Cat Chronicles

Our Prissy, the big fluffy grey (not fat, just big boned, thank you very much) cat is too big to clean her own bum and back regions, and because she is so darn fluffy and because she is not too keen on being brushed (though since one of our guests, 12 yr old Michele tried it once, she is a bit more tolerant of the brush), her fur is all matted around her bum. So, this weekend I decided to take matters into my own hands and got an electric trimmer. They assured me at Pet Smart that this sucker will cut through matted fur, so I got it. Prissy seemed to sense immediately that there is some sort of danger coming her way because she slinked down to the basement and climbed on top of the mattress that's standing up against one wall and huddled there. I took her down, murmuring reassuringly, but she just KNEW. Her body tensed up, and by the time I put her on the dining room table, her fur (the non-matted part) was standing up. At first she was just silently fuming about the undignified treatment she was getting and let me cut the top part of her back, but once I got to the mats, she wanted none of that. She started pitifully meowing, and Daisy (the smaller black cat) immediately ran to the rescue, also crying at the top of her lungs, demanding to know why we are hurting her step-sister. Lydia was also hanging around, despite of me telling her to stay away. As Prissy began to growl, Lydia said: Mommy, don't you think a PROFESSIONAL should do this? I said, yes, that would be nice, but I don't really want to pay a $100 to shave the cat's butt. To top it all, the stupid thing WASN'T cutting through the big mats, so I had to take scissors to those parts, and then use the trimmer once the mats were smaller. At the scissors, Prissy growled louder, and when I put the trimmer to her again, she hissed and growled and some really unearthly sounds came out of her, and then suddenly, she flipped on her back (I thought I was holding her quite immobile with my one hand, but obviously, for all her size, she is very agile), bit and scratched me, leaving a jagged scar across my palm and ran for her life, right back down to the basement. I decided it was best not to pursue at that point, instead, I cleaned the scratches and put a giant band-aid on the biggest one.
And since I can't remember when I had a tetanus shot last, I'm going in to see my doc today, as the scratch is getting red and puffy and tender. So after all that, I'm just gonna call the cat grooming place. Maybe they have some happy gas or something they can use on Miss Priss so she doesn't rip everyone to shreds...
And after she is shaved, I'm just going to slowly and carefully introduce daily brushings... We'll see how that goes... You know, she is the biggest pussy cat, constantly demanding rubbing and attention in this tiny little meow, so I'm really surprised she's got so much fight in her! I guess under that fluffy harmless exterior, there is a wildcat inside, and if you piss her off, watch out...