I decided to be cheap this time and cut Dash’s hair for summer myself. I also didn’t want it quite as short as the lion cut from last summer because it’s not like it’s hot for all that long and it certainly wasn’t grown back in by last fall.
I admittedly didn’t do well at getting before pictures:
The reason for the shaving was that Dash had been throwing up hairballs nearly every day for the last few days, and also his hair was starting to get matted to the rear of his sides because his undercoatwas being shed but not extracted out from under his top coat. Because he won’t often let me brush him well I wasn’t able to keep him groomed enough to stop either problem.
I initially tried with the 1 inch guard on the clippers, but his hair was clinging to his sides well enough I had trouble getting anything cut even though it was in theory plenty long enough for that. He didn’t mind the clippers themselves at all (thankfully), but he objected to me using them on him much like he does for being brushed: he calmly scooted away till he was out of reach of the cord.
I ended up getting an extension cord and sticking him in the bathtub so I could shut the door to keep him in. I didn’t expect it, but that worked remarkably well because he remembers the last time I gave him a bath: as soon as I shut the sliding door he was completely fixated on opening the door to escape. That meant I could trim all the hair on his back and sides without him struggling:
He wouldn’t really let me get to his belly, but he did stand still when I got the furminator and started brushing the extra hair out of his now-exposed undercoat: (the yellow-handled tool is the set of wire strippers I use for trimming claws)
Another after shot:
It’s now been two weeks since the haircut happened and I think today was the first time he’s thrown up a hairball since. He’s still shedding a bit but it’s not getting trapped in his fur, and he hasn’t been at all bothered by the heat (not that it’s been particularly hot).