The Persian Cat Coat Is Too Long

Anyone who has too hectic a life to give time to groom their cat daily is not in my opinion a good cat owner.

Do they have time to watch TV? I bet they do!

Lion cuts are for poodles,not for beautiful cats.

As always amongst those who 'must have' a certain breed,the cat's welfare is the last consideration in the scheme of things.

I understand where you are coming from but why can't Persians be natural and normal in coat length and facial appearance?

You will say that they look more interesting with exceptionally long fur and a round head that is flat on one side but the public, I say, disagree. They prefer the traditional and there is no doubt in my mind that the fur of the Persian has become longer over the past century. We know the face became flatter and flatter from about the mid 1900s onwards.

The Persian can still be interesting without these extremes in appearance. In fact often the flat face is overdone and it looks plain ugly and odd, with great drapes of fur flowing off the back of the cat. If the Persian is meant to look interesting because it looks a bit weird it is a success. But if it is meant to be attractive something has gone wrong.

The Persian coat back into antiquity when it was first being developed over 100 years ago always selected for that sort of coat. They were bred to be companion cats, not hunting cats. If you look at other long haired breeds, such as the Maine Coon, Ragdoll, Ragamuffin, etc, you will find that those coats are long too, & also require human assistance to keep them looking their best.

The head type has also evolved to make the breed unique & distinctive. Otherwise they just look like long haired domestics with the old fashioned, pet type faces. Painting a whole breed with a negative brush simply because you don't care for it isn't right. The Persian exhibitors & breeders that I know personally have very healthy cats. Washing the faces & grooming the cat is simply part of the bargain when a person decides to share their life with a Persian, Himalayan, or Exotic. Even an Exotic has a double coat that will mat if it isn't combed.

I see it this way: If you buy a Persian & expect the cat to do all the work itself, then you're a lazy owner. Putting a Persian in a lion clip is a perfectly viable option for a non show cat or a cat that lives in a warm climate or an owner who loves the temperament & personality of the breed but lives a hectic lifestyle & just doesn't have the time to do the daily combing, weekly bathing/blowdrying upkeep . We are actually getting ready to body clip our 1 year old Persian after he's neutered on Tuesday. He is a show quality cat that cannot be shown because he tips his tongue, so since I do rescue, have children at home & show & breed Turkish Angoras, I quite honestly don't need to deal with his coat on top of everything else. Plus, I live in Florida, & it's still hotter than blazes here, so he'll be cooler too. We have kept him up daily/weekly since he was 4 months old, & it's been rough on the whole household.

You are right as always Michael ! I spent many hours as a vet nurse shaving anaesthetised Persian cats with coats too matted to be groomed and as they are bred with even longer fur now, the more it must be happening.

However to be fair it wasn't only Persians, I also shaved many long haired moggies.

The client would go away with advice to groom the cat daily but many would reappear eventually with their fur matted again.

I could never understand why they didn't take the advice that cats need their hair brushed and combed just like we do. I think most people wouldn't let a day go by without grooming their own hair.

Being brushed is fun time for our boyz, started when they were kittens.

I agree that breeders are going too far and that in the end it's the cats who suffer.

Cats should not be degraded by a lion cut ! As always I am on the side of the cat and his right to be a cat with his fur coat just as it was meant to be.