Belly brushing

Griffin is one of my 9 month old Ragdolls, and he has grown a beautiful, extra-long, extra-thick coat of hair. The trouble is that he is objecting to being brushed more and more every day. I can bribe him with treats to get most of it done, but he is not going for it when it comes to getting his tummy brushed out. Of course, this is the area where mats are the biggest problem!

Does anybody have any tips for getting him to let me brush his tummy?

The belly is always troublesome. Using combs can help and they are better at keeping the fur tangle free anyway. Start with a wide tooth and when you can easily slide it through the coat, go to a medium tooth. Another way to keep a long haired cat tangle free is to bathe them and dry with a professional, high volume, pet dryer. I have a metro and it actually "combs" the coat out when drying it because of the high velocity. Maxx got used to it after the first couple times. now he just lies there and lets me dry him. After I dry him, I can slide a comb through his coat like it's a hot knife through butter!

My bf holds Riley upside down while I brush his belly. Its the only way I can get it done Hopefully your kitty won't be as awful as Riley about the brushing.

You must take charge and set up a grooming table and whether or not he wants to be groomed - do it. Rags don't mat as quickly as a Persian but you still need to groom them. When I was grooming long or shorthair cats, I make them stand on back legs and comb down the belly.

I had a Turkish Angora and trained him to be groomed by standing on the back legs and holding the front ones and the shoulders. Its easier to show in person then to explain it

Thanks for the tips! I will keep working with him. If I can't make some progress relatively quickly, I think I will consider clipping the hair on his underside for the timebeing while we work on it further. (I can feel a few mats under there, and I don't want them to get too bad.) Thanks again!

Just another suggestion from someone with big unruly long hair cats. Gardening gloves. Get them onto a table about the right hight for you to pick them up by the front legs under there armpits and let there lower legs touch the table. Then have at them with the brush.

If they are really unruly you can pin there lower legs to the edge of the table but use a towel so they don't get hurt.

The gardening gloves are for when they go nuts the first thing they attack is the brush which is attached to your hands and 20 coons can really hit you hard.

It only takes about three or four bushings out before they start to purr like a motorcycle because they know the knots are coming out.

My worst offender had dreadlocks when we got here and had to shave. She did not let me live that down for a week or two, decided my head was a perfect place to plop down on at 2:00 in the morning to show her hatred of the look.

I lay my babies on their sides to brush their tummies. I lift the front leg and brush the chest area and under the armpit, then down the tummy. Then I lift the back leg and brush between their legs that way. Then I roll them over to do the other side. Works pretty well

Ollie's not a long hair, but I do try to brush him often... he is not a fan of his belly being messed with and will bunnykick if you try to brush or rub his belly... he gets a bath once a month (we're currently living with my parents and mom is somewhat allergic to kitties, so the baths really help her allergies) and basically once he's wet, he gives in and I can do just about anything to him, so I make sure to brush his belly really well during his baths.... I've also had a little success when he's not in a bath by kind of putting one hand under his chest and holding him up (like he's standing on his hind legs) and brushing with the other hand - this only gets me a few minutes though before he turns into a 15 pound wiggle worm lol

But anyway, I would definitely be persistent about it - your kitty is quite young, so if you can get him used to all the grooming things now, you wont have a problem later - I did this with my black lab and now at 14 I can still brush her teeth with no fight (I wish I had gotten Ollie young for this reason - can't brush his teeth for the life of me!)

I agree with Shanynne, my cats also let me brush them and it works just fine...