Oily fur?

My new cat has oily-ish fur. Its a bit dirty too, but is there anything I can do about the oil? Shes a persian mix, short hair. She feels like velvet, but I pull my hand away and its kind of gross. Im thinking about trying to bathe her soon. Any tips?

I would definitely give your cat a bath. It's recommended to bathe your cats once a month, which I have to confess I don't do... but I have two cats with oily fur though so I do bathe them from time to time.

Instead of reposting some thoughts on how to bathe a cat here's a link to a thread with probably the best description of how to give a cat a bath I've read. Read the post from hissy. She describes what I've been doing with my two black girls for a while with reasons for doing it that I hadn't thought of!

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...highlight=bath
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kat- it depends on if it is all over oily fur or stud tail? Stud tail is basically at the base of the tail and is really slick and doesn't smell very good. If that is what is going on the cat needs a vet and medication.

I have heard that with Persians, using a hand degreaser is the best way to wash them. I haven't tried that out on the Persian I have here now. Instead i have some shampoo from a company called Eye Envy that works really well.

MamaKat... This thread has some links hissy posted for me to info on stud tail in case you want to read up on it...
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36573

hissy... I have a question about cat food fat contents and oily fur/stud tail. I didn't know if I should post this with my other thread about this or not, but I was hoping maybe you might have some insight.

Originally I was feeding my cats IAMs and Isabelle's & Audrey's fur was always oily just like this MamaCat describes. And because it was oily it would pick up every bit of dust / lint in the house. I would pet them and feel the need to go wash my hands afterwards! They required bathing every so often.

Then I changed their food to Purina Indoor Cat formula which has a 2 to 1 protein/fat ratio. And Isabelle & Audrey's fur was noticably less oily... and so was everyone else actually.

I've since changed their food again to Prescription Diet G/D which has 3/2 protien/fat ratio and as I posted before all of the sudden Isabelle's fur has started to get oily again... but now it's worse I just noticed today Amelia's, Clarence's and Casey's fur is getting oily too. I'm noticing the new oil specifically in the places where there are naturally larger concentrations of oil glands.

None of the new oil smells funny, it's not accumulating on the skin at all either which would be a tell tale sign of stud tail from what I've read... The timing would make it seems to be completely related to the change in food as I just changed them to the new food 100% a few days ago.

Is there such a thing as a sudden burst of oil due to increased fat intake that normalizes after a few months? Or will their fur just continue to get oilier and oiler as the oil spreads through their fur? I think some extra oil in some of my cats fur would be helpful in keeping the knots out of their fur... Clarence's tail is a giant cotton ball of fur! I'm just trying to figure out whether they will be needing more frequent baths longer term. And I'm wondering how much of a correlation there is between fat content in food and oil in fur. Seems to me like these things are directly related.
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Monica, why are you changing food so often? Health issues? It seems to me if you notice less of a problem with oily skin on one type of food, then you should stick with that brand. It all depends on what you are feeding and the ingredients. You can control oily fur by diet, just as it can get out of control by diet as well. Oily fur can also be a sign of diabetes or hyperthyroidism. But the way you have described it- sounds more like it is caused by the food that you are feeding and not a health issue.

The story on the food is funny... I always fed them IAMs then I saw the commercial for the Indoor Cat Formula which I thought was a good idea because all of my cats are Indoor babies. But then Zoey had her Phosphorus Bladder Stones surgically removed and my vet recommended the G/D food... so I will be sticking with this new food going forward. Hence the question about whether their oil level with level off and is this surge just their little bodies adjusting to new food.

I generally don't change their food like this. I fed them IAMs for years. It keeps it simpler for them and me!
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Oh yeah... and thank you for responding. Once I'm done with the classes I'm taking and back in the workforce I plan to schedule all the babies for their dental visits. I'll have them do a full blood work up on Audrey and Isabelle then. They're both due for one.
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Originally Posted by MamaKat

My new cat has oily-ish fur. Its a bit dirty too, but is there anything I can do about the oil? Shes a persian mix, short hair. She feels like velvet, but I pull my hand away and its kind of gross.

Im thinking about trying to bathe her soon. Any tips?

Click to expand...

Samwise, our Turkish Van cat, has the typical rather oily fur of the Van. He is bathed at least monthly, first in a 50/50 mixture of shampoo and "Goop," followed by a second bath using just shampoo. The second bath removes all residue of the Goop, which has a smell many find unattractive.

If you are not familiar with Goop, this is typically used by mechanics to clean oil and grease off their hands. Goop is often orange in color, but you will want white (colorless) Goop, which is available at most auto parts stores.

The use of Goop is common for show cats, including Persians. It's a silly name, but it does the job.

My Red Mac Tabby persian has very oily fur on his chest and belly. I use the goop bath method. But please don't use the orange stuff or the gritty ones for that matter. That has chemcials in it that can be absorbed through the skin. I don't mix it with the shampoo though. I use the method for persian show cats. I have it on a page on my website. But basically what you do is "Goop" the cat up well then rinse. Then wash once with dishsoap such as Dawn or Joy and rinse. Then I wash with his regular shampoo and his final rinse is with a mixture of 2 tablespoons of vinegar to 1-2 gallons of water. This is important because it helps to restore the ph balance in the skin so they don't get itchy etc. This sounds like a long process but it really doesn't take long at all once you get used to it!

My cat's neck and chest were greasy. I put her on a raw food diet, and it's going away! She's suddenly very perky, too. And no stink to the poop. Can't say anything bad about this switch in diet. And can say plenty bad about the dry food (for sensitive stomach and skin, no less - gave her stomach problems and greasy fur).

My cat has been on raw food all along, but was greasy for the first few months. It turned out that he is allergic to chicken. I eliminated the chicken and he has never been greasy since. We went from biweekly baths to no baths in the past eight months.

Good to know. How'd you find out he was allergic to chicken?

He was scratching behind his ears to the point where the fur had thinned out. I didn't see any evidence of fleas or ear mites. Our vet looked at my raw food recipe and guessed that chicken was the problem. I switched over to beef and lamb and confirmed his guess. I feed beef, lamb, and rabbit now. I very occasionally give him a chicken neck or wingtips (to clean his teeth). That small amount seems to be tolerable.

My new kitten has oily fur as well. My only recommendation if you do bathe them is to use a natural cleanser. If there are any ingestion warnings, do NOT use it on your pet. Especially felines.