Grooming 101 (or maybe 102)

While watching my Mom putting on makeup and doing her hair this morning, it occurred to me that ALL of us like to look good – don’t we?  I mean humans spend a lot of time on grooming and if I really think about it, so do we cats and other critters. 

That led to me realize just how much more DIFFICULT it is for us to stay gorgeous than it is for humans…..We don’t just hop in the shower and come out, dry ourselves off, and fix our hair “just so” and look great…..we have a LOT of hard work to do! 

Case(s) in point:

Cleaning toes…..

Combing neck hair – NOT easy!

The chest and tummy……

AND, don’t forget – we have to do all of this hard work with our tongues!  Yes indeed……and it’s not easy!  Not only that but we get hair (or fur or feathers or whatever) stuck ON our tongues and that’s not fun either!   

And after we’ve gone to ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL that work to look beautiful, and accidentally (or on purpose) eaten ALLLL that hair, we all know what the result of THAT is now don’t we?????  HAIRBALLS – and if you think that part is fun, well, think again. 

So, grooming seems relatively easy for you humans while for we kitties (and dogs, guinea pigs, birds, etc.) it’s not QUITE as easy.  I will admit though that our humans sometimes HELP us with all this work we have to do to be so beautiful…..like in my case, my Mom has that pink brush that she uses on me – that gets rid of a lot of that loose hair (and feels pretty danged good too :D) so I don’t swallow it.

Thanks for helping out Mom!

That concludes my report on Grooming.  Did I remember everything? 

Class Dismissed………….Happy Friday!

Sammy the PURRRFECTLY Groomed Ginger Cat

Monday Morning Meow

Hi Peeps!  What a glorious Sunday we had.  Yep – it was chilly but not TOO chilly…..sunny but not TOO sunny…..and busy but not TOO busy. 

Mom worked on her computer a lot – well, I had to consult a bit because she was working on some designs for my “store” – and as the design consultant of course I had to stick my paw in and stir things up!  We’re making progress though.

When I wasn’t actively HELPING, I was doing some bodily maintenance – you know, like cleaning my ears, straightening out my tummy hair, and of course the old foot cleaning:

Good thing I only have extra toes on my FRONT paws – I’m not much for “fancy foot work” (haha) !

Sometimes we cats have to get into some rather unusual positions to get all the bits and pieces of our fabulous selves – good thing most of us are so good at cat yoga…..and if we are slightly full-figured (not me of course) it’s even tougher to contort the old body in order to get clean.  That’s why we rely on YOU – our peeps – to help us with all of this stuff by giving us the old brush from time to time:

Yep – that’s the spot Mom…….

It feels great and is ever so relaxing…….

So, how did I get off on a tangent?  I was trying to tell you that we had a really great Sunday and wound up making it all about ME and my grooming…….not the most exciting subject in the world but after all, this is MY blog – right? 

Sammy Hugs for Everyone! 

Groovin’ on Groomin’ !

Boy oh boy does this feel goooooooooooood!

I really, truly LOVE my brush…..Mom brushes me every single morning and at least two or three other times in the day – whenever I hop up on her lap in fact.  I’ll turn my head this way or that way if I want her to brush a particular spot but mostly I just let her brush me WHEREVER.  My most favorite spot is under my neck but the top of my head’s pretty swell too!

Some of you who haven’t known me long might not know that I’m a polydactyl kitty…..meaning I have extra claws on my paws.  Some cats have LOTS of extras – I have one on each of my front paws and in this photo you can see the extra on my left paw!  Makes me extra special. 

Did you know that people call polydactyls “Hemingway Cats” ??  Ernest Hemingway collected polydactyls at his home in Key West and in fact the descendants of his original cats still live on his estate down there.  

But back to brushing (!)………..I like my pink brush but I also have a comb that Mom sometimes uses.  Both of them just feel really good and Mom says she thinks the fact that I get brushed all the time might be part of the reason my skin is so healthy, my coat is so shiny, and of course I’m so darn HANDSOME all the time….. 😉

I like to keep myself looking good……I’m always bathing some part of my anatomy.  I’m very meticulous about cleanliness.  First thing I do if I’ve been outside on a walk with Mom is clean my paws when I get back inside.  I’m kind of fussy that way.  I’ve only had ONE BATH in my whole life though……when Mom brought me home from the shelter she gave me a bath in the bathroom sink.   I HATED it.  BIG TIME.  Maybe that’s part of the reason that since then, I’ve always spent a LOT of time making sure I was totally, absolutely clean from top to bottom!

How about you?  Do you like to have a bath?  Do you like to be brushed or combed? 

Sammy, One Very Neat Guy

Taking A Bath Break….

Hey...it's not easy keeping this chest hair clean and combed!

 I’ve been SO busy with Christmas preparation and all that excitement that today I realized it had been a while since I did some intensive grooming.  I had finished all the “easily accessible” parts of my magnificent ginger self when I remembered “Don’t Forget The Chest Hair” – one of the tougher places to groom.  Mom caught me in this photo “mid-tongue-comb” but surely you can tell from the picture that I did a great job getting myself fluffed up for the holiday!

I groom myself a lot actually.   I’ve always enjoyed keeping my white parts white and my ginger parts shiny.  I’m quite particular.   I also let her know it’s time to trim my nails by biting them myself so she and Dad (he has to hold me while she trims) take care of that – including my extra toes! 

I also want to say that a couple of days ago my Mom’s friend Dianna from http://thesedaysofmine.com/ awarded my blog the “7X7 Award” and I’m ever so excited!  Mom is having to do some research with my blogs in order to try and comply with the rules of acceptance SO, look for that tomorrow OK?  Meanwhile, I’ve added the extra “bling” (ok…..award) logo to my front page.  I’m SOOOOOOOOOOOOO lucky aren’t I?

Sammy, One Lucky (and well groomed) Cat!