Thread: How do you deal with mats?

Originally Posted by Halcyon

I watched multiple videos and searched for special tools to remove those annoying mats on my cat's belly and under arms. I carefully plugged in the electric razor, but my cat Anastasia did not like the sound no matter how much time I would give her for adaptation.
So far, I have been using a wide comb to get to the base of the mat, small scissors to cut the hairs at the base and large scissors to snap the top of the thickest mats. This is a very tedious work; I wish my cat would not be afraid of electric razor.
Do you have any special barber tricks or tools for your kitties?

We get an odd knot in the fur of the coonies.. but we never let it get to a state of matting.. All our cats are usually brushed at least once a week.. usually on the lap while watching TV...

The worst is Jet... he loves to be in water... and has a very thick coat... he get an odd one under his arm and around his most important bits and now and again.. we use just a wide tooth comb to tease out its usually over and done with in minutes....

You could try gently taking it almost down to the skin with scissors if it is that bad... and then tease the last lot out??

If you kitty has a lot of mats, then maybe you should take her to the vets to get he a mild sedative that will help her and alleviate any stress she may have, with you or them de-matting her fur. Just a thought... make it easier on you both...

In the past I have used clippers on my horses and our dogs.. and they take getting used to and I have always done it from when they where very young...

There's this non-electric appliance called the Furmaster... try googling it to see where you can buy one in your country.
I'm considering getting one myself. It is supposed to take care of matts.

Originally Posted by Antonia

There's this non-electric appliance called the Furmaster... try googling it to see where you can buy one in your country.
I'm considering getting one myself. It is supposed to take care of matts.

If you are referring to "The Furminator", it works well at removing extra hair.




But it didn't really do a great job on mats.

Also, it seemed to ruin the texture of MC Bubba's coat so I only used it on him twice.




Second pile after two weeks was as big as the first...

It's tough to get the mats.

I use a blunt pointed scissor and chop them off without getting close to the skin or taking too much unsnarled hair and then comb out the leftovers after a few days.


It's good that MC Elvis is extremely placid...

What a shame about your boy's lovely coat. :(
But the Furmaster is a different gadget. You are right about the Furminator... it only removes excess hair but doesn't deal with mats.

Originally Posted by Antonia

What a shame about your boy's lovely coat. :(
But the Furmaster is a different gadget. You are right about the Furminator... it only removes excess hair but doesn't deal with mats.

Ahh...

Thanks.

Is this it?

Perfect Care Furmaster

I have used very sharp hairdresser's scissors on matts cos you can slide them into the matt and cut away from the skin but be very, very careful. In an ideal world I would never miss grooming my cats but it happened! In the moulting season I usually groom at least twice a week, funnily enough the ones with the shorter coats seem to get the worse under 'arm' matts. You can buy handy sized combs from pets at home that are meant for guinea pigs... these are exactly the right size for getting into adult cats hard to reach places. And they are great for kittens too.

Originally Posted by claudel

Is this it?

Perfect Care Furmaster

Yep. I just ordered one... it ought to arrive tomorrow. Am very curious about how it will work with Monty. He's the only one with mats. The girls never ever seem to get them. Even little Minnie, who has glorious long fur on her belly, hind legs and tail... but not a mat to be found.

We have 5 different combs, 3 brushes, 2 different types of Furminators(not much liked by our cats) and newly purchased electric cat grooming shaver. Our kitties get brushed daily by my husband, and sometimes 2-4 times a day. Because of Anastasia's thick coat and his omition of underarms areas she developed mats in those areas and in the inguinal folds. Here is what works for my kittie:
1) The most tolerated by my cat solution so far was old way of taking sweet time and going millimeter by millimiter with blunt small scissors and comb.
2) The newest addition to this method is the use of straight hemostat in the areas that can not be teased out. I clip the hemostat at the base of the thick mat before cutting the mat, then cut the hair above the hemostat. This instrument prevents accidental cuts of the skin.
3) Another method that I found by Googling is to make multiple vertical cuts from the base first, and then either cut or tease out those sections.

Thank you guys for sharing your experience. Claudel, the pile of fur looks as impressive as your cat's tolerance. I wish my kitties liked Furminator as much as I do, but they don't enjoy it as much as brushes.

Thanks for the hemostat tip... had to google to find out what it is, but it looks like a good method for mats that are close to the skin.