Cat ownership is new for me. The cat my family had when I was eight doesn't qualify: it was a working cat. It made itself useful by prowling the exterior of the house looking for varmints.

Ivan, instead, is a house cat and a lavishly hairy one. I found out how hairy he was when I recently tried to comb out all his loose hairs before they could shed themselves on my freshly vacuumed carpet.

(I am allergic to cats. I used to hate vacuuming. My stepcat has made me love vacuuming.)

My methodology was to comb him until A) no more hair filled the cat brush or B) Ivan got bored and ran away.

Half an hour and twenty handfuls of cat hair pulled from the brush later, I started brushing against the grain. I brushed Ivan's head, his back, his tummy, his tail and his legs. He purred the entire time.

After 40 minutes, Ivan was covered in dandruff. I was afraid that I was brushing off living skin cells, but Ivan seemed to love it. He licked my toes.

Finally, when it was all over, 45 minutes after the brushing started, this is how much cat hair I accumulated:



Can't read the measurements? Here's a close-up:



Are all long-haired cat this shed-ful?

Labels: Ivan