Care Guides

She is asleep on the arm of the sofa, belly up, one back leg stuck out at an angle no other animal could manage. You run a hand down her side and everything is silk. Then your fingers reach the hollow behind her front leg and stop dead against something the size and texture of a felted wine cork. She wakes up. She looks at you. And the two of you have now arrived at the single most misunderstood job in cat ownership.

Long-haired cats do not fail to groom themselves. They groom constantly and thoroughly, and it still is not enough, because the undercoat sheds faster than a tongue can move it and the shed hair stays trapped in the guard hairs instead of falling to the floor. That trapped fluff is what becomes a mat. A Persian left alone for three weeks will not have slightly messy fur. She will have a pelt.

The Four Places Mats Always Start

Ignore the back and the tail plume for a moment. They look the most impressive and they are almost never the problem. Mats form where hair rubs against hair, and that means friction points: the armpits behind the front elbows, the britches on the back of the thighs, the ruff behind and under the ears, and the belly and groin. Add the area under and around the base of the tail, especially on a heavy cat or a longer-coated boy who runs greasy there.

So build your routine around those spots rather than around the parts that are pleasant to stroke. If you only have three minutes, spend them under the legs and behind the ears. The glamorous top coat can wait until tomorrow.

Frequency matters more than technique. A Persian or a Himalayan needs something every single day, even if it is five minutes on the sofa. A Maine Coon, Norwegian Forest Cat or Ragdoll can usually manage on three sessions a week, rising to daily during the spring and autumn coat blow. Skip a fortnight and you are no longer maintaining a coat, you are doing damage control.

Buy a proper steel comb. This is the one purchase people get wrong: a soft pin brush glides over the top of the coat and never touches the undercoat where the trouble lives, which is why owners swear they brush daily and still find mats. A stainless steel comb with two tooth spacings, the sort sometimes sold as a greyhound comb, is the tool that actually reaches the skin. Use the wide end first, then the fine end. A slicker brush is fine for finishing the tail and pantaloons, and a rubber curry is useless on this coat type. Trim the nails first, both hers and, metaphorically, your patience.

Working a Mat Out Without Hurting Her

The rule that saves cats from surgery: never put scissors near a mat. Feline skin is roughly as thick as wet tissue paper, and a mat pulls the skin up into itself in a little tent. Vets stitch several of these lacerations every week, and the owner is always horrified because they were being careful. Careful is not enough. Do not use scissors.

For a small, loose mat, hold the hair firmly between the mat and the skin with your other hand so any pulling is taken by your fingers and not by her. Then pick at the outer edge of the mat with the end teeth of the comb, teasing a few hairs free at a time, working from the outside inward. Sprinkling a little cornstarch or plain talc-free powder into the mat first helps it slide apart. A light detangling spray formulated for cats does the same job. Work for two minutes, then stop, whether you have finished or not.

For a mat that is tight to the skin, or a whole area that has gone solid, the answer is clippers, not fingers. A quiet cordless trimmer with a number ten blade slides flat against the skin and takes the mat off in one pass. Keep the blade parallel to the body, never lift it into the mat, and check the blade temperature against your own wrist every thirty seconds. If the cat is tense, stop. A half-clipped cat is not an emergency; a cut cat is.

Keep every session short and end it early. Two minutes of combing followed by a treat, twice a day, will beat one twenty-minute wrestling match every time, and it protects the relationship. If she flicks her tail, ripples the skin along her back or turns her ears sideways, you have about four seconds before teeth. Stop at three.

The Jobs Worth Paying a Groomer For

Some things are simply not home tasks. A pelted cat, where the mats have joined into a continuous mat across the body, needs a professional cat groomer and sometimes sedation at the vet, because the skin underneath is often inflamed, sore or ulcerated and clipping it hurts. A full lion cut is also a professional job, though it is a genuinely good option for an elderly or heavy cat who can no longer reach her own back.

A sanitary trim, on the other hand, is easy and hugely worthwhile. Clipping the hair short around the anus and under the tail on a long-coated cat prevents the miserable and surprisingly common problem of faeces caught in the coat, which cats then drag through the house. Tidying the tufts between the toe pads with blunt-nosed scissors cuts litter tracking dramatically, and is one of the few scissor jobs that is safe because you can see exactly what you are cutting.

Watch for the coat as a health signal. A long-haired cat who suddenly stops grooming, or who develops matting specifically over the hips and lower back, is usually telling you something hurts. Arthritis stops a cat twisting round. Dental pain stops the tongue working. Obesity puts half the body out of reach. Greasy, clumped fur at the tail base can point to overgrooming or a skin condition. In all of those cases the comb is not the treatment, and it is worth a vet visit rather than another shopping trip for grooming tools.