Long hair matted fur...

mtbee

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Fluf seems to have layers of hair. Almost like wool under her soft top layer. She will get little mats here and there which I cut out during grooming - which I do groom her consistantly. I have heard that they hurt them being tight to their skin?

Is there anything that is safe to use on her to make her less matted? She doesn't get clumped up to uncomfortness but does get little ball ups mostly on the side she lays on alot. Thanks!
 

mzjazz2u

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Are you using a brush or a comb to groom her? Because a comb will help get out all that dead fur under coat and help to prevent matts if you comb her every day or two.
 

hissy

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Use a seam ripper and once all the mats have been brushed or taken out- be sure and groom her daily.
 
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mtbee

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Originally Posted by hissy

Use a seam ripper and once all the mats have been brushed or taken out- be sure and groom her daily.
Good advise that I never thought of before! The seam ripper! I use that to take my horses braids out of his mane! Thanks for mentioning that!

I use one of those flea combs because they tend to get lots of fur off of them but I think it hurts Fluf so I tend to use the brush more so which now I guess really is not helping the issue. ..... ummm!
 

strange_wings

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Originally Posted by MTBee

I use one of those flea combs because they tend to get lots of fur off of them but I think it hurts Fluf so I tend to use the brush more so which now I guess really is not helping the issue. ..... ummm!
You're right, those can hurt a bit if the fur is tangled when you comb with it. You need to get a detangling comb. The teeth are a little wider apart and will help you work out those tangles before they become mats. And unlike a flea comb the detangling comb will reach through all of the coat.
 

whiteforest

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It sounds like you have a lot of undercoat built up, and that will cause matting. As someone else said, use a fine tooth comb for daily grooming. Once you've dematted this time try an undercoat rake or other deshedding comb/brush to get the bulk of that dead coat out.
 
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mtbee

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Undercoat buildup for sure! She is not named Fluff for no reason
It's layers of sheep fur and then a soft Cat fur overcoating! Meanwhile, even with those matts the girl still looks beautiful! I will try a wider tooth comb and see how that goes! Thanks!
 

mzjazz2u

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I use the seam ripper method as well. I like it and it works! Yeah, a flea comb wouldn't be too effective on a thick coat! A medium to fine tooth works well though. Also the furminator works good for getting that under coat out if you want to invest in one.
 
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mtbee

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does the furminator make noise??
 

whiteforest

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Furminators do not make noise. There are knock-off versions of the Furminator that you can get at some big box stores. I found one at Meijer for $6.99 and works equally as well.
 

goldenkitty45

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Petco has their own brand of Furminator (got one for our lab) for less then $10.

The type of food are your feeding can sometimes affect the coat texture. Cottony coats are the worse to matt up quickly. Use a fine and medium toothed coat. By chance, is your kitty all white?
 

stormyskiez

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I have learned after 8 years of struggling to brush my Joy and Almond that clippers work better then anything IMO. All of a sudden, just those two cats started matting very bad. I tried everything. Everything hurt my kitty's. Scissors were not efficient, the spots looked terrible and the process went slow.

After having to bathe all my cats the matts got 10 times worse. I was at my wits end. I pulled out the clippers I use on the dogs behinds to keep hair to a minimum so poop does not stick.

The clippers worked fast. If only I had thought of this 8 years ago. If you use clippers you have to be careful not to get to close to the skin. I try to taper the cut so the spot does not stand out on the fur.
 

strange_wings

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About the furminators - they don't work as well on all coat types. I have one that I eventually got for Sho - a DSH with a thick undercoat. It only removes small amounts of fur from the rest of the cats - two DSHs with thiner coats and a DLH with a thick ragdoll type coat.
I've also used it on the neighbor's two ragdoll-like cats (they're always in my yard because they don't get much attention at home). It sort of worked on one and did nothing on the other cat. (do know that I comb them because I can't stand to see their pretty coats all matted up).

However, if you do get a furminator - the name brand one at that, it comes with a money back guarantee.
 

alleygirl

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Xander's fur is a dream to deal with, doesn't mat and easy to brush/comb. Riley is a nightmare. he has an extremely thick cottony undercoat that mats if you look at it. I'm going to try the seam ripper method next time!
 
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