Shaving a cat

I would not shave your cat unless you really know what you are doing. It is possible to burn you cat with the clippers or cause abrasions. If you are going to do it Oster make some of the best clippers for cats. The best blade to use when clipping a matted cat is a #10 blade. It is best if you went and really watched a professional groomer do this before attempting it. I have listed a link below I hope that it is helpful to you. I could find no how to sites listed on the web,


Pet grooming for beginners http://www.thepetcenter.com/groom/gr.html

Hi,
I have never tried to shave a cat's hair, but when you have it done, do they give the cat any type of medication? For nerve relaxing?
As another said, be careful of getting too close, not causing scratching of the skin, and be careful of the hot razor burning the skin.
I cut my dog's hair, with scissors, about every 4 months or so. Use to have it done Professionally, but it just simply costs too much, and they sometimes don't care about razor burns!
She doesn't like a razor; expecially around the head!
Good luck and give it a try.

I am just curious ... What is the purpose of shaving a cat? I am pretty sure my cats would scratch my eyes out if I ever tried to shave them LOL.

We did it and he did not really mind it at all.Me and my wife went and bought the clippers last night and did the shaving this morning.The cat was pretty good except the clipper's did not really work that good.I guess may be we need to spend a little more than 75.00 buck's on clipper's.
We had to keep going back and forth and the clippers were barely shaving any hair at all.He has really long and soft hair.I have never seen a cat get shaved before but I would think the hair should come off a little eiser than that.Where I bought the clippers they told me we could take the clippers back if they do not work good so I guess we are going to take a chance and speend more money on more expensive clippers or first I might try to go by a grooming shop or two and try to sneek a peek and see how the hair comes off of a long hair cat.I tried to ask our cat if we were doing it right but he would not answer us.For those
CAN ANY ONE TELL ME IF THE HAIR SHOULD COME OFF WITH A FEW STROKES INSTEAD OF LIKE TEN OR MORE STROKES?
AND ARE WE GOING TO HAVE TO GET SOME REALLY EXPENSIVE CLIPPERS?

Thank's Doug and Elizabeth

Hello,

We shave cats almost on a daily basis at our clinic. Normally, we sedate them as most cats don't take well to the noise of the clippers or to being held down.

I have a diabetic cat that I shave about twice a year. Oster makes the best clippers I've used and yes, you will have to fork over more money for them. They are worth it especially if you intend to do it yourselves from now on.

Several years ago, I had a cat that would allow me to shave him without anesthesia but my current cat had a cow! It's great that you can do it at home without a problem.

On whether the hair comes out easily depends on several factors:

1. The cat's hair type
2. How oily the skin/hair is
3. Sharpness of the blades

One or two swipes does it for my cat (I use size 10 blades without guides or size 40 for bad mats) but I've shaved cats where the hair just doesn't seem to come off easily. It's like shaving through molassas!

If you're cat's hair is difficult even with the better Oster clippers/blades, it could be the diabetes making the skin/hair too oily. You may just have to live with it.

On the chance your cat decides he doesn't like his home haircuts, you can ask your vet for a mild sedative such as Acepromazine or Valium. Since most grooming places don't have a veterinarian on hand to dole out anesthesia, they depend on light sedation such as these for hard-to-deal-with cats/dogs.

You can shave your cat yourself, its not really a risk to the cat. Be gental and go slow until you get the hang of it. My sister and I both have long haired cats and come summer time there are so unhappy with all that fur. So we bought a shaver for about ten bucks and shave then in the spring and throughout the summer. Now that we have been doing it for a while its a lot of fun, and the cats are not that angry until they get a good look at themselves...:0

My poor cat was miserable as she had fleas so thick they she was chewing herself raw and had licked off all the hair she could reach with her tongue. Then the hairballs, gagging, retching. I thought she was going to keel over and die at times. I took a razor to her, and she just loved it because it was like a tiny massage scratching all her flea bites. Nothing had worked on the flea bites, not even Advantage, shampoos, flea combing, or other remedies. She is just loving it now. IF she gets an itch, she can lick it easily and does not need to chew. Not to mention that we can see fleas and get them off of her in an instant without having to chase them. I want to make a note here, following shaving, we could see that she had so many bites in places that it looked like she had bites within a millimeter of each other with many overlapping. Again, needless to say, she is very comfortable now. She is still beautiful too as she was a long-haired calico and her markings are as beautiful as ever and her checkerboard spots remain. Oh, one hint: Wear a garbage bag or some other plastic sheet like you get from a hair cutting place. There was fur all over, not to mention the tiniest pieces that itched like fiberglass can. Good luck all!

We did this for the first time recently and were happy with how it turned out. I had used a vacuum adapter for something similar at work, so I tried it for the cat. A special plate attaches to the clippers, which then attaches to a shopvac. It keeps the clippers much cooler and eliminates almost all the mess. I couldn't believe how much fur was in the shopvac! I used one from hairvac (www.hairvac.com/Upgradeparts.htm). It cost more than the clippers, but it works. (Other brands may be good, too.)

Call me! I'm an expert shaving pussies!