Mumsnet Talk

I'm using my phone so will keep this as short as possible!

We have a semi long haired cat, when we adopted her we didn't know, she was a pretty normal looking kitten in terms of fur. But she has turned into a fuzz ball with a tail like a feather duster!

I would liken her to a norweigan forest cat in terms of fur (but she's a little less thouroughbred).

Anyway, I brush her when I can but she's all matted underneath and I don't know what to do(this seemed to happen overnight and as sges a very independent outdoors cat who hates to be handled I discovered it too late)! The vet is quoting £100 to groom her because they would have to sedate her. To me this is absolutely ludicrous, if it was an operation ir something I would gladly pay it.

IsIs there anything els

Sorry phone played up.....is there anything else I can do? Will she lose the matted fur when she sheds her winter coat?
It seems to be all underneath the top and back of her coat is fine.

i have a moggie the same who has never been brushed - she is about 10.
her fur gets into matts/clumps occasionally probably about 5 times in her whole life,eventually they just fall off.she is in perfect health always has been and has never been to the vets (touch wood).
she was a stray before we had her and won't let you near her with a brush.

out thank goodness im so relieved to hear that! Our girl was abandoned as a kitten so I don't think the people we adopted her from knew she was going to have long hair, otherwise we probably wouldn't have adopted her!

She's such a sweet wee thing, loves to be petted but as soon as you whip out a brush she runs!

Buy a furminator brush. They look like an ordinary brush and are a little dearer but cats seem to love them and they get out/off so much fur its amazing.
We have a fluffy tabby and he gets matted underneath, usually we hold him up and use sharp nail scissors to snip out any matts we think are making him uncomfortable(its a two man job) he is three now and we did have to have him shaved once but that coincided with dental treatment and he was under anesthetic for both procedures
Our vet said the matts do pull on their skin and can be uncomfortable so it is worth brushing the best you can.

I have Maine Coons who get the same underarm mats, and the easiest solution is to remove them. They go almost like felt and are impossible to detangle! I have a narrow pet hair clipper, about an inch wide, which I use where possible. Or small scissors as you have to cut quite close to the skin.

Thanks for your suggestions, the problem is she won't let us near her underside, goes daft when I try, I managed to get some clumps off underneath her ears.

Is there anything herbal I could give her to keep her calm? iseeall I will definitely buy that brush!!

Anyone?

HI, don't know about any herbal remedies but it is worth asking your vet. Feliway is often recommended on here and our vet recommended it to me to try for our cat (he is very shy of strangers). Tbh I found it useless and bought several refils before finally giving up.It was an expensive waste of time, but like I say they are often recommended and all cats are different.
Hopefully someone will come on and tell you their successful feliway stories!!

I'm wondering if she won't let you near her underside because she's already matted there. (Think what it is /would be like if your hair was all snarled up and someone tried to have a go at it with a brush. Tugging at or touching those developed mats might hurt or be really uncomfortable.)

In your situation I think I'd just bite the bullet, have her belly professionally cleared (maybe you can find somewhere a little cheaper though) and then start afresh, getting her used to having her belly stroked before using a brush.

That's just my personal view though. Good luck whatever you do.

cozie thats definitely why she wont let me near her belly...poor thing I feel so awful about her getting into this state in the first place

iseeall I will ring the vet and see, I just think what they are charging is preposterous considering all they have to do is shave her, albeit under anaesthetic (im nervous about that too because I lost a much loved cat to GA a few years ago).

I think they were talking about sedation and not GA ?

We paid about £250 to have our cat shaved underneath and groomed so that he seemed like he was half the size we thought he was (big fluffy boy) but he also had his teeth done at the same time.
I was happy with the way he turned out, completely bald belly!
I didn't realise you had lost a cat under GA so it is a concern for you but they do the pre op check and our boy had no ill effects and seemed to really not miss his fur and was happy to let us feel his shaved belly afterwards.
Hope your vet helps.