Grooming and cat behavior

[ccbl2347]

Does anyone know how I can get my 9 yr. old long hair cat to let me brush and groom her so I don't have to have her shaved every year and put her through that. She enjoys the short hair as it grows in because she doesn' have to fight with it in her grooming. It matts something terrible and close and tight to the skin, I can't stand to see it irritate her. It wasn't this bad when she was younger, but as she is aging her hair is thicker and longer. I try and buzz the matts as they form but its a battle. The vet prescsribed Gabapentin to calm her to groom her but they are like horse pills and she can detect them in her wet food if I try to grind it to a powder. I don't like that at all and either does she. Anyone have any other ideas I can try. Shes a real pistol to deal with in regards to being fussed with........but I Love her! Help is appreciated. Carol

[Mollycat]

By a "pistol" do you mean she is not very affectionate or cuddly, or actually feisty?

If she will sit on your lap, I would buy a fine comb and ditch the brush. Then sometimes when you and cat are having cuddle time and she is relaxed, introduce the comb, let her sniff it and rub against it, spray it with catnip if that helps, and get her gradually used to being rubbed with the back of it. Then gradually work of the teeth side of the comb, and work up to just taking a few hairs at a time out of the side of a small matt. Work up very gently, to keep it positive at all times, let her say enough even if you haven't achieved all you wanted to do, reward and praise and encourage all the time and be totally calm.

I think after shaving because the hair all grows back at the same time it's probably more likely to get re-matted, so that would definitely be the time to start. My old cat would never let anyone near her with a comb or brush until she got older and the small matts started and she could feel the benefit of cooperating with me, hers was a flea comb. And my Raggie Boo who the breeder told me I might have to scruff to brush him, learned very quickly to love the comb, he had a detangling comb with teeth that rotate freely to help stop the snagging, and sometimes I still had to give up on the inside of his back legs. But also when he told me enough I respected that, there is always another chance later on a cuddlebug.

[fjm]

Is there some food she really likes - chicken, roast beef, cream cheese? I would get half a dozen bits of something irresistible, and a suitable brush or comb, and plan on taking 6-8 weeks to work on getting her to accept grooming. Not to groom her at this stage, but to make it acceptable, so starting just after a shave down would be ideal. First day or two just show her the brush, give her a treat. Next few days one touch (not stroke) with the brush, one treat. Just once or twice, several times a day. Very gradually build up from a single short stroke to several strokes for a treat. Remember, you are not trying to groom her, you are working on changing how she feels about grooming. Take it at her pace - if she objects go back to the last step she was comfortable with. Think in terms of months - after all, she has had 9 years of brushing and grooming hurting, and even petting will be uncomfortable with those sort of mats pulling on the skin, and it takes a long time for those memories to fade. Once she is more relaxed about being groomed Mollycat's method sounds ideal, although you will probably still need to shave off any significant mats.

You can use the same method to accustom her to clippers - a touch with the clippers switched off, sitting next to them switched on, building up to the one or two strokes needed to remove the may safely.

[Ruth B]

I have to agree with the others that you need to slowly introduce the idea of grooming and associate with something pleasant like treats not with it hurting, and it will possibly take months before she will accept it.

We used to have a Ragdoll cat and grooming him was a constant job, 5 - 10 minutes twice a day or more really helped keep his coat in condition, we always found that frequent short sessions were better than trying to do one long one. I always found that a comb was better than a brush, and still prefer the comb even on the short haired cats I have now. The best comb to use on Blue (the Ragdoll) was one that had two different teeth length and alternated between them, this one on Amazon looks similar.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ancol-Ergo-Cat ... B00N0Y2GVY

Part of the technique was to hold the comb at a very gentle angle to the body, almost flat against it, and then gradually increase the angle once you know the outer coat is clear of tangles, and to be very careful around any bony areas, you don't jab the teeth into her. They can also help with mats as you can just use the one long tooth at the end to gently pull out a few hairs at a time.

The other trick I learnt was to use a comb to protect the skin to cut out small mats. For that I used a different type of come, this one is similar.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ferplast-Gro-5 ... B00C7DKAL2
and using the side where the teeth are closest together I could slip the teeth betwwen the mat and the skin and then use scissors against the comb knowing that I wan't in danger of cutting the cat. If you consider trying this trick make sure you have a comb with metal teeth closely spaced and a pair of really sharp scissors, and only cut a small bit at a time.

My Ragdoll got wet one time (not unusual, he liked to sit in the rain), but it was around Bonfire night and the fireworks were making him go into hiding, by the time I realised he had bad mats all up the outside of his back legs. As he was getting old I didn't want to have to have him sedated so they could shave him, so I started work on cutting them out myself. Even laid back old Blue would only take me doing a little at a time, but over a few weeks i got there and got them all off. My mother also had an old long haired moggy who hated being groomed and my Mother asked if I could try and get some out of her before she had to go to the vets for shaving, again it took a few goes, but we got there. Patience is a wonderful thing, and the main thing is to make sure the cat knows you aren't going to hurt her.

[Mollycat]

Ruth your Ragdoll comb looks very similar to my Ragdoll comb, mine was from Pets at Home and green and the teeth could rotate to prevent pulling. Maybe it's a Ragdoll thing! And my technique was pretty similar to yours too.

We sometimes had to clean up the fluffy pants and the comb used to come in handy then, in conjunction with wet wipes and a lot of swearing, less than half from me. Whoever knew a Raggie could express himself so eloquently.

[Ruth B]

Mollycat, the comb we had had rigid teeth, but as long as we were careful it didn't matter. Even on my short haired cats I find the combs so much better, I can brush one and get nothing out, then get the comb and get a handful of fur with out really trying.

Blue was really laid back most of the time, the hardest part with grooming him was convincing him to have more than just his belly done, on his back legs in the air was a standard position for him. Try and trim his claws and it was an entirely different matter, he would scream blue murder, the vets tried it once and the nurses actually came in to see what was happening, you would have thought he was being mutilated not just having the tips of his claws removed.

After he died I met someone that did slightly cartoony felt sculptures and it seemed the perfect way to remember him. My very own Roly Poly Blue Cat.

[Mollycat]

Sorry to wander partially off the grooming topic but Ruth I love that! The lady I got Boo from visited me after he left us, I told her I still had a bag of what I brushed from him and I was keeping it till spring for the birds. She suggested I make a little mini Boo out of some of them, which is a sweet idea but I never did it. The sparrows actually follow me screaming at me for more when I walk along the lane putting the hair out for them, and as I walk back I see it's already mostly gone. Old Boo, still giving comfort and warmth and care more than a year after he's gone!

[Ruth B]

We do seem to wander off topic occasionally, but hopefully the OP won't mind and has the answers they were after.

The lady that did the felt sculpture actually made ones for someone else that included fur from her cats, I didn't have any left from Blue otherwise I would have had some added, I think it could be a great way to keep a special cat close. She trained in fine arts and I've seen some of her realistic sculptures and they are fantastic, she is incredibly talented.

Blue's fur was also loved by the birds around here, he was allowed out and loved to roll on the grass or patio and the birds would come and gather it up after he came back inside. I always found it bemusing to think of birds nests lined with cat fur, but it was so warm and soft I couldn't blame them for wanting it.

[Mollycat]

One thing I always regretted was not being able to give Boo a home where he could feel grass under his feet. Our vets have a garden where pets can be put to sleep - usually dogs - but sadly the day Boo needed to go it was raining. He never took to a harness, probably my impatience and inexperience. Yes I love to think of the irony of cats helping little birds to grow and thrive!