my cat stopped grooming?

My 5 year old male cat, Barracuda, has not been grooming himself for about two months now. We recently moved overseas, and at first I thought that this might account for his change in habits. I read that if a cat stops grooming himself, it means that something is wrong. But I've been keeping a close eye on him and he seems perfectly fine. He's eating well and drinking plenty of water. His litter box habits are entirely normal. He was born with a gimpy paw (he's only got a stump on one front leg) so he never really puts weight on it, but he doesn't appear to be in any pain. He's a fairly active cat. He plays with me, his toys, and our other cat. He has no problem jumping to heights. He purrs pretty much all the time. He sleeps with me every night. His gums are a bright, healthy pink. He's a rag doll so he's pretty big, but he's not fat. I honestly can't find any indicator that he's sick or unhappy! 

The only guess I have as to why he might have stopped is because there is a lot of static electricity, and he is especially affected because of his long hair. When I pet him at night with the lights off, you can see the static and it looks like a mini fireworks show in his fur. Could this be a reason that he has stopped grooming?

We're taking him to a vet but the vet doesn't speak a lot of English (there are unfortunately no English-speaking vets anywhere near us) and we don't speak a lot of the local language (at least in regards to vet visits), so I'm not sure how helpful a vet is going to be here. We've also considered taking him to get professionally groomed, but they want to sedate him and I'm not comfortable sedating my pets unless it's absolutely necessary. But my cat's fur is now all matted and he's starting to stink! I don't know what to do! 

If static electricity is a problem, and it might be, you can try wiping him down with dryer sheets.  I can see that if he' getting little shocks as he tries to groom, that might discourage him.  If that isn't enough, a bath followed by a good creme rinse designed for cats might work also.  You might check with some Ragdoll breeders and see if they have any other suggestions.  There are probably several members in our Ethical Breeding and Showing Forum who might be able to help you.

Thank you so much for the advice! We took him to the vet and, since he had started to get some really bad mats, we had him groomed as well. The bloodwork all came back fine and the vet said he was perfectly healthy. I feel bad for having him shaved - he looks pretty silly now - but it doesn't seem to have affected him much except there's a lot less static electricity. He seems a little colder than usual - obviously, he's missing all that hair - but he cuddles with me when I'm home and when I'm not home he sleeps on this really warm blanket that he really loves. I will definitely not shave him again, though. I'll just be more diligent in my brushing of him!