Hi all.

Is anyone else 'blessed' with a long haired cat that matts? My Kiara is a fuzzball that has the matting-est hair. She always has a few matts, but right now her sides are covered. I just used some scissors to cut the long hair above the matts- now I can get to them, I just don't want to comb them out.. She screams when I try brushing her...

I'm at the point where I think I'm just going to have to get her clipped/shaved. At least then I would be able to work with her hair! I'm getting a furminator for her, but right now it would be pointless.

If anyone has ANY tips that would be an alternate option to shaving, I would be very appreciative. It is really cold her at the moment so she'd have to stay inside, or I would have to wait till the spring...

Gahh. I've been told that the raw diet virtually eliminates matts by enhancing the coat... but she wont eat it. :rolleyes: Anyway I'm working on that.
Thanks!

I have a long haired cat with a heavy coat of "fuzzy" hair that mats like crazy. We had his hair cut back one summer (not shaved but cut to a lenghtof a short haired cat) and that worked well except that he was very hard for the groomer to handle. When he mats we cut the mat out. Daily brushings help but we still mat every now and then. They can be PIA's about new food. Research what supplements will help the coat and try ading them to your cats regular meal.

P.S.
We use to feed the cats Science Diet Advanced Protection for Cats and the cats coats were fantastic withNO MATS. Then it became very difficult to find in 20lbs bags and we had to switch but that food worked wonders on their coats. Shame I can’t find it now. Perhaps it’s available by you.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

Long hair but no mats... its just like a wild man... almost staticky all over lol

No suggestions but I do shave my cat twice a year.

Thanks for the tips... They are currently on Taste Of The Wild and Go Natural (grain free) with raw & canned mixed- I'm not sure how much of the raw she is eating, because her sister (short haired thank goodness) eats a lot of it!! Yea I'm not a fan of Science Diet... I try to stick to grain free :)

I'm going to try adding herring oil to the food, but she hates it... but we'll see how it goes! It is supposed to be great for their hair... I think I just need to shave her... Hmm I wonder how Show Sheen would work..... lol

Tricia I would recommend snipping the mats then brushing the cat daily or weekly, whichever would work.

Renee- That is the plan... they are just so close to the skin that it is difficult to cut them out! I'll work on it though... And once I get them out I'm furminating her at LEAST once a week. She cannot get this bad again!!!

When Simba had his issues with knots in his fur (he's a maine coon), I cut the knot as close to the skin as i could and trimmed it weekly until it wasn't growing out in knots anymore. This took about 3 months. Now I zoom groom him daily. He freakin' hates me when he sees me coming towards him with the zoom groom :floor

Good luck, I know the hell you are about to face.

My girl is part Himilayan and at 8 years old she acts like a kitten when she is shaved. It's like getting rid of all the fur makes her young again. I have to admit it's cute -she looks like like a little lion with her mane cut. I take her to the groomer for this as I dare not to try this myselt. She stays indoors so I can't speak for a cat that would go outside when shaved. Best of luck, I've tried everything and shaving is the only thing that works for me.

i shave my kitty. :brow: boy does that sound naughty. :floor

my oldest cat has the fuzziest undercoat ever! it gets matted with her just sleeping! :groan: i shave her twice a year now and she loves it afterwards! she maybe a terror while i got the clippers out, but it's so worth it.

the first set of clippers weren't professional grade...it was horrible and pulled on her. i returned that and got the pro-grade ones and works like a charm! :grin:

I think I am going to shave her... If I can find some good clippers.
ROFL at aday... hahahahaha

For now I'm going to work slowly at cutting them out... I have some awesome hair scissors that work great. I think we sell clippers at the store... I'll have to check and buy some! It would be much easier I'm sure!

Thanks :)

if you're afraid to cut too close to the skin, then just cut the matts out in the middle and starts brushing.... sometimes the rest of it will loosen up and come off. if not, let it grow out more and try cutting in a week or so. ;)

Daily brushing keeps my cat's matts at bay. She also gets Orijen cat food. If the matts get too close to the skin they are very painful for them. To illustrate, grab a hunk of your hair and twist it and twist it until your scalp hurts to twist it more. A lot of people I know shave their cats when the matts get too bad.

Maya was silver persian. She kept her hair groomed very well until the last five years of her life. The mats were pretty bad. I wish I had just taken her to have her clipped but I never did that. I just brushed (which she loved) and cut out the mats, I think she preferred to have them just pulled out, mostly I cut them out. With a long haired cat you have to groom them almost everyday stay on top of it.
After Maya was gone I found a mat of hair under the sofa, I now keep that in my jewelry box. I miss her and I miss having her long hair all over everything. :(

I know just where you are coming from. My 5 yo male, Midnight came to me as a stray in Jaunuary. Hey it was cold, what could I do but take him in. That said, I would never get another long hair cat. He is a beast to brush out, tries to bite you, well you get really fast reflexes pulling your hand away. :rolleyes: I haven't come up with a very good solution, though like aday said, just trim the matt in the middle and the rest will comb out. I do try to keep his hiney area trimmed because it easily matts, not sure I would shave him. By comparison, my shorthaired boy, Maurice, is a dream to brush,