Soft kitty, warm kitty, etc. etc.

Summer is coming. That can only mean one thing: naked girls cavorting throught the house.

Naked cat girls. Get your mind out of the gutter. Last year, as summer approached, we noticed Maria’s coat getting raggedy and matted. Somewhere between the house being hot (we haven’t had central heat & air, or the money to replace the central heat & air, for years) and Maria being a former feral feline who blossomed into a cuddly, chubby kitty after being rescued, the poor girl just gave up on self-maintenance.

Maria got shaved last year, and the anesthesia did a number on her. We’re not talking the typical “other cats hiss because they smell vet’s office” on her. We’re talking about her being completely antisocial to every other cat, dog and human in the house… except for me… so she camped out for nearly a week on my desk.

Gradually her personality change reversed itself, and we notified the vet immediately that whatever anesthetic had been used was not to be used again. As it turned out, they had already made a note in Maria’s chart about a slow recovery from being knocked out, and her post-wake-up reactions being atypical, sorta like she didn’t heed the warning on the PA system at Woodstock and dropped the brown acid.

This year, Maria recovered from her anesthetic normally, and very quickly. She’s happy to be sleek and relatively aerodynamic again.

Just look at that face! That is a happy, if less hairy, cat. As for Olivia… this is her first close shave with losing her floof.

Before:

After:

It’s taking Olivia some time to get used to it, but she too has resumed her normal job of being the princess around here (she’s mommy’s favorite kitteh, you know). I used to joke that Olivia was a whole lot of fur and a little bit of purr, but I had no idea – she is a tiny, tiny cat underneath the floof. And her calico patterns are fascinating when pared back to basics: she’s like a walking map of some lost cluster of islands.

Hopefully the girls will be able to stay cool this summer. In the meantime, the other three cats watch the two newly-shaved cats walk past, and then look at me nervously…

Soon, kittehs. Soon. Some of you will be next! [insert maniacal laughter here]