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mats of my kitty's fur

post #1 of 7
11/4/02 at 5:42am
Thread Starter 
I gave my cat a bath 2 days ago, and he started having some mats on his fur. what should I do??? I am afraid to shave the poor baby?

hector
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post #2 of 7
11/4/02 at 6:55am
Depending on how bad the mats are you might be able to get them out with a comb. Try using a fine toothed comb and place your fingers between the mat and the cat's skin. Slowly and carefully try 'teasing' the mat away from the skin, small sections at the time. Keeping ahold of the base of the mat will help you from pulling at the skin while you work the mat out.

Whatever you do, do not try to cut the mat out if it's close to the skin. It would be very easy for your cat to move suddenly and accidently cut her.

If the mats are too close or you don't feel comfortable combing them out yourself bring her to a professinal groomer and have them groom the mats out.

Good luck!
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post #3 of 7
11/4/02 at 2:01pm
I am going to move this to the grooming and care forum for you!
Deb
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post #4 of 7
11/4/02 at 2:24pm
You may want to comb your kitty before bathing. When you give your kitty a bath it tends to tighten the mats. Having the kitty groomed by a professional is a great idea as you will have an easier time of it when you comb later. It's a good idea to comg through a lonf haired cats fur at least once a week!
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post #5 of 7
11/28/02 at 9:58pm
Ok, I have pretty much the same question as scorpiohector, except I'm not that brave to give Rascal a bath! He has really long hair, and it gets really matted up, especially in the spring time/summer time. We have tried to brush/comb him, but he thinks that the brush/glove are something to play with, therefore, making it virtually impossible to actually groom him. Last spring, we ended up cutting most of his fur off, and let me tell you, he was the ugliest cat you ever saw!! :laughing: :laughing2: So now that it's winter time, and he is an outside cat, he needs his fur, but for future reference, how can we groom him? We don't have a groomer near us really (the closest one is probably at the least 1 1/2 hrs away), and he can't clean himself, b/c there is so much fur, and we can't help him b/c he always thinks that you want to play with him when what you want to do is brush him! So anyone have any ideas that we can use to get him clean??? If he was all cleaned up and nice looking, he would be a beautiful cat! But he just looks dirty and scrappy all the time, b/c of all this fur. I will post a somewhat blurry picture of him on here, and it wasn't too cold out yet when I took it, but he gains about 3 pounds of fur when it starts to get cold out! lol Any ideas appreciated! Thanks!
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post #6 of 7
11/29/02 at 8:22am
All my kitties try to bite and pounce on the brushes and combs! I bring over two brushes and combs and give them one to play with while I brush and comb. It takes a long time to get through all the fur and the tummy is the hardest of all.:laughing2 Work at one section at a time after the kitty has eaten. They seem to be more relaxed and cuddly then. If they are extremely wiggly just do a little each day.
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post #7 of 7
11/30/02 at 4:52pm
mmmmhmmm!

Before you bath your cat, give him/her a very thoughor grooming, allll over. Specifically if it's a long hair, try to use a shedding shampoo, so a lot of loose hairs will fall out in the bath, instead of mixing in once it dries to form knots and matts.

After bathing, when they are about half dry, groom them again very well.
With a long haired cat, I think it's best to groom them every day. But I personally wouldn't go any less than 1-3 times a week, or your just asking for matts.

Work from the neck down, and you can do the face if you want. Use a brush/comb that they like, some brushes, specifically slicker brushes can hurt their skin and cause them to get well, really grumpy!

Groom them when they seem in a good mood, don't over do it, or start grooming them when they are sleepy, or sleeping.

For people who have a hard time grooming cats, and don't want to shave them. For me, if you can't persuade them into doing it after time, then just do it very QUICKLY with a light comb, it's better than nothing. If you can even just get a couple swipes down their body every day, it will be better than nothing.
I have other approches, but I don't know your cats attitudes so I can't recommend them to everyone.
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