Post 278: a hairy decision made

My Seattle sister, the boys’ Auntie Kathy, e-mailed this message to me yesterday: “I liked the picture of Dougy, a very handsome boy. I think the boys are cuter with longer hair.” She referred to this photo from yesterday’s post:

DSCN0144

Yeah! I think so, too! Since she has Sox the tuxedo cat, another long-haired beauty, her opinion counts a lot!

Cat-cousin Sox, a real fox!

Originally, I had the boys trimmed to deal with the problem of poop catching in their tail and butt hair. Mats, too, were a big issue. They came out of the grooming much lighter, even cute! Of course, they had little patches where mats were cut out, but, well, hair grows!

By the time I took them in for their second grooming session in January 2012, their groomer and I decided to try a teddy bear cut. Wow! Andy turned out especially cute, with his Jennifer-Grey-in-“Footloose” leggings and his insouciant, jaunty walk in this video:

Don’t you just want to grab those cute little whiskers and make happy cooing sounds? (Andy would leave stumps on the ends of your arms if you did, but, well, he still was soooo cute!)

The teddy bear cut continued to work well with the boys, and the matting issue mostly disappeared because the sessions with the groomers left them much more tolerant of brushing. I even bought a brush like the one his groomers use because it has lots of thin angled wires that glide through their hair with minimal impact on their tender kitty skin: The boys love to be brushed now, thanks to the tender care of the groomers.

Andy with a teddy bear cut.

The last time I had the boys groomed, they came back with a little longer hair. I thought then they looked really good that way. They are Persians! And the variety of Persian they are has lovely black hair with silver highlights that becomes more noticeable when their hair’s longer. See what I mean?

Andy before a haircut. That piece of cottonwood is a favorite perch.

It isn’t entirely obvious, but the boys have markings similar to Birmans (which their father was), like a long-haired Siamese, just darker. Of course, in strong sunlight striking it from certain angles, Andy’s chest hair looks like this:

Andy resting on back_edited-1

The boys are lighter on the underside than the top. Dougy is darker than Andy, and Andy even has a hint of a darkish light patch on his chest. In light, their hair color-shifts. The photo above was in artificial light, and Andy’s natural colors are hinted at, if not shown that well. Maybe this video shows it better since both boys are in motion and in natural daylight:

That video, made in November 2013, reminded me just how pretty the boys can be! You also can see how much darker Dougy is than Andy, though both are very pretty creatures, in my opinion!

Yes, when the boys have their next grooming session at the end of this month, I’m asking for a “Persian cut”, one that emphasizes the natural beauty of this variety of cat, one that deals with the poopy butt issue (a trim-up “back there”) but allows the rest of the hair to go natural.

A light trim? Maybe. I’ll discuss it with the groomers. The boys looked cute with teddy bear cuts, but they look beautiful as natural Persians!

weather and haircuts for the boys

The boys have a trip to the cat groomer coming up on Wednesday the 18th. I may have to ask for a longer final length on their hair than usual now that Fall is almost here on the High Plains.

This is how cool it was at 6:48 AM today. Fall is around the corner!

Actually, other than the problematic butt hair (poop balls) and armpit hair (mats), both Dougy and Andy seem to handle longer hair better than they used to. They are cuter and more Persian cat-esque with longer hair, too! Persians have that “owl face” thing about them that I find especially appealing.

Their hair takes on some very attractive qualities when it’s longer, too. You see more of the characteristic “smoke Persian” pelage qualities, something you can see in yesterday’s photo of Dougy in the box that I used for my Christmas stamp and card illustration. Those highlights on his coat actually are the effect of how light hits it.

Smoke Persian qualities show on the boys when their hair is longer.

Though the boys seem to be black cats, they are more multi-colored, with soft shades of grays ranging to darker grays, then black on their legs, shoulder, faces, and hindquarters, depending on how light hits them. They are very dramatic cats when in motion!

Better grooming is a big part of the reduced hair issues. Andy doesn’t need much brushing because he has less undercoat than Dougy, but neither has had a problem with bad hair mats since I started taking them to Sarah, their groomer. She’s a cat-grooming goddess! I like Sarah! More importantly, the boys are good boys for her: They like Sarah, too!

Speaking of Sarah, who regards Andy and Dougy as her favorites, I intend to start tipping her. Until my Seattle sister mentioned she tipped her boy’s groomer, it hadn’t occurred to me to do the same. Sarah’s excellent care of my boys means they are cleaner, I don’t have to watch out for poop balls or wash poop (“poop baths”) out of their hair.

Sox the tuxedo cat, Andy and Dougy’s Seattle cat cousin.

I don’t know what a reasonable tip for a pet groomer might be, but I’m starting out with a generous one that is the sum of what I would have tipped Sarah from the first session till the one on the 18th.

I can’t emphasize how much difference her excellent work’s made in the lives of the boys, or, for that matter, mine! I was close to finding a new home for them, the poop issue was so bad. I would have missed out on a lot of joy in my life….

cat lounger update

The other day, I told you about a gift I purchased for my Seattle cat-nephew, Sox the tuxedo cat, and predicted it would become one of his favorite things, much as this item became for my boys, Andy and Dougy the Persian cats.

“Sox must wait…! Awwww!

My Seattle sister sent me an e-mail to let me know Sox’ gift cat lounger arrived on the 26th. She writes:

The cat lounger came today while we were picking up K. [her next to youngest grandchild] at camp. Luckily, C. [her oldest grandchild] was still home and put it inside. Sox went to it right away and cleaned himself on it. I think I will have to put it away until B. [her youngest grandchild, who is still a little guy] goes home though as he will think it is for him to climb on. B. was sleeping when I unpacked it, so hasn’t seen it yet.

Cat-cousin Sox, a real fox!

Cat-cousin Sox if he doesn’t get his lounger soon!

I mean, I’ve dealt with cat tantrums before, and it can get ugly!

I hope my Seattle sister has some nice catnip handy just in case my cat-cousin Sox gets impatient!

cat lounger

I found a little extra money in my budget this week, then discovered that the cat lounger that both Andy and Dougy love to spend time on is on sale for…the same amount of money I found in my budget!

The extra money could’ve been set aside for a rainy day, I guess, but I have one small annuity that each month pumps rainy day funds into a savings and loan account I rarely touch. That account, by all accounts, is a nice little chunk since I haven’t touched it in some time. “Out of sight, out of mind”, eh?! It will cover a fine storm some day. Maybe not a 500 year storm, though a 100 year rainy day is safely covered.

Cat-nephew Sox, a cool cat! You met him earlier, but he’s so handsome, I decided to post his photo again.

Since we’re hitting the clichés hard and fast today, I note that while I am reasonably fiscally sound, I am known to “spend money like a drunken sailor”. Sometimes!

This week was one of those “sometimes” occasions.

I thought and thought. What do I need? Nada, pretty much. One of the benefits of retirement is material needs diminish, spending goes down, and you don’t even work at it. This is the guy who occasionally “spends like a drunken sailor”, so when I say “trust me”, I suspect you needn’t hear “cross my heart and hope to die” as further verification of my veracity.

I gave you a bit of a hint, above: Sox, my Seattle sister’s very handsome tuxedo cat, I decided, needs a cat lounger like his cat-cousins out in Nebraska. I mean, Nebraska’s a cool place, her cats are cool. (“Cool cats”- catch that clichéd expression?!) But Seattle cats? Come on! On a coolness scale, even I concede Seattle is cooler than where I live.

Surely Seattle cats rank in the top 10 American cats for coolness. Yet, there is an emptiness in Sox’s world, a void that needs filled. A neighborhood Starbucks won’t suffice, man: Sox needs a cat lounger to compete with the coolest of all Seattle tuxedo cats, Henri, le chat noir et blanc! (I think I got the French reasonably close… for someone who never studied it.)

So, I ordered the cat lounger for my cat-nephew! That “mad money” is in amazon’s hands, and they notified me today it is on the way to Seattle. It will change your life, cat-nephew Sox. Guaranteed!

Yes, Sox! This could be you, come tomorrow!

Yes, Sox! This could be you, as early as tomorrow! Woohoo!

…and a good time was had by all!

Yesterday’s Big 2 birthday for Andy and Dougy brought many greetings from all over the world. Once again, thanks to all who did your part to make the boys’ day a big one. If it were up to me, they would get food and water and a little loving, but not much more. The cat toy gift is an exception to my rule. I’m not a birthday sort of guy.

Cat-cousin Sox, a real fox!

The boys especially liked an e-card their Auntie and cat-cousin Sox in Seattle sent: A chorus of kitties meowed through the “Happy Birthday” song! Cute!

I also enjoyed an animated Beatles video of their birthday song another friend (“seeker”, not to forget Maurice and Lucy) sent the boys. It was hugely amusing to me, though the boys were worn out from playing with their toy and chasing each other by the time I opened the video. They just sat there. Well, “sprawled”, but you get the idea.

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theseeker57.wordpress.com Speaking of “seeker”, here’s a link to her inspirational blog. Check it out!