I never wanted a long-haired cat, but a wee tiny Maine Coon rescue kitten worked his way into our hearts and came home with us from the humane society back in the spring… Said wee tiny kitten is now 8 months old, nearly 12 lbs., and massive and FLUFFY. Oh, and still growing, LOL! But he tends to get, ahem, dingleberries stuck to the fur on his hind end and legs. He lets us brush him, but we were wondering what the best kind of small clippers are that we could use to keep him clipped back there and do some “man-scaping” on him, to get rid of the hair that attracts the unmentionables? Thanks for any advice on clippers!
I wouldn’t clip, because I’d miss my arms and my husband’s face LOL. Scissors would be the way to go her. Sharp, short ones. And a bunch of really high grade treats.
Actually, I’ve managed to clip nails by wrapping my MC up with a towel, with his face behind and under my arm! And I do this also for working on mats with a comb, or scissors.
Will be watching this for an answer, as my vet has been the dingleberry remover - he needs a visit at least twice a year. We could use clippers, too…
I would take him to someone who clips cats routinely and ask for a sanitary clip. Once done, you can likely keep up with scissors as cat hair takes a long time to regrow.
I agree with professional clip and then scissors maintenance, you could use some safety scissors with blunt ends.
My, fully grown, 18 pound and uber fluffy Maine Coon does not have any problems with his rear end hygiene, I wonder why? I’ll have to ask him how he handles the butt fluff ;). He hates to be brushed, so it’s a good thing he is impeccable about grooming himself. Never mind the hairballs he hacks up on my bed, in a very noisy fashion, in the middle of the night.
I’ve done some cat clips with my A5s. If he’s game and comfortable being restrained, it’s really not that difficult. If he’s the sort to lose it with weird noises, or you are not comfortable restraining him, I’d go to a vet or a groomer and have them take care of it 
My Ladybug is a 16 pound tortoise-shell Maine Coon wannabee kitty. That’s definitely not her breed as she was born to a short haired black, 7 pound stray mamma kitty…but that’s what she “looks” like She gets these same dingleberries unless she’s clipped. I use my A5s on her. She LOVES being clipped so I have no problems with her but on a very nervous cat I would get the vet or a groomer to help.
I used cheap people clippers on my fuzzball cat this past spring. She matted up and I couldn’t get under the mats with the pet clippers I had-the dang guard wouldn’t let me.
Got frustrated and grabbed the people clippers and they worked like a charm. I used them on the dog also, as long as you are careful about not getting too close they work so much better than some pet clippers!
A cat bag is a useful item and one that the groomer/vet uses. I live 50 miles from town-it’s easier for me to slap the cat in the bag, get the clipping done, and go about my day and not have to drive the cat to town. They’re nice for pilling a cat too. http://www.amazon.com/Top-Performance-Cat-Grooming-Bag/dp/B001L9ADXI
My cat will stick around for a few minutes at a time as long as someone will keep her distracted.
ETA-we found a pair of manual clippers in a box of misc that we picked up at a farm auction a few years ago. They had apparently been used to do brand checks out in the field b/c they were full of cow hair. We used them to check a brand on a horse and I’ve used them on the dogs and they work very very well for clipping a small area. They would be an option for quick cat grooming without all the excitement of the electric buzz and scissor cutting.
http://www.amazon.com/Bressant-Manual-Hand-Clipper/dp/B000N96A16
I don’t have a Maine Coon but I do have a Norwegian Forest Cat who sometimes also has issues with unmentionables…I agree with getting your cat professionally done, and using scissors for upkeep.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I may try a groomer for the sanitary cut and then we can just keep up with him with tiny scissors (which is what we’ve been using). He doesn’t seem to get mats, and he does like to be brushed, but danged if he isn’t tracking bits of litter and “other stuff” all over the house on his back end and legs every day, and he doesn’t seem to care at all, LOL. (But WE do!) I wish he would be a fastidious groomer, but no such luck!
[QUOTE=LisaW-B;5947046]
Thanks for all the suggestions. I may try a groomer for the sanitary cut and then we can just keep up with him with tiny scissors (which is what we’ve been using). He doesn’t seem to get mats, and he does like to be brushed, but danged if he isn’t tracking bits of litter and “other stuff” all over the house on his back end and legs every day, and he doesn’t seem to care at all, LOL. (But WE do!) I wish he would be a fastidious groomer, but no such luck![/QUOTE]
If you don’t already, it might help to have a small rubber bottom scatter rug just outside the box. (They also sell small pieces of mat for this purpose in some pet supply depts, but I thought they were expensive for their size.) Once I use up a scatter rug, I keep the old ones for pet purposes. When he steps outside and walks on it, the extra litter pretty much comes off. Although not sure what to suggest about the “other stuff”… My kitty would get some stuck when he was really, really fuzzy - and at that point I did take him for a quick buzz to the vet. (just handier out here in the boonies…)But it takes a while for it to get that fluffy again…
My MC was 30 lbs at his biggest (a bit over weight at that point). When he was 25 lbs the vet said he wasn’t over weight - just a biiiigggg cat. He was a great self groomer until later in life when he’d get mats on his hips. He never got butt mats or unmentionables.
He didn’t mind getting shaved. I used my Wahl horse clippers on him if/when I had to. Despite the fact that he actually scared visitors, he was a gentle giant. I actually had one repairman say, “What the hell is that???” when he saw Merlin walk through the dining room. I wonder if he didn’t think Merl was an exotic. I didn’t think he was all THAT big but maybe I was just used to him???
Can’t tell much about him from this old pic but here he was: http://thegeek.home.mindspring.com/images/m&s3.jpg
Just saying, if yours is 12 lbs at 8 mos, you might have a monster on your hands. If he’s an indoor kitty, teach him not to walk across your pillow and pull your hair. Ask me why this is important! 
My 9 yr old MC gets worse and worse about grooming himself the older he gets. We started out just getting him a sanitary patch shaved by the groomers every 6 months or so, then progressed to having them give him a lion cut in the late spring due to that mats that develop and to help keep him comfortable in the heat of our southern summers. Now I just use my A5’s on him once a year. He actually doesn’t mind being clipped and seems to feel better afterwards.
My only mistake with my kitty was letting him sleep on top of me at night when he was cute and small. Now I wake up in the middle of the night with 16 lbs of cats sprawled on top of me and can’t dislodge him without DH’s help.
Wow, love the picture of your giant upside-down cat!
We also have a 13-year-old Siamese who’s about 14 lbs. The 8-month-old is as tall as he is now. And only 2 lbs. lighter, and I’m sure the weight isn’t all hair. He’s definitely a “warmblood” kitten, with big old massive legs and feets and a wide chest. OMG, we could end up with a 25 lb. cat! :lol: The humane society called him a “domestic medium hair.” Yeah, my a@@! :lol: He was an orphan/found on the street and turned in when he was tiny, and he still nurses/suckles on his paw and purrs. We could have a 25 lb. cat who still sucks his thumb, LOL.
Anyway, thanks for all of the advice. We do have a mat by the litter box, and that does help with tracking litter all over the house, but his main problem is he gets stuff stuck to his butt and hind end, and he doesn’t care that much. Typical boy!
I have a set of narrow blades for my A5 that I use for sanitation trimming on the dogs…never tried to use them on a cat though…
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=narrow+clipper+blades&hl=en&cid=11158953520666295076&ei=nua7Tp-AJ8Knsgeyy-XICA&ved=0CAcQ8wIwAA#p
