The Texture of a Cat

Since I brush both my cats every day, I can’t help but notice the difference in the texture of the fur that each of them produces. Quint is a domestic short-hair and his fur, though soft and very pet-able, is noticeably coarser that Hedge’s. The length of Hedge’s black fur falls somewhere between a long-hair and a short-hair. Hedge’s fur is quite silky to the touch, especially right after he’s been brushed. There is a notable difference in the weight of the various types of hair around our house. Everybody sheds, people, dog, cats – everybody. People-hair is relatively heavy and falls right to the floor. Quint’s fur is lighter and falls more slowly drifting on the air currents in the house for a while before it comes to rest on every exposed surface. Hedge’s fur is, I believe, lighter than air. Everywhere he goes he is surrounded by a nearly invisible cloud of black cat fur. As he walks through the house he leaves behind him a cat hair “vapor” trail that drifts through the air and gradually disperses into the atmosphere. Over time, every object in the house turns slowly darker as it is covered with very, very fine black hair. The effect is so gradual that you don’t notice it until you start dusting, wiping or vacuuming. Your dust cloth, sponge and vacuum cleaner are soon filled with back cat fur and the color of everything inside the house is sudden much more vivid. It is truly remarkable how quickly after a thorough cleaning the house is again covered in fur. I believe that most of the protein we feed them in the form of cat food and treats is almost immediately converted into fur. It has to be that way. How else can you explain the quantities of fur that these two cats produce. If an acre of farmland was as productive as a square foot of cat, we would have long ago been buried in fresh produce. I could brush them all day and they would still look exactly the same. And they would still have surplus fur to shed. The mystery of cat fur is just another facet in the enigma that is a cat.