Cat's hair is all matted!

I used to have a Russian Blue with beautiful thick fur that would look very matted and lumpy around Feb to March. I used a cat rake which looked like a flea comb but thicker tines. It was amazing the size of the fur clumps you could get off him. Just a long and steady pull from stem to stern and it would tease away the clumps from the fur that was still attached.

I used to have a Russian Blue with beautiful thick fur that would look very matted and lumpy around Feb to March. I used a cat rake which looked like a flea comb but thicker tines. It was amazing the size of the fur clumps you could get off him. Just a long and steady pull from stem to stern and it would tease away the clumps from the fur that was still attached.

That's exactly what I do with him now and he hates it. Sometimes if I can comb out the mat, rather than just try and pull out the whole clump, he's okay with it, but he definitely doesn't let me do his back down by his tail and that's where it's the worst. His front paws may be declawed, but his teeth and back claws are still quite sharp!!

Oh my!!!   

Its true. She is a foul long haired fuzzy yet beautiful weewee smelling creature. Behold....

I have one of those mat combs I used on my dog. If the mat isnt too bad it will work OK but I found when I had long haired cats sometimes it's best to work the mat out by tugging on it gently. My cats were always pretty tolerable with it but they were pretty young.

I've never had a cat that died before 23, and the current one looks set to get much past that.  Vet care is much better than it's ever been, food is better.  Of course, averages include cats that don't get to the vet that often/have other problems.  My last cat was killed by a crazy person. 

You're very lucky indeed. I've never had one live past 15, which is actually the average.

Sometimes if I can comb out the mat, rather than just try and pull out the whole clump, he's okay with it, but he definitely doesn't let me do his back down by his tail and that's where it's the worst.

well, sometimes when I tried to rake near his bottom he quite naturally didn't like it. He was better about it when I'd start at his neck and then before you got to the base of the tail swerve slightly to go down the leg gently. Other than that I had to just trim the worst of it away with scissors. He would resist at first to the entire raking thing but once I did a few strokes he'd stretch out completely and relax and I'd get on with it. I think it was one of those hurts but in a good way sort of things. I know he must have felt better once he was dematted.

I've got a Norwegian Forest Cat who is 11-12 years old. She gets a couple of mats twice-yearly, usually on a hip or near the tail.  I either use a mat splitter or cut them off.  She's not fond of it, but that's how we do it. 

I've recently started using a Grooma Groom on both her and my foster rabbit.  Roomba is a Lionhead/Angora mix, so there's plenty of fur to groom.  The Grooma Groom brush is great for removing the dead undercoat and keeping both animals looking good.

When I used to volunteer at my former local shelter, we got 26 Ragdolls and 1 Maine Coon in from a cat hoarder.  The Maine Coon was such a mess that we had him shaved down to a Lion cut.  It was kinder than trying to use more manual means of dealing with the mats.

I found a comb a the local pet shop that was supposed to cut the hair off. Well, it was useless againstly my cat's mats, so I'm taking it back. I think I'm going to order the one Chary suggested, and if that doesn't work, I'll have to get him shaved and start over. I'd like it to be a little bit warmer too so the poor guy doesn't freeze with no hair!

I'd like it to be a little bit warmer too so the poor guy doesn't freeze with no hair!

Can you knit?  

Can you knit?  

Hilarious!!! The look on that gray and white cat's face is like, "what the f are they doing to me???"

When we shaved the cat I had when I was growing up, he always seemed so embarassed to go outside with his buddies!

Awesome!