Thick, Dense Mats in Fur

[sirswithin]

Before Grady was diagnosed with diabetes he had acquired some fairly substantial mats. He's a short haired cat but they are very dense. We've tried brushing them out in the usual ways, but he put up such a fuss (presumably because of the pain) we had to stop because it was traumatizing everyone. We've tried shaving and managed to get one mat out but, again, there was much trauma. He's got quite a lot of dander so I know his skin is dry and there probably isn't enough oil in his fur. My question is: does anyone know how we can remove or loosen these mats with as little pain and psychological damage as possible? The last thing we need is for Grady to be freaked out while his body is dealing with diabetes.

 

[BJM]

Your vet can shave them down, with a mild sedative if needed to keep cat calm.

Or, get a specific tool called a mat cutter at a pet supply store. You want one that fits in your hand easily and is small, since the fur is short. It looks like a comb with deep teeth and one edge of each tooth is actually a blade.

- Always keep your fingers between the skin and the mat cutter to protect the skin and to hold the fur tightly so you are not pulling on the skin.
- Start at the outer edge of the mat and slowly work your way inward.

I'm doing this with Dusty, but he will tolerate about an hour or so before wanting to do something else!

 

[Deb & Wink]

Take blunt nosed scissors and snip at the mats to break them up into smaller pieces. Then try either a wide toothed comb to then tease out the mats, or your fingers to gently work them out. Limit the amount of time you spend doing this each session.

Wink would only let me do this for about 3-5 minutes at a time. I did several short sessions a day and over 3 days, finally worked most of them out. After that, he was feeling better and started to pull the last few by his rear end out all by himself.

 

[Wendy&Tiggy(GA)]

Yep, lots of mini sessions. I get the brush and a pair of sharp scissors and I brush the head neck mat! head neck head neck mat! ... He likes head neck only so lots of there to keep him calm. Then I quickly scissor the top off the Matt or as much as I think he will entertain before he gets annoyed. Back to brushing head neck head neck mat! head neck head...

Repeat over a few days to a week.

 

[Barb & Mr. Frog]

I use a small pair of scissors, (pointy tip) and slide it into just the very edge of the mat, and cut just a tiny bit at a time, by doing that it is easy to see if the blade is behind only fur. Sometimes with the very dense mats they can pull the skin up inside of them (tangerine, a 'feral' I've been feeding for 10+ years gets awful mats) so you have to be very gentle and slow moving with those. It helps sometimes to wiggle the tip in if it's very densely matted, just be sure not to point the blade AT the cat, you want the blade to be at the same angle as the skin beneath the mat. In essence, what I do is just cutting a few hairs at a time until the mat is loose enough to see clearly enough to cut it off... if it is extremely large, you can cut pieces of it off as you work to make it easier to see/work with. Going very slow is the key tho, if you work too fast, you can pull hairs instead of cutting, and that's not likely to get you any brownie points with Kitty since that skin is already painful and sensitive from the matt pulling.

 

[KPassa]

The best tool I've found for my Henry (Mat King!) is a battery-operated hand-held razor. I keep it on my living room table next to my couch so whenever he wanders my way for long enough, I tackle on of his mats. Lift up on the mat slightly to get the razor close to the skin and nudge it a little. I keep going for as long as he'll let me and then try to brush it out some with a fine-tooth comb to make sure there's no skin in the middle. It usually takes me about a day of multiple attempts for each mat when they're really bad. Maintenance is key and now I only have to shave a mat out about once a week. I keep expecting him to have no hair left...but no. He's the furball extraordinaire! cat_pet_icon

Oh, and he will do anything for treats, so I make sure to give him one while I'm working on the mat (helps him sit still longer) and one when I've given up for the moment or am finally successful in getting it all the way out.