Matted fur

[Helen6716]

Our long haired cat has got a big lump of matted fur between his back leg and bum, probably about the size of a couple of £1 coins. We brush him regularly but he's always a bit sensitive to it anywhere other than his back. Any tips for how to get rid of it without him wanting to kill us?!

[MarkB]

You can usually book and appointment for a vet nurse to deal with that kind of thing. We used to have a long haired cat (Lazarus) who matted quite badly. I bought some professional clippers (Oster Artisan), but quite expensive for a one-off.

[Crewella]

I confess I have little patience with mats and tend to attack them at the root with blunt-ended scissors rather than trying to work them out. Soon grows back, and it's a lot less hassle!

Be very careful not to cut the skin, but even cutting through the mat itself, rather than right under it at the base if you can't get to it easily, will help.

[MarkB]

Another trick that often works is separating the mats and then brushing them out. Hard to describe, but getting a smallamout of the matt between each thumb and forefinger and separating (someone described it as like opening a packet of crisps - I can't think of a better way ) but making sure you don't pull the skin. This has to be done quite a few times before you can brush out the matted undercoat - the snag is that it needs a fairly cooperative cat

[Lallum]

Midnight started to suffer with tats. I would brush him and he would groom himself but still there were tats. I mentioned it to the vet and she discovered he had a problem with his mouth which made grooming in certain positions painful and hence he wasn't doing it . The broken tooth was removed and all has been good since. I was surprised I hadn't realised about the tooth but they are very good at not saying anything!

[Helen6716]

Thanks everyone! It's my first experience having a cat do the advice is really helpful