# Lion Cut - Cool or Cruel **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 28, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lion-cut-cool-or-cruel/314522 "2005-07-28T03:31:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_Stewart\_Pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@John\_Stewart\_Pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stewart_Pie)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lion-cut-cool-or-cruel/314522/1 "2005-07-28T03:31:22Z")
Is giving a cat a lion cut for no other reason other than looks cruel? > **[Is This a Cat with a 'Lion Cut'?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lion-cut/)** > > It takes more than fur to make a feline into a lion. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lion-cut-cool-or-cruel/314522/2 "2005-07-28T04:14:40Z")
It looks very stupid, but how would it be cruel? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lion-cut-cool-or-cruel/314522/3 "2005-07-28T04:17:52Z")
That cat does not look happy about it. I don’t blame him–he looks like a poodle. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lion-cut-cool-or-cruel/314522/4 "2005-07-28T04:29:16Z")
I would presume that a cat’s skin is meant to be protected by fur from sunlight and other stuff. Certainly it looks like an unhappy cat. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lion-cut-cool-or-cruel/314522/5 "2005-07-28T04:32:15Z")
The cat looks unhappy, but we can’t assume the cat is unhappy because of the haircut. The cat may be unhappy because it wants food and its schmuck owner has been harrassing it with a camera for ten minutes, you know? ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lion-cut-cool-or-cruel/314522/6 "2005-07-28T05:02:18Z")
We have a longhair cat. We’ve shaved her almost as short as the “Lion” cuts, mostly because she’s middle-aged and can’t keep her hair unmatted. It becomes a hygiene issue – she barfs all over the house from getting hairballs from cleaning her long hair, and poop cakes on her butt because she can’t clean herself. Ick. So we shave her probably once a year when she’s matted beyond hope of brushing out her tangles. When we shave her, she’s sedated for it, because she’s generally a hyper-spaz at the vet or groomer. After the trim, she’s pissed at us for a couple of days, just on principle. The hair grows back in a few weeks, then she’s fine because she can clean herself again. Everybody’s happy. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lion-cut-cool-or-cruel/314522/7 "2005-07-28T22:02:41Z")
Hi, Not sure this is an appropriate response for Great Debate but a little anecdote to shed some light on things… I was a dog/cat groomer for two years. Its a little like being in hell… but thats a different story. We would routinely warn people getting their cats (usually matted cats) shaved for the first time about how “weird” they look. We would make it pretty clear that the cat would be _shaved_ not given a fancy semi-long all over hair cut (very hard to do on cats!!!). First of all, if a cat is matted- trying to “not go too short” is like kitty torture. Brushing out bad mats can HURT (and not just the scratched groomer 😉 ). Once, my old elementary school music teacher came in with her little calico cat for a “haircut”. The cat was long haired and had alot of mats. We gave her the spiel about the cat being shaved, not just mats removed and returned in pristine long haired condition and she agreed. Well, when she picked up the cat her eyes just about popped out of her head, she was polite but obviously not thrilled with the lion cut (the cat was a bit chubby too and had some “rolls” LOL. ). She left and then we got a call from her about an hour later. Well… the cat was completely different- all new personality, ran around and was playing for the first time in months. She admitted she had a hard time with how the cat looked but she was glad it at least made the cat feel so much better. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lion-cut-cool-or-cruel/314522/8 "2005-07-28T22:54:41Z")
That was a very good post, Smokinjbc! ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lion-cut-cool-or-cruel/314522/9 "2005-07-29T03:29:35Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > That was a very good post, Smokinjbc! Yeah, but all that stuff about matted hair makes me want a long-hair cat just so I can have a dreadlocked kitty. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lion-cut-cool-or-cruel/314522/10 "2005-07-29T05:37:58Z")
My wife and i recently spent 10 days in New York looking after a friend’s apartment, along with two long-haired cats. One of the cats had a very similar haircut to the one in the link, and the owners told us that this had been done because he is very susceptible to the heat of summer. He seemed perfectly happy, and the short hair did not appear to distress him at all. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lion-cut-cool-or-cruel/314522/11 "2005-07-29T14:14:32Z")
On occasion, I amuse myself and annoy my girlfriend by taking a pair of scissors to the end of her cat’s tail, cutting the fur so the tip becomes blunt. The cat doesn’t care. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lion-cut-cool-or-cruel/314522/12 "2005-07-30T03:15:14Z")
Cool. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2005, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lion-cut-cool-or-cruel/314522/13 "2005-07-30T13:49:16Z")
My MIL does something similar with her chow dog. Not a lion cut, but he is shaved and trimmed. The dog is elderly, but he seems a lot happier with all that hair gone, especially during the summer. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lion-cut-cool-or-cruel/314522/14 "2005-07-30T16:41:40Z")
Here in the Deep South many people with long-haired pets will have them “shaved down” - which can vary in length according to the blade used on the clippers. It’s much easier on them in this heat and humidity. Any time you do **anything** to a cat that offends the cat’s sense of dignity, you will suffer the consequences. The “lion cut” is just silly looking. Even on a poodle. Especially on a Standard Poodle. I watched some of the Eukanuba Tournament of Champions today. Pretty doggies! ---
**Author:** ![Novalyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@Novalyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novalyne)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2005, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lion-cut-cool-or-cruel/314522/15 "2005-07-30T22:07:27Z")
My co-worker has a cat with some sudden health problems, causing the groomer to elect not to groom him due to the risk during sedation. Unfortunately, he had a mat so bad that it split his skin, necessitating not just sedation but stitches. Mats aren’t just ugly, they are painful! And some cats (and dogs) are so averse to the daily brushing required that it really is more humane just to shave them down occasionally. I worked for a vet years ago, and owners would bring in badly matted dogs and cats, then would get mad that the groomer made the pet look “ugly,” apparently not caring about the pain the poor animal had been in, nor the relief the animal was obviously feeling after a shavedown.