Oh, fluffy kitties you are so nice

Your fur coat would keep you warm in ice

But since we live in more temperate climes

You’re always shedding all the time

What do you think?  Am I the next William Carlos Williams?  No?  I didn’t think so either.

But I am a good cat mommy who brushes her little treasures *almost* every day.  At least every other day.  That has got to be acceptable.  It is enough to keep them from developing matts on their fluffy behinds (a lesson I learned the hard way) so I feel like I am doing a good enough job.

In addition to their regular brushings with the slicker brush, they get attacked with the FURminator once a week (as per the official FURminator instructions).  Now you would think that since they are getting brushed out pretty often, their weekly FURminator sessions would not be a big deal.  I would think so.

And then here is what I wound up with after this weekend’s groom-a-thon:

Yikes, right?

I probably could have gotten more but official FURminator instructions are very explicit about not over grooming with the tool because it could cause skin irritation.

Now, in spite of all of this brushing, someone (Sally, I’m looking at you) still gets hairballs!  Don’t think that I didn’t want to take a picture of the latest one to share with you, but Mr. Man assures me that hairballs are gross and no one wants to see that.

Their favorite grooming implement are the gloves with the silicon nubbles on them.  Anabel will actually come up to me when I bust these guys out.  They are nice to work with because you can grab the cat with one hand and groom with the other.  You can also get all sorts of places that are tricky with a brush.  She really just wants her chin scratched, but she doesn’t mind when I get after her tummy and her arm pits as much as she does with the brush.

I suppose all this grooming is the price that one must pay to have happy, fluffy kitties around.  It is a small price to pay.  I can’t say that I do a very good job, judging by the state of my furniture but at least this is one of those things that just doing it is almost good enough. Boy, I’ll tell you what though, they sure do feel and look nice once we’re done.

The kitties always groom themselves

They do not think they need my help

But when a hairball I find

We all know it’s brushing time

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When the kittens first came home, they had little stubby baby kitten tails.  Anabel used to chase her tail and it was so short that she couldn’t turn around far enough to catch it.  She would spin like a dervish until she tumbled herself over, then she would jump up and go again.  It was pretty entertaining.  No, I’m not sure how much time I spent watching Anabel chase her tail, but every minute of it was time well spent.

As they grew, their tails began to lengthen, soon the tail to body ratio was pretty much equal. They started wrapping their tails around themselves when they slept.  They didn’t have the tail muscles to carry them up yet, Sally’s would make a sort-of half arch when he would try but at least they were proportionate.  By September, their tails were getting thicker but were not what I would call fluffy. It is only recently that they have become fabulous.

It is funny because even though from certain angles Anabel and Sally can be hard to tell apart, their tails are so different in shape and texture.  Anabel’s is wide and linear,and the coloring is consistent the ticking on her body.  She tends to walk with her tail straight off her back which adds to the long line.

Sally’s tail is like a beautiful fluffy plume.  He carries it high over his back, especially when he comes running to meet me at the door. It is his beautiful welcome flag. His tail puffs out in the middle and then tapers at the end.  The color variation is more pronounced on his tail as well. 

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