I have a 14 year old longhair Persian, and she is in perfect health. She gets a lot of exercise, eats both canned and dry food regularly, gets outside a lot.
I brush her not every day, but at least a couple times a week all her life, and she enjoys that. She rarely gets hairballs from her own grooming, maybe 2 or 3 times a year.
In the last couple months though, she gets mats of hair stuck on her lower canines, and I have to pull it off her teeth with my fingers. This happens a couple times a week. She's never had this problem before. Her teeth and gums are healthy, but I'm afraid that this constant buildup of hair on her teeth will damage her gums.
I've controlled the problem by manually cleaning it off the teeth, but I just wonder why this comes about? And is there anything that I can do to prevent this from occurring? Does anyone else have this problem?

I had a persian mix that had this problem. Aside from cleaning her teeth and brushing her I not sure what you can do.
Is there anything that could be making your kitty groom herself more rigorously, fleas or itchy skin?

Thanks Strange Wings,
no, she hasn't been grooming particularly more, or have any skin problems.
I guess it's just something that I and she will have to live with. Maybe it has to do with her getting older, maybe not enough chewing on things to dislodge it.
Oh well, I appreciate the quick answer, I think I'll stick around here more, found a whole lot of neat things about cats I never knew before.

I have a 14 year old longhair Persian, and she is in perfect health. She gets a lot of exercise, eats both canned and dry food regularly, gets outside a lot.
I brush her not every day, but at least a couple times a week all her life, and she enjoys that. She rarely gets hairballs from her own grooming, maybe 2 or 3 times a year.
In the last couple months though, she gets mats of hair stuck on her lower canines, and I have to pull it off her teeth with my fingers. This happens a couple times a week. She's never had this problem before. Her teeth and gums are healthy, but I'm afraid that this constant buildup of hair on her teeth will damage her gums.
I've controlled the problem by manually cleaning it off the teeth, but I just wonder why this comes about? And is there anything that I can do to prevent this from occurring? Does anyone else have this problem?

Is there a reason you cannot brush her every day? The reason I ask is because Persi produces abundant hair but you can never find any hair around the house and he has never once had a hair ball and I attribute it to the fact that I brush him so much. At least try the brushing every day and see if that makes a difference. It is recommened that all Persians be brushed EVERY day.

Maybe she's trying to floss... :rolleyes:

Maybe she's trying to floss... :rolleyes:

Hello, Plano Person!

My 10-year-old Persian - Sneakers - has something similar happen to him. While grooming his chest, sometimes the fur on his chest gets caught between his teeth. Though I'm sure he doesn't like it, I laugh like crazy because he tries to dislodge the fur by bringing both his front paws up to his mouth to pull it out. :lol3: what's funnier is that he sometimes he gets so anxious to remove the fur that he begins to hop!! I'll have to take a photo or video of it sometime.

I could click the fur from his chest - but why give up the entertainment?!?

hope you got a chuckle out of this. :rub: