Flossing the Cat

[howeird]

Pumpkin has very thick fur. For about the past 3 months he's had a problem with matted fur which has been getting worse and worse. I tried brushing, but that only made his mats shiny. I tried one of those wire brushes (Domino loves to have her face brushed with them) and that just made rude noises when it went over the matted areas. I even tried a couple of different types of de-matting blades, but his fur is just too thick. Using scissors to snip off the mats was okay at the start, but now I may as well just shave him. :-(

I also tried some conditioner spray, which had some small effect so I got the idea that maybe, since he hasn't had one in 5 years, maybe he needs a bath with real shampoo & conditioner.

So yesterday. coming back from BayCon, it was a warm, summer-like day, and I figured he could dry off on the patio. So I gave him a bath.

---

Observation #1: There are some sounds a cat can make which they only make in the bath, and maybe just before death.
Observation #2: If you thought it was difficult giving a cat a bath, try giving a cat a bath with a thumb brace on.
Observation #3: It is much more intelligent to flip the shower/sprayer switch over to sprayer before the cat is in the bath and all soaped up.
Corollary to #3: You must be ^{this tall} to hold the cat down and reach for the switch atop the shower head
Observation #4: If the cat did not appreciate being shampooed, it is not necessarily true he will appreciate rinse, conditioner, rinse.
Observation #5: It is impossible to overestimate the amount of water which can be retained in the fur of a 20-lb. domestic long-haired cat.

And finally:

Observation #6: Giving the cat a bath only makes the matting worse.

Constructive suggestions would be appreciated.

Comments

[farmount.livejournal.com]

*snicker*

OK, I do hear you and understand your pain. You may want to go to a pet store and invest in a "shedding rake" which is a funny comb which helps to get the dead fur out. Other suggestions include a mat cutter (which is like a comb or rake with curved teeth, the inside curve of the teeth is sharpened to cut through the mats) or -- easiest of all -- just take Pumpkin to a pet groomer. They have the tools that I've suggested, and if you tell them to please get the mats out without shaving they will do their best to comb and brush out the mats.

Part 2 -- I've found that the "Zoom Groom" created by the makers of Kong chewtoys and the electrostatic pet brush from Sharper Image both work well at brushing out cats and retaining the dead fur which is what most mats are made of.

Hope this helps.

[scendan.livejournal.com]

What she said.

Am I a bad person because I laughed myself sick over this? Kim did, too.

[howeird]

It was written for full comic effect, so you are both actually good people for laughing. And thanks for sharing.

[howeird]

Thanks, but before resorting to the bath I did try the shedding brush (it was just too shallow to do much good) and the evil 12-bladed de-matting brush (it clogged in about 6 seconds). The zoom groom looks like a fine maintenance tool, I'll get one tonight. Looking at the Petco.com site, there's a couple of dematting brushes which look more effective than the ones I tried, I'll give those a go too.

Bring Pumpkin to a professional groomer? Absolutely last resort, considering the fight he puts up getting into a carrier, and the rude noises he makes on the drive there & back. You know that drill...

Zoom zoom

[howeird]

That Kong brush is amazing! Thanks for the pointer. Pumpkin loves it, and it pulls out the loose fur by the handful. At least I hope it's loose fur...

The Kong brush is just long pointy soft rubber spikes, doesn't look like it would be anywhere near as effective as it is.

Domino doesn't like it - she prefers the wire brush. She has very fine fur, as opposed to Pumpkin's relatively coarse coat.