Long haired cats and mats

[Beethoven]

My cat is on a mat making bender! Any good suggestions or prevention? I’m going to gets some showsheen and a flea comb and try to work them out slowly. She just seems to have a new one every day. She is not a huge fan of the brush and her mats tend to be on her chest and axilla, so not the easiest areas to brush.

It seems to be more of a winter problem when she gets her big long mane in.

I hope I’m not alone in this. She just bit me pretty good as I was working on getting one out. Thankfully no broken skin.

[Simkie]

Yeah, I have one that mats, especially in the fall and again in the spring, when she’s shedding.

No epiphanies, I’m afraid. Mine tolerates being combed–and I prefer to comb her rather than brush. I use a grey hound comb with medium and fine tines. Sort of like this. I find the medium tines to remove more hair, oddly.

If she mats badly, I will cut them out. I hold the mat in between my thumb and forefinger so I can feel the skin AND the base of the mat, and I cut above my fingers. You have to have a tolerant cat or another set of hands, but you won’t cut the cat this way. Once the mat is gone, it’s usually not hard to comb out/pull apart the base of it that’s on the skin.

[CHT]

Show sheen might not be the best for a cat as they will ingest it. It actually says right on their website to not use on cats.

An undercoat rake might be a good way to prevent them, but once they have them I would cut them out.

[Beethoven]

[QUOTE=CHT;7896404]
Show sheen might not be the best for a cat as they will ingest it. It actually says right on their website to not use on cats.

An undercoat rake might be a good way to prevent them, but once they have them I would cut them out.[/QUOTE]

A groomer friend of mine told me she has been using it for years on cats, but I was planning to look into the ingredients to see if any are potentially toxic to cats. Thanks for the heads up!

EDit: Looks like cowboy magic is okay for cat, so I’ll try that.

[Hippolyta]

The one that hates brushing gets pinned down about every 6 months & gets a lion cut. Otherwise she is one large matt. ugh.

[Romany]

Don’t use Show Sheen.

I’ve used a really thick conditioner for human hair to make it easier to tease out mats, which you can rinse out afterwards (after bribing the cat not to shred you for such indignity).

[Beethoven]

[QUOTE=Hippolyta;7896609]
The one that hates brushing gets pinned down about every 6 months & gets a lion cut. Otherwise she is one large matt. ugh.[/QUOTE]

Haha yea I think she would kill me if I lion cut her, but I am tempted to shave her belly of course after I sedate her.

[vxf111]

Depends on the type of coat, but for my raqgdoll I use a furminator type wide toothed comb and that is the best tool to keep the hairs from matting.

[oliverreed]

Long toothed comb and comb at least once a week, preferably twice. I have two persians - Oliver and Bubba. They visit their groomer every three months. Bubba gets a shampoo, a thorough grooming, and a belly/armpit shave. Ollie gets a thorough grooming and same shave. Then I comb. My groomer says they tend to mat more when the central heating is on - I usually have zero problems in the summer. I missed ONE week with Bubba and he matted so badly I had to take him to the groomer for some spot shaving. Groomer also says there is a special product she uses on long haired cats - I don’t know the name, but she is ordering some for me and I’ll post the name when I get it.