Long haired cat in a bit of a mess :(

[grounddown]

Hi all, I wondered if I could get some advice here about my gorgeous long haired cat.

He's nearly one and really isn't very good at grooming himself, he gets all tied up and frustrated and sulks so we try to brush him every day which he loves. My DD was given this task a few weeks ago which coincided with him wanting to go outside (he's never shown any interest before) and ive just had a lovely cuddle with him and noticed some matted patches of fur under his 'arms' and when I've tried to brush it out its not working.

I feel awful, poor thing - how can I get it out? I did think about approaching the vet and asking for him to be shaved underneath a bit like a horse gets clipped in the summer? Will they do that? I will be taking over grooming.

His sister is short haired, his fur is so thick and dense.

It's not uncommon for them to mat up, you can tease them apart sometimes with metal combs but the skins easily torn so you need to be careful.

He might pull them out on his own.

The vet will be able to give his armpits/legpits a trim. Or a professional groomer.

Maybe his back end could do with a trim too, long hair in his "intimate area" is a poo magnet. Don't do it yourself with scissors though, so easy to cut into their skin.

Thank you for the advice. I'm googling cat groomers in my area. I think if I can get it all cut off in the problem areas we can start from scratch again

Bogbastardkitten is a long haired Siberian and we are having huge problems with mats in his coat squeezing through hedge to chase the neighbours chickens doesn't help
The vet shaved off the worst ones under his arms for a small fee, and also gave him a 'sanitary trim' to reduce the poo problems mentioned by a pp. that's where they clip the hair shorter just in the relevant area. Wasn't pretty but did the job.

You can get various Matt splitting tools from pets at home but we are not having huge success with them. Am just about to contact a cat groomer!
Long haired fluffy cats are gorgeous though. Worth all the trouble. I love his tail!