Next time you're left reeling over the sight of cat hair all over your bed, it might be worth looking up Steven Harrold.
The professional cat groomer offers elaborate hair cuts to pampered felines whose fur has become matted.
His latest client is Pericles, his own pet, who has been transformed into a rather striking lion.
Pericles after a date with his owner's scissors.
Harrold has been working as an exclusive cat groomer for 23 years. He baths, grooms and clips all kinds of cats - offering anything from extreme maintenance work to elaborate lion and teddy bear style clips.
Now, Harrold's cat Pericles has witnessed first-hand what his scissor-wielding owner can do.
With his ruff of fur, fluffy tipped tail and hairy legs contrasting with a closely clipped body – Pericles now resembles the king of the beasts.
Although he doesn't look too happy about it.
The 10-year-old cream Persian, underwent the eye-catching clip to keep his long hair neat and under-control.
“Very often the coat's badly matted and the only way of rectifying the problem is a radical clip," said Harrold.
“These can be done in a more interesting style, by having a lion clip or a teddy bear clip – it reduces maintenance and solves the problem."
He adds that the lion clip is like Marmite for many, as you either love it or hate it.
But he insists that when the coat is badly matted, a high percentage of it has to be snipped off.
“Sometimes it’s better to do it with a bit of style, and go for a lion clip,” he said.
The entire process takes around an hour, and can cost up to £120.
Harrold revealed his technique for the lion clip: “I start at the head and try to create a rough and then work down to shave the tail, the rest of the coat is shaved off with a number 10 blade to create the lion look.
“Cat grooming is a growing industry because people are becoming more aware of the options, they’re taking on long hair breeds and they all need maintaining.
“To try and cope with cats who don’t enjoy the process you have to be patient and gauge each one individually."
He added: “For people that feel that clipping coats is detrimental to the cat, I would suggest they see cats in bad condition.”
