My 1st kitty 'Lion Cut'....critics please!!

[Minou]

Hi!

Well, look at what I did today all by myself, I shaved one of my short hair kitty!!!

I am quite pleased with the results but need more clipping experience to avoid 'tracks'. I'm not a professionnal groomer in any way. I've been grooming for fun for a few years and have only done partial shave on dogs and cats - never a full shave down. He got no nicks or cut! yahhh! I was so scared I was going to cut him! I was constantly checking where I was cutting! LOL... yes, a little paranoid but hey.... he's one of my babies!

This is my youngest kitty, 2 yrs old, 15 pounds and he was shaved with a #10 and my 2 hands. I have no grooming table or attachment so it was a little tricky but I managed him - he was a pretty good boy. The hardest was doing the underside and the inside of the BACK legs. I know...most people don't do the legs but I so wanted him to have those cute little boots but after doing 1 leg, I realised his fur wasn't long enough to create perfect boots I did all the legs anyway as I didn't want him to be loopside with just 1 boot on! LOL...

One question I have.... how do you create a perfect straight line for the maine around the neck? He has alot of tracking Is it because he's a short hair kitty? I have one of those little battery pocket clipper with a #40 blade but thought perhaps that would cut the hair to close to the skin (I didn't want to risk it)

I have to finish my 2nd kitty tomorrow (he started hissing after a few minutes so I decided to wait and do him tomorrow with an e-collar on) He's gonna be a PITA to do, if I can fisnish him! LOL...

Off with my soap box here! Oh! I'm sorry about the 1st pic, I had forgotten to take a pic of him before I started, so here he is with the back shaved.

Please fire up and critic the mitakes I did!

[Minou]

other 2 pics.....

[rapuzzled]

I think that you did a great job! I can't really tell because of the picture, but I don't see any track marks.

[dtailgroomer]

From what I can see and it is a little hard to see a mane because of his shorter coat, it looks fine to me!!
I know that everyone starts a lion mane in different spots, I start most of mine around the top of the shoulder area. Unless the owners want it started up closer to the ear.

[sheilabgroomer]

Very nice job for a "non-groomer" or even for a groomer! Don't use a shorter blade, what you have is what you get as far as booties or a mane because he is a sht hair cat. If you go shorter you will leave worse tracks and will end up irritating his skin or nicking him. One of the tricks of being a groomer is knowing when to stop....lol

[baddog]

OMG what did you do to that poor kitty!!!! Kidding, it looks good, although I've never done one on a short hair.

[Minou]

Thanks! I'm quite impress myself I was able to do that! I love lion cuts on cats (I know some people don't) and he looks real happy about his shave

My digital camera is a few years old and it was hard to take a close up pick to show the tracks.

Here is a close up of what I am talking about around the maine... see how the line is uneven? is that how it looks like on a short hair or his there is a way I could tidy it up a bit?

Maybe I just need more practice with my clipper....

[Minou]

LOL baddog!! Now I can sweep my floor and change my bed sheet just once a week instead of twice a week! aahhhh... relief!!

Been doing the above for 2 yrs now and feed up!! hence the shaving as there is NO WAY I would get rid of my babies!

[c.c.]

Hi Minou, Your cat looks wonderful -- great grooming!!

Inside back legs can be tricky. I usually have my husband hold the cat (hehe, is that cheating?) belly up. Then I gently extend one back leg to expose the inner thigh and clip. Same on the other side. If you don't have a helper, it can still be done just takes longer and requires a very relaxed cat.

As for the neck blending...if you don't have thinning shears, use regular shears and hold them at an angle to blend. If your clipper has "snap-on" comb attachments, you might try that.

[Lucy in the Sky]

I used to do a lot of kitties. Use their anatomy to guide your mane. I always went from the withers to the point of shoulder around to the breast bone. Roughly a diamond shape.Big trick- lift the hair up, clip under to the pattern line. then the hair falls naturally down in a ruff or mane. I rarely blended mine. On long hairs, I typically back brushed the legs and scissored them- I am a wimpy cat owner of a hyper stressable Maine Coon/Siamese mix. I always think about how upset he would be after and applied that to the kitties.
When you get really good, you will be able to tell from the tensing in the back muscles if kitty is just mad or if kitty wants to eat you. At my old place, I wrapped the feet with vetwrap- looks cruel, saves arms and lets them smack you a little and think they are getting theri frustrations out.

Oh, and for the tummy, I would lay the cat on one side, with the head to the left, gently use my arm to rest on it length wise and lift the back leg. If needed, I would move to the other side of the table, flip the cat and lift the other side and shave.
Avoid track marks with a very clean #10, and brush it out often. I would bursh the blade every 2nd stroke. you typically get tracks on cats because of the blade getting clogged because of how dense the hair is.

[Minou]

Thanks everybody for the great tips, I really appreciate it!

Now I need to do my 2nd kitty, looking forward to it just need to find time.

[SpikeyTheYorkie]

With short haired kitties, I shave all the way up to the back of the head. I blend the boots if I can, and the tail depends upon what the owner's want.

You did a VERY nice job indeed. If you can groom a cat without lines, that is very impressive. I use a #7 reverse (clipper vac) on the body of my non-matted cats, but a #10 everywhere else. If the can is skinny I may not use a #7 reverse---too easy to cut a cat that way.

Tammy in Utah