My cat is 12 years old. This has never been a problem until recently. It got pretty bad before I noticed because I’ve never even thought to check him for mats being a short haired cat in all.
Anyway, I tried cutting them off myself with my beard clipper but he wasn’t having it. I think it was hurting him so I stopped.
I think the issue might be that he can’t groom himself like he used to due to his age. His mats are all around his bum area. (Hard to reach areas)
So anyway, in this particular instance, what’s the best route to go here? Vet or groomer?
While I’ve had short haired cats who lived to their twenties and never had this problem, most long haired cats and some short haired ones do get it; and yes, that seems to be the cause. They can’t reach the area as well as they used to in order to keep it properly groomed.
You may need to keep the fur trimmed around his butt; but if it’s badly matted this can be difficult for someone without experience to do without cutting the cat, as it can be hard to see where the mat stops and the skin starts. I’d think you could talk to your regular vet. and find out whether they’d rather do it or whether they can recommend a particular groomer. The cat may be less stressed by going somewhere familiar; or that particular cat may associate the vet. with trouble and might be calmer at a groomer – that’s going to vary according to the cat.
I would start with a vet to rule out any internal (disease) or external (mites, mange, etc.) cause because what you’re observing may be a symptom. Then, off to the groomer unless the vet resolved the situation.
I’ve dealt with lots of cats. I’ve not easily or very successfully got one washed and groomed.
By myself or paying for it.
I called about 12 groomers once for a very matted and dirty foster. No one wanted that headache. He had personality issues, tho’.
One would do it if I took the cat to the vet first and got him knocked out. Since the vet did that they did the clean up job, there.
So you might need the vets own groomer or at least surgical site hair removal tech to do it.
My friend has a cat. It is not a “short-hair cat”. It has the longest fur I have ever seen; you can barely see any cat. I asked her what she was planning to do about the mats, and she said she already had an appointment with a professional groomer.
(I presume a groomer can also offer people advice about regularly brushing the cat and so on.)
Did you ever get a really long-haired cat soaking wet? It’s astonishing how much smaller they are.
(The entirety of that much smaller cat, however, is likely to be largely pissed off at you. I recommend against doing this purely for reasons of experimentation; only get a cat wet if it’s necessary. Or, of course, if the cat’s one of those cats who likes water; in which case let the cat choose when to get itself wet.)
My long haired garage cat Hari never gets mats. Not sure how old she is, she kinda adopted me.
But, she has Jojo, the rehab cat, her personal hairdresser. He spends lots of time grooming her.
She allows it up to a point. Then it’s a hiss and a slap.
I use one of these for Meave …
She actually doesn’t mind it (she has long hair).
(I wouldn’t try to clip her nails though. she goes to the vets for that.)
I’d ask the vet for a trim in the back for hygienic reasons. That’s for my long haired fuzzy tail boy. Sometimes poops his bloomers. My short haired elder boy got mats first time ever on his flank. I carefully trimmed with blunt edge scissors and my fingers next to his skin. One day I’ll use an old electric razor see how they are.
My sister’s long-haired cat, Binx, was taken away from his mother at too young an age (she was told he was eight weeks old, and he was only four), and never learned to properly groom himself.
This became a problem lately, in his 11th year of age, to the point where he had painful mats.
She took him to the vet. The vet bathed him and groomed him, shaving off a lot of his fur. Cost her $60. They did not tranq him because he has kidney issues.
