Long haired moggy with matting problem

bagginslover

It's definatly kinder, don't worry about that at all long haired animals can lose limbs from tightly matted hair, while I'm sure yours isn't even nearly that bad yet, it is a definite risk. Keeping her short would mean less upset to her in the longrun, you'd have to manhandle her less often as she wouldn't Matt nearly so easily with short hair, and shed be much cooler in the summer

GlynD

bagginslover wrote: »

It's definatly kinder, don't worry about that at all long haired animals can lose limbs from tightly matted hair, while I'm sure yours isn't even nearly that bad yet, it is a definite risk. Keeping her short would mean less upset to her in the longrun, you'd have to manhandle her less often as she wouldn't Matt nearly so easily with short hair, and shed be much cooler in the summer

No she's not that bad yet and we don't want it to get bad. We love her and care for her far too much to allow that to happen. I respect your opinion and I'm glad that it concurs with mine. Unless I receive advice here which deters me from this choice I guess madam is going to have an unexpected hairdo from me.

Fire_Fox

Many vets and groomers will do home visits. Cats are highly intelligent creatures and can therefore be trained both to accept grooming and to cope better with the carrier. Have you tried a Feliway diffuser for the home and spray for the carrier?

There is a lovely lady on Purrsinourhearts forum who has several Persian rescue cats, runs a pet grooming business and has dematted many 'difficult' long haired clients. I am confident she would be very happy to give you some advice on handling and tools. Her name is Gillian - if you run a search on "The Persian Palace" you will find her. :rotfl:

GlynD

Thank you FireFox that is very useful information.

SnowyOwl_2

Perhaps in the interim you could invest in an Elizabethan collar and pop that on her when you're about to groom her...it would save your hands a bit. Your cat sounds very snooty...she won't even allow her servants to touch her, lol.

Griizelda

I was watching Cats 101 (on Pet Planet) last week and they said that anyone clipping cats' fur has to be very careful as the skin on a cat is much thinner than that of dogs. Consequently it is very easy to hurt them. (They showed some very bizarre "hair cuts" on there - one cat has his fur clipped to look like a lion!)

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Visiting groomers would be the best. But I pin the fluffball down and get cutting when she gets a clump. Always have the fear of flystrike in the back of my mind if she is left, or half scalping herself if she gets caught on something. She doesn't resist much now, just a grumble as I do it. Any worse than that and I would send her for a lion cut - I'd have to live with the [STRIKE]amusement[/STRIKE] shame, but it would be better than risking her health.

puppy999

Think I would ask your vet for some doping tablets and do it yourself they dope pets for traveling it doesn't harm them and it will make it much easyer
and as someone as pointed out a cats skin is very soft
I hav 3 cats and 1 does not like his claws being clipped I hav done them since he was 12wks old never hurt him and he is getting worse its a battle every time ........but I am the boss and he dosen't win lol
good luck

Olokia

I had a cat with long fur who didn't like to be touched.

When he had matted fur, it took two people to sort it out. One person held the cat down and the other took the matted fur off. Usually we could only do it for 5 minutes at a time, so we carried on later after he calmed down.

I'm glad that my current cat with long fur doesn't mind being touched. Grooming is a bit harder because she tries to bite the comb but I can usually get it done. The only thing she hates is having her claws cut. She likes them razor sharp and I can't usually cut them anyway as they are always too short.

GlynD

Olokia your experience mirrors our own and I think our remedy will have to be the one you employed.