long hair cat's fur matting

[redrhodie]

Help! Eddy's fur is matting. I brush him everyday, and comb a couple of times per week. Still, I can't keep on top of it.

Anyone have a great solution, prevention or cure? Special brush you love? I think he's mostly Maine Coon, with super soft fur, like an angora rabbit.

[newfsmith]

Fine toothed combs, like flea combs work the best on cats. You do have to be careful because cat skin is so thin it is easy to tear it while combing if you hit a knot unexpectedly. This time of year you may need to comb daily, or consider having a groomer shave out any matts that get ahead of you. Maine Coons tend to be big cats, so they may have trouble reaching around to groom the center of their back. If that is the case, concentrate your combing there and ask your DVM if he is getting overweight.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I have a pure Maine Coon and her undercoat is like gossamer swan's down. She cannot stand a fine tooth comb or the usual metal cat brush, since it pulls too much at the downy layer, pulling fur out and really bothering her.
She likes fat toothed combs and also a human brush with wide-apart plastic bristles that all have comfy rubber ball tips on each bristle. I'm mainly sort of raking the fur gently instead of brushing it. The soft 'raking' she likes- it's like a massage, and it keeps the fur nicely combed in one direction so it does not get matted.
Here is the type of brush she likes:

Look for one that is softer, not stiff-bristled.

Here is our 'princess', Pearl:

[Biciclista]

I never did find an answer after having two different long haired cats. As they got older, their hair matted worse and they hated me.
A friend of mine just has her cat's hair clipped twice a year. no muss, no fuss.

[Tuckervill]

My furry cat has some mats in places he's never got them before. I'm puzzled. He usually gets them in his lion's mane, and I can usually cut them out while he's lying about. His mane is a little off kilter, then. But this time they're on his haunches. I didn't notice them for a long time, so they are very close to the skin. That always scares me, because I have cut him a couple of times trying to get mats off.

I don't brush him much, but when I do he LOVES it. His hair makes my nose itch so I try to avoid it. He is about 7 now, so maybe it is that he's getting older and that's why he has more mats?

Karen

[Biciclista]

yes, as he gets older it gets worse. If you dont' want to brush him, take him to a groomer. It can/will get really bad.
Even my short haired cats need some brushing this time of year! i brush pounds of hair off their little bodies.

[redrhodie]

I just found a spray groom with avacado oil that I'm going to try. I'll let you know how it goes. Next step will be a pro. I use the same brush as Lisa, as well as a metal comb. I'm really dilligent, and love brushing him (he turns into a purr-ball rollie pollie). It's just the mats are relentless, probably from all time time he spends in the sink. He LOVES water.

[alpinerabbit]

Mom's coon detests being combed, except in a new resting place he recently adopted (but he only tolerates a couple minutes).


My mother routinely cuts the mats out by sliding a comb underneath and cutting it off with small scissors. Again, one or two with two people at it, and that's it, he's gone.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

yes, as he gets older it gets worse.

Yes, as cats get older they can't bend to reach all their spots as much anymore.
Also....if a cat is FAT they won't be able to groom themselves well either- they can't bend in half!
I know several people with obese cats who have short hair and tons of matted fur and they also smell....because they can't clean themselves anymore- too FAT.

[Aggie_Ama]

Eeek! My kitty is medium fur, it is so soft I figured all I had to worry about is hair balls. It isn't coarse like some longer haired kitties, will it still matt? I have only had one long hair cat (a manx with a full tail) and he never matted. My schnauzer matts badly so now she gets a summer clip year round.

[spokewench]

My Big Kitty is part Maine Coon. Great cat; but hair has always been a problem. He likes being brushed and I used a brush like the one shown above for years; but still it came down to the fact that you could not keep him from matting at certain times a year. I took to having him groomed in the fall and the spring and this would keep most mats out; with some brushing on the side done by me.

Big Kitty is 23 going on 24 now; and this year, his fur was really matted down low against his body; small mats, not big ones you could comb out; and it is hard on him to be pulled on to have the groomer remove the mats. So, we bit the bullet and gave him a shave. He looks funny, but he is much easier to take care of and no mats. The funny thing that we found out though was that his fur, he is a mixture of white and black tipped tabby, is chocolate brown on the underside and only tipped with grey and black on the ends; so now he is a short haired chocolate brown cat with white. He's been shaved for a couple of months now and no black has appeared yet!

spoke

[Tuckervill]

My cat is not fat. The vet said he was BIG, though I never thought that. I guess I was just used to his size. I've had him since he was a kitten and I've never had him groomed. I don't know how he would react to that.

I just found out that one of my son's three cats has become a diabetic. I thought it was going to be the old fat rolly-polly one, but it's the young skinny one! The fat one, Sadie, can be one of those cats who doesn't clean herself well enough, and gets to stinking. They put her on weight control food and she's much smaller, but still overweight.

I guess I'll give the groomers a call.

Karen

[Karma007]

The only solution for my maine coon was a spring shave. He hated the actual event, but was so happy afterwards. You could scratch him right down to the skin and he loved it.

[Biciclista]

Eeek! My kitty is medium fur, it is so soft I figured all I had to worry about is hair balls. It isn't coarse like some longer haired kitties, will it still matt? I have only had one long hair cat (a manx with a full tail) and he never matted. My schnauzer matts badly so now she gets a summer clip year round.

yes, my fine haired medium haired cat had mats as he got older, and was very traumatized by my attempts to get rid of them.

[Aggie_Ama]

Thanks Mimi. Maybe since she is kinda a baby (1 year) I should start brushing her now. I didn't do that with my dog and it is a nightmare to brush her.