Cat Chat Feline Forum

I have a neighbor that has several cats. Her oldest one has matted hair. She posted this:

Cat Groomer Needed!
Houston Tx
Must be very experienced with severely matted senior cats.
This is Curly, my 18yr old male cat. He looks ok in this pic but he is actually covered from head to toe in mats.
One Vet said it was too risky to shave him, and other Vet had her groomer try to brush them out. Totally stressful and painful for my cat and hardly got out any mats. frown emoticon

Is there anyone out there that knows what she can do? His age prevents certain solutions. I was thinking if there was an extremely great detangle solution that she could put on him and leave for awhile....but I don 't know. I am just wanting to help.

I don't have any experience of long-haired cats, but I did once have a dog (part Spaniel) who used to get the most horrendous mats of fur around his ears. His hair was very fine and knotted very easily.

The only thing to do was to cut them out, a bit at a time.

There is no solution that would dissolve the hair - well there is, but you would dissolve the cat as well!

Brushing out mats like that would be very hard on the cat. I would suggest carefully cutting out the worst lumps and gently (and regularly) brush out the rest.

Poor cat, I hope you can do something for him.

I agree - blunt-ended scissors are the easiest and kindest way to get rid of them.

Thank you for your help. She took it to a vet and they with some groomers shaved or cut his hair while he was sedated some. He is doing fine. Thank you so much.