Help me- old sick cat with matted fur

[Yoghurty]

Hi everyone,

DC is 14 and was diagnosed 2 months ago with suspected intestinal lymphoma She too frail to have a biopsy, hence the suspected but blood tests and symptoms are all pointing to this.

She's on treatment and is back to 'her old self' but she's covered in thick mats along her sides. They developed very quickly, and she's never liked being brushed but will tolerate it for short periods.

These are way beyond brushing out and vet says knocking her out and shaving her (she is very aggressive at the vets, always has been) is only way to deal with them. This is not an option- see above.

She's allowed me to cut a couple of the smaller ones out and gently tease them apart with my fingers but there is a big clump that must be causing her pain that she won't let me touch.

Does anyone have any ideas/advice? I want her to be as comfortable as she can be, especially if she could go in the next couple of months as vets suggests

TIA

We have a similar problem and have been snipping the matted bits out. Something else that might work is gently stroking her with a damp soapy flannel to try and soften them. Our cat is very tolerant of this and it does help a bit.

Poor old thing, try the damp flannel, it might help.

I have a senior Maine Coon who occasionally develops mats. Mostly under front armpits and upper chest.

She is not keen on being handled and I dont even trim claws for this reason.

Fab local pet groomers take care of her, even one summer of severe front matting which necessitated basically a full frontal tummy shave. They were skilled and sensitive, one held her and the other did the clipping. Must have saved a fortune on vet fees, so maybe check out local pet groomers, even if they advertise as dog groomers.

If you can cut off the top half of the matt then the rest of it seems to magically grow out/unmat itself over a few weeks (I've never worked out how).

I've got a really good coat conditioner spray I use on mine, and gently try to get the knots out with a matt/knot splitter. I've got quite a few scars on my arms from trying...........

Ours is 16 and his coat is awful, christ knows how he gets such awful knots in it!

Thank you everyone who replied.

I managed to buy a mat splitter today, so I'll try that tonight on some of the smaller/looser ones.

I'm also going to try a damp flannel- I would never have thought if that- thank you.

These mats at her hips seem really bad though- they haven't un-matted after trimming them- but I'm hopeful they do settle after this and I don't have to poke and prod at her too much.

Thanks again everyone

My old cat was the same. She wouldn't let you brush her but oddly would low clippers without too much fuss. She looked a bit like the sheepdog in the Specsavers ad afterwards, but better than having huge mats

You can get almost silent clippers for cats. Maybe try those at home. They need cutting/clipping out if they are as bad as they sound. If they are down to the skin then clipping is the only way. Will she tolerate at all concious at vets? I sometimes do cats with similar issues in just 1 or 2 min sessions to get the worst out.

I've been using a waterless shampoo for my 19 year old moggie who doesn't groom any more. You can get it from Pets at Home. You massage it in, let it dry then comb out. It won't work on the worst mats (mine is pretty tolerant to a partial hair cut with the clippers luckily) but it's good for loosening things up so you can brush a bit more easily.