Okay... most of us "Persian-people" have had that "special-needs" show kitten, the one who just cannot seem to stay clean and must bury its head, neck and basically its whole front chest into the water dish when taking a drink.
In my case, it was my cream point Himalayan, BJ - nicknamed the Pigpen :-).
Of course it is always the show kitty that is supposed to have a pristine white neck and chest that just has to play in the water or play its food dish to totally make a mess of its white coat.
If you have this type of kitty and don't do anything about it, eventually the front chest bib stains yellow and often the hairs break off too. Your show baby has a hole in its coat AND stains. Not a situation that will lead to success in the show ring.
I started out trying to protect BJ's chest hairs from water damage by teaching him to use a water bottle. He learned quickly, but even though he was getting enough water, he really craved the quenching feeling of drinking from a water bowl. BJ would cry and cry until I finally gave in. I'd have to put down a bowl of water for him. He would then dunk his whole face and head into it. It was not a pretty picture.
Okay... so he wants to drink from a bowl... I need to protect that coat!
The Turtleneck Bib
My solution was to try something that I had also used a several years ago with another cream point.
I put a turtleneck bib around his neck. This is indeed very simple to make.
All you need is a pair of men's crew socks and a sharp pair of scissors.
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Cut the foot of the sock off just below the ribbing. Discard the foot and use the ribbed section as a bib.
Over the neck and bingo instant turtleneck bib!
This works and is fairly easy.
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A Better Idea!
There is one drawback to the turtleneck bib - it does roll up over the course of a couple of days so I kept thinking, "How do I keep it from rolling up and possibly how do I make it go farther down the neck line?"
One day my good friend Renee, who helps me with housework and cat chores, was over and we brainstormed on different solutions to BJ's problem... and we came up with the idea of a body stocking (socking?) for my piggy Persian.
So off to JC Penny’s I went and found a large men’s tube sock designed to go up over the knee. It had a LONG ribbed section... perfect for a body-sock type bib!
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The Body Sock Bib
To measure where to cut the long tube sock, I held it up to BJ from the top of his head to the middle of his back. Mark where the holes need to be cut for his forelegs.
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Snip, Snip
Cut a hole for each of the front legs of the cat.
Once that is done, cut off the foot of the sock, leaving the ribbed section of the sock as your cat's body-sock bib.
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In the photo on the right, Mr. BJ is modeling the newest fashion in bibs...
It is comfortable, stays in place and is very cool at keeping those dribbles and spills off that white coat!!
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I won’t lie it is a chore to put on. I rolled it up and put over the head then one leg at a time with each of the slits.
But once on it really does seem to work! It protects the entire neck and chest area, protecting from soaking in the water bowl or staining from wet food!
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Precautions
Remove the bib every other day to comb the coat out as mats can easily form underneath.
It is best to make at least two so you can wash one and have a clean one ready to go!
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It Works!
The body-sock bib is a basic but definite solution to the problem of perfect presentation of a piggy Persian... or any other long-haired breed that presents a special challenge at the the food or water trough.
Good luck!
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