How much work is a long haired cat? I’ve had short hairs for years & i just brush weekly. I’m looking at a long haired rescue kitten & wondering how much brushing, trimming, bathing is required? I’ve never bathed a cat & the thought scares me. She is CUTE & sweet, but I’m guessing all that hair comes at a price.
Also, her ears are hairy LOL, would they require special cleaning or maybe she’ll be self sufficient?
I’ve always found long haired GIRLS to be no effort on coat care. They take care of it themselves.
My long haired boys are combed every day.
No one needs ear care. Or bathing.
My inherited very. long haired female groomed herself impeccably. Almost never saw a brush
and never needed a bath. Easy peasy care.
My long haired boys get mats in their fur sometimes but I think that’s because they’re not into grooming their fur very much. I brush them occasionally and remove the mats when needed. If they will allow it. 
The rescue kitten is beautiful and so cute!!!
What an beautiful kitten! No need for a bath or ear treatment unless there is a medical issue. I do recommend grooming when she is older. You can work on that while she is still little. Have a serious play session first, so she does not think it’s a game of bite the brush. Same for teaching them to be calm when clipping her claws. Mine loved their slicker brush and would jump on the kitchen stool for grooming.
I used the slicker brush daily when my old lady cat got too arthritic to groom herself, otherwise her beds were just covered with hair.
She is cute!!!
Does your slicker brush have plastic or metal teeth? Are there any brushes to avoid? I’m overthinking this, I know. I don’t want to pull her hair & give her a bad experience…I have a Love Glove too & my cats all enjoy that.
She was a single kitten found under a car in the projects. She’s in a foster home with 9 kittens, so she should acclimate well to my young cats…Hopefully
Mine both have metal teeth but there are new ones out there with nubbed teeth. I would hold off on using a slicker until she is fully adult. My late big longhairs loved the slicker.
Poor kitty. I wonder if she was someone’s runaway. She has all the window dressing!
We have 2 LH, one boy one girl, both part Maine Coons. The boy rarely grooms himself, but still stays matt-free unless he’s gotten into “sticky burrs” He sheds, but not a ton, it’s amazing how little there actually is considering
The girl is a frequent groomer, sheds a ton, does get a few matts around her armpits
Nobody gets trimmed, they aren’t Persian-long. Zero bathing, excepting the one time girl-kitty got skunked!
No ear cleaning, that really tends to be an individual thing, just like some people are more prone to wax buildup in their ears than others
My FAVORITE comb is a flea comb, especially for removing aforementioned sticky-burrs, as they really separate the hairs
I find combs to be the best grooming implement for long haired cats.
This skip tooth comb is great, and the different length of the teeth allow it to “get into” the coat:
(They’re sold in a lot of places, this is just the first link that popped up.)
My barn cat gets a very thick coat in the winter, which winds up too thick for that comb. We go to this one when that happens:
(Or something like that, mine didn’t cost that, wow.)
The longer teeth and wider spacing get into the coat, even when it’s really thick.
I comb the boy cats for maybe 2-3 minutes a day, either before dinner or before bed. It’s easier for me to make it a very small part of the daily routine than a bigger thing once a week or whatever. Because they’re done so often, mats don’t form and because there are no mats, combing does hurt. They’re very compliant because it doesn’t hurt (and treats help, too 
)
I have two long haired mostly feral cats, so brushing them isn’t an option. They were in pretty serious danger when I took them, so they had to be moved, and much to my surprise, three years later, they don’t have any mats, and their coats are beautiful.
She is adorable! I wouldn’t be able to resist! Our long-haired girl loves her grooming glove. I use it gently on her, and she’ll purr and purr. She does get mats on her back near her tail, which get cut out. She also has a very, very, VERY dense coat. Other than that, no special treatment. I don’t feel our long-hair is any different than the short-haired cats. You can get a grooming glove at Amazon - this is the one we use: https://www.amazon.com/Upgrade-Version-Pet-Grooming-Glove/dp/B01N9KSITZ/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=3Q1BK9YGN6T6Y&keywords=grooming+glove&qid=1687614001&sprefix=grooming%2Caps%2C790&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1
*edited to add about dense coat
When you get her Definitely start early with the grooming so she learns you’re not going to eat her LOL
We have 3 longhaired and 2 shorthaired cats. 2 of the longhairs are no problem; one is so soft and fluffy but never tangles, and the other is single-coated. The third, however, has a neverending nightmare of a coat if you don’t groom him daily; he’s double coated and the soft, downy undercoat gets all tangled up with the stiff overcoat and creates mats that are nearly impossible to unwork. He gets his butt (the biggest problem area) shaved a couple of times a year, which makes him look like he’s wearing a long coat! I use 2 Chris Christensen brushes and the comb on him (I fell in love with these while grooming the poodles). They have a special de-matting brush that works well as long as you line brush and get all the way to the skin, plus the slicker brush to remove more of the undercoat when it sheds.
Fortunately, he’s VERY good about brushing (our other two don’t mind it but he will lay on his back and let you brush his belly).
Yes!!! From a Maine Coon show/breeder perspective, slicker brushes are a big no no for long haired cats. That said, I’ve almost never seen a DLH that had anywhere near the coat that MCCs have (I’m the opposite, finally, after many decades have a DSH, everything else has been DLH and Maine Coons). Even my foster kittens that are fluffy cuteness like yours just really don’t have “long” hair like an MCC
Which is all by way of saying I wouldn’t sweat using the slicker brush on a DLH type the same way I would with an MCC.
That said, my experiences with using them is that they don’t get rid of mats or do a great job removing tangles that become mats, and if you aren’t diligent with splitting the coat to create open lines to get the brush down to the skin, they aren’t great at pulling out dead undercoat (that’s true of my double coated dog as well).
I use Greyhound combs on all of my cats. It’s just a plain stainless steel comb with half wider teeth, half narrow and the grooming standard at any cat show. I start working them with the comb when they are very young, less with the idea of combing them and more getting them used to the comb, even letting them play with it while doing the undercarriage, or rather, not objecting or punishing them for playing. I just move to a non play area when the teeth and/or claws get intense, then try to come back a few seconds later. I also try to pick nap time as training time, although kittens get fired up fast lol. My year old MCC has transitioned from indifferent to play time!!! to HELLZNO and finally back to indifferent in the last 8 mos. That’s extra helpful since he has a coat your that knots super easy. My other MCC (and my last one) falls asleep while I do the tender bits, hopefully Zevon will get there too. The easy coats absolutely needed at least monthly grooming, Zevon needs weekly
Ruty, DLH, needs a few grooming sessions 2x a year in prime shedding season just to get the undercoat off his back where it does that pre mat clumping. He could stand for more regular grooming but he came to me as an adult, and it’s just torture for him so he gets the minimalist treatment. Dear departed Vivi, also DLH didn’t need a day of grooming in her life, but she enjoyed it so she got a quick once over when the others were being done. It was helpful that not only did she not have nearly as much cost as an MCC, she was also maybe 1/5th of one, size wise. 
(edited to fix a lot of dsh that should have been dlh #brainfart)
Thank everyone! I have an arsenal of grooming tools coming from Amazon. All my cats are beautiful, but I usually choose my rescues by need & not looks This is my first vanity rescue. JB, she is so cute that I might eat her LOL. She won’t be ready til the end of Juky, but I’ll make sure to post pics when I bring her home. Until then I’ll be visiting her at her foster home & bringing my brushes, gloves, combs with me.
squeeeee I can’t stand how freaking adorable she is!!
I would be all over her too! Definitely post more pictures when you get her home. Does she have a name yet?
She’s adorable 
Congratulations!
The fosters were named after European cities. Her name is Paris, which reminds me of Paris Hilton, where’s the puke emoji?
She’s going to be Eden, which will probably be shortened to Edie, which will probably end up being Princess Fuzzy Butt 
. My names start out with the best intentions & then go downhill from there.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
