How do you “manhandle” your cat?

[Soubriquet]

Toots is a semi long coat which means on occasion, she gets matts and cling ons.

When this happens, I have to brutal, scruff her by the neck, lift up her tail and allow my dh to cut where it needs cutting.

I don’t like doing it. She growls and swears badly, but there is no other way. She won’t tolerate being touched there otherwise. Treats and distractions don’t do anything. It just raises her suspicions and I can’t afford to take her to the vets everytime it happens.

Mine just grumbles but is reasonably compliant (for a cat). To apply flea treatment (which she dislikes) I basically put her between my legs and squish her, but obviously without really applying any real force.

Have you tried a Thunder jacket? That shouldn't cover the tail area.

I've given her a few baths in her time and although she clearly hates it she mainly concentrates on practising lethal stares rather than trying to eviscerate me with her claws.

A little gabapentin from the vet? (For her, not you, though maybe...)

Do you brush the cat regularly? My floof cat gets brushed daily with a rubber brush which he absolutely loves on the sides of his face and along his spine. After I've done that, and he is all relaxed, I use a wire brush with rounded plastic bobbles on the end of the bristles. So it's not spiky like a real wire brush, but it does catch tangles and bits of hedge, and he's become comfortable about having his chest and tummy done with it, as long as I take it slowly. He's not thrilled about having his trousers done, or under his tail, but as long as it's done regularly, the tangles don't build up.
Have you considered wrapping your cat in a towel so you can do the back end more safely?

Have you tried wrapping her in a towel like a burrito?

You should also get her used to being brushed everyday if she’ll let you.

I make the vet do it. She trusts me too much for me to do anything that’s not an emergency, other than her annual check up. I de flea her while she’s sleeping, brush her when she’s eating.

I don’t see the point in offering a sedative that would stress her out to get into her in the first place, for a job that takes 5 mins to do, every few months.

We tried the towel technique but she is like a snake and is able to wriggle out of anything, and again it just stresses her out to attempt to burrito her. It’s easier for her to just be pinned and snipped.

No to the brushing. She won’t tolerate it, but she is now 9 years old and very set in her ways. If I knew this was going to be a problem as a kitten, I would have brush trained her but now she’s very stubborn, and set in her ways. She knows what she likes, what she wants, and I try to respect that

Bathing her????? I think I would lose limbs

She had a habit of sitting on the side of the bathtub when I’m bathing and letting her tail dangle in the water, but to actually submerge her?! Hell no!!!!

I do know now though, the next cat I get, will be brush trained and maybe towel trained/trim trained at a young age.

I adore her. I really do. She knows when I’m not doing so well and is there like a furry purring teddy bear. She likes to get under the duvet when I’m in bed and snuggle into my shoulder with her body laid on mine but she is soooo bloody stubborn it’s unreal.

Cats eh

This is how she likes to sleep sometimes. Purring the entire time

So cute! Looks like you're forgiven for occasional hold down and snip 💕

Mine just sort of sits there. He’s a bit like a stuffed animal. I clip his claws, shove his tablets down him etc

If you have a bathtub tail dangler, try running a shallow bath and adding a couple of toys like those little fish that swim around for cats to catch. She might just get in on her own. A bath might help with the fur.

my bathtub tail danger graduated to stealing any bath I run without any encouragement so I have to make sure she is locked out of the room. She even tries to work the door.

*

years ago we had an absolutely psychotic cat. There was a giant red flag on her chart at the vet because she was such a menace. The vet would put her in some sort of straight jacket thing for exams. It had access to key areas. I have no idea what it was called.

To trim the back end of our long-haired cat I sit in a high-backed chair and tuck her under my arm with her head and front legs sticking out of the back. She can wreak vengeance on the chair and my dressing gown and swear at me throughout but I can keep her in place on her front or back using my elbow and left hand while I do what is necessary with my right. The high-backed chair is required so she can't pull herself out forwards, because there is nowhere for her to go.

We are also able to do underside inspections etc with me holding the cat with both hands on my lap and my husband looking/trimming, but not the other way around - as he is too worried about being too rough to hold her firmly enough, so it would be dangerous to use scissors in case she suddenly twisted away.

We don't tend to scruff her, and use a towel for pills but nothing else as she can escape if any part of her body apart from head or tail is unwrapped.

I have two long haired cats and there is no way but to pin them down occasionally. I grew up with semi feral street cats so we had no choice to be quite firm when holding them when they needed something. My husband is much more tentative and they escape, have to be caught, get stressed. Whereas I am firm and don’t put up with any shit and find they relax a bit more as trying to escape is futile if that makes sense. Plus a couple of dreamies later, all is forgiven!

Bit blurry but teeeeeeef

At first my cat hated being brushed and wouldn’t let me. I stopped, then introduced it slowly by letting him rub his cheeks on it. He now thinks of it as pampering and loves it.