My cat is long-haired. Her fur is getting matted & she needs a bath. How to do both?

Question

She's lived most of her 14 years outside, and has never been picked up except to catch and spay her and return her outside. I've taken her in. She likes to be petted.

to the old cat lady - thank you, you can relate. this is a city and she was eating garbage and living in dirt. she was half dead a year ago, but is better now. she likes to be brushed on her back, but is touchy abut her belly. I think she has dry skin, and she is a bit stinky, which is why I want to bathe her. She is sooo sweet tho, great manners.

to ***... another person that can relate. I tried to get her into a box to take her to the vet, but she won't let me, she remembers I guess, when she was wild and the 'friends' group caught her.. she sees a box and runs and hides

to becky - lot of good tips there. I'll get bandage scissors with the dull end, and proceed as you say there. I didn't choose her,, she adopted me, and she needed a home.

It's hard to choose a best answer here, because there are a lot of good answers. I thought of putting it up for a vote, but, I don't know what will happen with that. so I am going to choose the one that is closest to what I need to know, and am going to try, even tho will also be using ideas from the others too.
I actually did give her a 'shower' yesterday. I decided that she used to get rained on to get clean outside, so she was going to get 'rained on' now. I put her in a closed part of the house, with a bare floor, & took my plant watering can, and let the plain water flow out of the sprinkler. She meowed and tried to hide, I followed her still pouring, and then she started to get really defensive, so I stopped. Then I got some paper towels to wipe her off. She ended up purring, but it took the rest of the day to trust me again. I cut some of the mats, but maybe not enuff, so am going to work on them the way Beckie suggests, as the cat allows me.
thanks everybody!

Answer 1

Grooming your cat regularly with a brush or comb will reduce the occurrence of mats in the fur. Unfortunately, many cats wind up with matted fur because they hate to be groomed. Here's how to deal with the problem, which occurs most often in longhairs.


Steps:
1. Attempt to remove the fur mat after the cat has eaten. Cats tend to be more relaxed after meals.

2. Adopt a calm and soothing demeanor as you approach the cat. Have your manicure scissors hidden in your pocket as you pet the cat.

3. Once the cat is relaxed, try to work out the fur mat with your fingers. Pull out the scissors if that doesn't work.

4. Snip down the middle of the fur mat, far from the skin. It's quite easy to snip the skin accidentally on longhaired cats, so work carefully.

5. Slowly work apart the fur mat with your fingers. Snip away a little more if necessary. Reassure the cat in a soothing voice as you snip. If she becomes upset, stop and come back to the task later.

6. Once you've worked apart the fur mat and it's clearly away from the skin, cut it off.

7. Reward the cat's cooperation with a kitty treat.

8. If the cat has several fur mats, remove them at separate times. The cat will quickly lose her patience after you remove the first fur mat. Build trust with a gentle approach and kitty treats to make future encounters easier.

9. Bring the cat to a professional groomer if the cat is unapproachable, if the fur mat is in a delicate area or if the mats are extremely tangled.

10. Purchase a hair-ball treatment at a pet store to help your cat eliminate a troublesome hair ball. Or feed the cat butter or a can of oily sardines.


If a cat is vomiting hair balls, it is a sign that he needs more grooming. Comb or brush Kitty at least once a week to remove excess fur, more in shedding season. Cats ingest their fur while they groom themselves.
Bath afterwards but only if you really know what you are doing.

BUT i think you should take your cat to a groomer. They will almost certainly do the job a lot better and will show you how to prevent your cats hair getting in that state again and show and tell you how to groom your pet properly. You should of done this reserch b4 getting a long haired breed but its done now.

Answer 2

I’ve been in almost an identical situation, except with a Chow-Chow dog. She had mats between her front legs, under her tail, and behind her ears, and I also wanted to give her a bath before we moved to a new apartment. I made the mistake to give her the bath before dealing much with the mats. They were so bad, and tight, I had to cut them off, which left the poor thing with bare spots, and it hurt her when I was trying to pull the hair away from the skin just enough to get the scissors there. They were so tight, even without touching them, they were pulling her skin. Ouchie! So be sure to deal with the mats before giving the kitty a bath.

I now have a shorthaired cat, and know cats usually detest water with their entire being. Wear a long sleeve shirt and gloves if you can, to protect yourself. You can also try trimming her nails before hand. While trying to get rid of the mats, trimming her nails, and especially bathing her, she'll probably put up a fuss. I know you can feel guilty at putting them through something you know they hate so much, and they're uncomfortable, but remember you're doing this for their own good, and they just don't understand it. My cat acts up when I fuss over him like this, but I stay firm and let him know that I'm the "parent" and I'm going to do this no matter how much he protests or what he tries to do. He eventually relaxes and lets me work, which is much easier for both of us. When it's all over, we both feel a lot better. Keep a tight grip on her, and if she gets too wiggly, stop what you're doing, but still hold her tight and don't let her go. She'll realize you're the authority and eventually give up, and make you're job a whole lot easier. And soon you'll both feel better.

If you choose not to go through this yourself, you can always take her to a groomer. However, grooming cats is different from grooming dogs, and a groomer needs a special licensee to groom cats. And not all groomers have this license. So make an appointment to be sure a licensed cat groomer will be there. It might cost anywhere from $40 to $80, depending where you go and what they do. And generally, a groomer will be cheaper than a vet. Good Luck!

Answer 3

Do not bathe her until the mats are removed. Water will make the mats worse.

She should be checked over by a vet as she is a very senior cat, hopefully she has lived on a natural cat diet of fresh-caught mice!
The vet office will shave the mats off for you and give you a flea treatment for her as she would undoubtedly have those too. If she gets an all-over trim a bath probably won't be necessary.

I have a 22 year old that I brought in from the outside seven years aago. You can e-mail me at: [e-mail] if my letting you know details of her life with me would help or reassure you.

Answer 4

I don't know what else you can do, you can try brushing out the mats and if she will let you cutting them out, and then try using the powder stuff to clean her. I don't think you would want to pick her up and try to bathe her she would probably not like that at all, start with burshing and see how that goes, if it is really bad contact a vet or a professional groomer, they might be able to take care of the cat better, they also might recomend a sedative for the cat so that she can be worked with.

Answer 5

If its badly matted, I agree and recommend taking her to be professionally groomed.

You should never have to bathe a cat however, they usually do a good job of that themselves and washing them can remove essential oils from thier skin. To avoid letting her hair get matted in the future, you should brush her at least once every few days.

If she's skittish and doesn't like the brush a good way to do this is to pet her until she relaxes and starts to purr. Then replace one of your hands with the brush, still petting with the other and begin to gently brush her. Eventually she should come to really enjoy it.

Answer 6

Most cats don't like water, so bathing her may be a problem. Take her to the Vet and let them do it. They re trained to bath and groom animals. If the matts ar too bad, you may need to cut them out of her furr. I hope this works for you. Good luck.

Answer 7

I took my cat to an area groomer. For $20.00 she shaved the hair down (my cat had extremely long hair) and bathed him. He didn't care much for the bath, but all the matted hair is gone and it's nice to pet him without tumbleweeds of hai rolling across the room.

Answer 8

if you don't want to take him to the vet or to the groomers you can calm her down by petting her and then try to cut the mats off, but be very careful of her skin and her mood too, then give her a bath...its fairly easy i have done it before, i used to volunteer at an animal shelter....

Answer 9

It's all simply a matter of personal preference. We have short hair and guys such as it. And i prefer a person with short hair over a person with long hair because long curly hair tends to make guys look as well girly.

Answer 10

I have short tresses for the first time since We was 10 years old and We really like it but I miss my long curly locks so I'm growing it back out!