From Snopes: http://www.snopes.com/photos/lioncut.asp
Anyone here actaully do that to their poor kitty?!!
Well I guess it will grow back, but the look on that poor mog’s face…
Someone posted a link to those pics here a short while back. I can’t find the thread though.
I had approximately this done to my cat, Parker, who I rescued in an alley, because his fur was so matted and filthy that shaving it off was less traumatic for him than trying to clean and brush it. He was annoyed, but not as much as you would think- then again, he was also injured and starving and happy enough to be indoors to put up with some indignities.
As a former dog groomer, I can sadly say that yes, people do this to their cats. I will never in a million years understand why someone would buy a Persian or other long-haired cat then want most of its hair cut off. I hate the look and feel so sorry for the poor things.
I do have to say that I’ve never personally done this to a cat but I did do a Collie like that. shakes head Go figure.
I used to have a little longhair cat, and we pretty much had to have her clipped like that every summer. She would get skin inflammations from the heat. However, her face and foot fur was trimmed, too. Generally the vet DID leave a little tuft at the tail, but she was mostly closely shorn all over her body. We just started getting her a “summer haircut” each spring, because she would develop horrible skin lesions around July or so if we didn’t.
She didn’t like getting the haircuts, and always seemed embarrassed by them for a couple of days, but afterwards she seemed to enjoy the coolness.
I worked for a pet store in the Village a few years ago and we had a store cat that we’d do this to for fun. He really didn’t even seem to care, but the rest of us thought it was hysterical. We also dyed him colors on Halloween - the store had developed an animal-safe dye and he usually walked around with a green or orange lion cut.
Ava
avabeth: Was the cat named Shiela?
[Ramones]
Shiela is a punk kitty!
[/Ramones]
I feel guilty for laughing at that poor cat, but seriously annoyed expressions do that to me. Especially cats, who are able to look like Royalty Abused when inconvenienced.
I think it’s stupid, too, and I equally dislike it when applied to poodles.
That looks suspiciously like a modified photo.
No, I believe it is legit. I’ve seen cats trimmed like that before.
Doesn’t look suspicious to me in the slightest.
If I were the owner though, I don’t think I would ever turn my back on that cat agin, though!
If you read the Snopes article it says it’s likely not a modified photo.
In particulary the front-on shot has a fair amount of foreshortening caused by the short camera lens (foreshortening makes things closer to the lens loo larger than normal.) The cat’s hear looks a ouch larger than it should be, but that’s the lens, not manipulation.
Besides that, I had a fluffy white chat who managed to get covered in chimeny soot. When we soaked him up to his neck – with only his head kept dry – that’s pretty much what he looked like proportionately.
(Are wt cat didn’t mind, he was mostly Turkish Angra and liked water.)
LOL! No, actually, his name was Moishe. The store’s on Christopher Street in the West Village right by 6th Ave, so if you’re ever there around Halloween, I’m pretty sure he’s still haunting the place. He’s the only Persian I ever liked.
Ava
I’ve had this done to my persian, only the legs were shaved all the way down and only a little was left on the tip of the tail. I had to have it done, when I “adopted” my kitty there were so many huge horrid mats in his nasty dirty fur it was impossible to brush them out. It grew back and now he looks like a big fluffy persian again(aside from needing a bath).