He’s 18, he does well for the most part, eats heartily, but sleeps a lot, he can still jump up on my car and the bed, but he seems to be having a hard time grooming his back side. So his fur on both rear flanks is matted badly. I brush when he’ll allow it, but I don’t want to hurt him. Yes, he goes out but never leaves the carport. I read about some vet medication, but I don’t care for the side FX. I want him to live his final years as a happy boy and he gets so upset being caged for the vet.
There are mobile groomers who could come give him a little kitteh hygiene shave–I have a diabetic Maine Coon cross tom who doesn’t groom for shit and he really benefits from a visit or two per year to the groomer. He’s a weirdo who really likes car rides so he goes to her and she started out working on big cats in a zoo so she has no problem wrangling 17 lbs of cat through a bath and lion cut. A friend who had an elderly neurotic cat who could NOT be crated for the vet talked a mobile vet friend of ours into coming out and shaving her mats off and managed the feat with trazodone and patience. Or if your cat is fairly calm with you, you could try a trimmer on him yourself. Some cats are cool with it if their hyoomon does it.
Get yourself one of these! They look like they could hurt, but our long haired boy loves his. If the mats are twisted up next to the skin, gently brush backwards with short strokes to break them up, then brush the proper way to finish getting them out. Of course, don’t push it and stop when kitteh says stop.
Just FYI, there’s a newer medication called Onsior that really helped my hospice kitty with her arthritis. There weren’t any side effects like loopiness or sleepiness.
Perfect!! I had one of those with my now gone long haired cat and never thought of it. Thank you so much, I did a small brushing today and he purred, so I suspect I can make this work!! Thanks!!
If kitteh’s happy, everyone’s happy. 