yourself.

Panda showing off her fab new do!

Keep in mind I'm running the clipper with one hand, while holding open a net with the other hand, and in some cases, holding her up by the scruff, like to get her belly clipped.  So there you have it.  Judge not before you know the details.  And Soloman, he chose to express his horror over the haircut adventure by peeing on me but I kept at it.

Miss Daisy was looking good today as usual.

I have three chronic herpes cats---Shady, from the BS, where every cat in that massive colony had herpes.  Brambles from the Hate Thy Neighbor colony, same thing there, every cat was born with it.  And Poppy, who came from over under a building on 34th st.   Since it is a viral infection, there is not a lot I can do for them when they have slurpy noisy outbreaks unless they get a secondary infection.  I do give them L-Lysine powder to try to keep outbreaks to a minimum.  Brambles gets the outbreaks the worst.

I had him confined for 8 days for clindamycin because his outbreak went into a sinus infection.  He got steamed twice daily too, and seemed to love the attention.  Now it's Shady's turn, but I don't keep her in the sick cage all day and night, just part time, or she howls like the end of the world is now.

Shady, with chronic herpes and crossed eyes.

Brambles also has chronic herpes.

Often,  I resort to antihistamines for Brambi, to dry him out, so he's not snarfling, which is also hard on his kidneys.

Tilly, one of the Albany business cats, and her brother Rogue, below, look much alike.  Both are becoming quite tame.

Pouring rain continues here in Oregon.  Chance of sun in May, I hear.

Time for Bed, Sam says.