Advice on long haired cat hair knots

by **Christine** » Fri Mar 30, 2012 7:32 am

Panda, my long haired, cat with an attitude is getting huge knots of hair despite the fact that I brush him. After having him for nearly two years, this is the first time this is happening. He is a biter, won't let you hold him, but loves to be stroked. The only time I can get away with "messing" with him is while he hoovers his food and only for short periods of time. I keep a wire brush and scissors right above his bowl.

The knots are so tight that it is nearly impossible to brush them out and I don't want to hurt him. For the same reason, I am very careful with the scissors as I don't want to chance getting skin.

I took him to the vet and they ended up having to sedate him to remove them. In less than a month, we are back to square one. I hate to have him sedated each time, but considering one more time and having him clipped down, but hate to change his look and do that to him.

I have tried placing a comb behind the knot so I can cut it without getting his skin - no luck. I tried using a razor on the top of the knot to loosen the hairs to I can brush them out - no luck. I "pick at it with the wire brush, I manipulate them with my fingers. Wonder if I bought a set of clippers and maybe buzz the side of the a knot to loosen it if that might work. (I will talk tothe groomer about that.)

I have Googled till I am blue in the face. My last idea is to see if I can convince a groomer to work on him if I buy a victorian collar to put on him, but he really is a biter unless you are doing anything other than stroking his head and back. (He is really evil in that he will lay out on his back and give you the most adorable look taunting you to rub his belly just so he can bite you!)

by **critters** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 9:08 am

Mosby, my house feral, has had the same problem for years. I snip and/or comb on the rare occasions that I can and have had him shaved at the vet twice; once he came home so terrified I left that vet practice. *sigh* I have to great answers to the problem.

by **CarolC** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 10:31 pm

I used to use electric hair clippers, then I got a smaller electric clipper designed for mustaches and sideburns which is even better, but I don't know if your cat would let you do that. You have to have the cat someplace where you can plug it in. You have to be careful on the spot where the leg meets the abdomen or you can nick or give a shaver burn on the loose skin there. Even if he doesn't want you to mess with him, it might help to keep trying. I had an outdoor cat I was feeding at my first apartment complex. I called him Big Kitty because he was the king of the neighborhood. Every year he would shed in a peculiar way where 2 humongous clumps would form, one on each hip, they reminded me of wings. I was trying to remove one for him and he would let me take one or two tiny snips, then he'd had enough. This went on day after day. I finally calcuated that if he only let me do 1/4 inch a day, if I kept at it for 8 more days I would get the whole mat off, so I kept at it. But strangely, on about the 5th(?) day it was like all of a sudden he realized what I was doing, and made a decision to sit still and let me finish it. It was such a reward for him afterward when I got to run the brush over that newly bare patch of skin, where a mat had been for so long and he could not lick it. I'll bet that felt so good to him. After that he was more cooperative about having mats trimmed out. If you are worried about having your whole cat shaved, maybe it would work to just have the underside shaved bare, and ask them to remove any individual mats that are on the back and sides. Sometimes a cat will mat because the shedding just gets ahead of their grooming. Sometimes they get too fat and can't groom as well. Sometimes they have a problem with sores in their mouth and quit grooming. Sometimes they will mat because outdoor debris like tiny twigs or grass seeds get stuck in the fur and for some reason the mat just grows. I wonder why he did not mat the last 2 years but did this year. I guess he has free range to travel into a lot of areas, so it is hard to tell if he is getting into dried leaves or plants that leave seeds in the fur when an animal walks by. Good luck.

by **Christine** » Sun Apr 01, 2012 6:22 am

Thanks, Carol...your advice put me back on the prowl and I found a small battery operated clipper and some organic detangling spray which I ordered. The spray will probably be more of a preventative after I get rid of these knots, but I am going to experiment with it and a wire brush one day and then try the clippers another day. My husband can use the clippers on his beard and since I have always cut his hair, I can use them on his neck, so these babies are going to get a workout!

We've had a lot of rain and Panda is a chub. The worst one gathers under his neck and two smaller ones on his hip bones. If this works, I am keeping those areas clipped and short for him.

by **LisainCAN** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 8:40 pm

I am curious to know if your system works. I usually try to pull matts apart with my fingers. Often I end up just cutting them out and as much fur as the cat will allow. I usually end up with only minor scratches. I just have freakishly affectionate cats, I guess.

by **Christine** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 9:59 pm

I will post my results here. Panda is the only cat I have ever owned that acts this way. Critters' description of a "house feral" almost sounds like him except that he WANTS to be inside, rubbing up against your legs, snuggling with Penny...everything except letting you cuddle him, hold him or rub his belly. I am used to the affectionate cats too...trying not to take it personally! :mrgreen:

by **Christine** » Sat Apr 07, 2012 4:09 am

The trimmer arrived and it is extremely loud. I am waiting until I get a catnip toy so I can give that to Panda to experience at the same moment he hears that buzzing. Going to just do that until I see he is comfortable with the sound. In the meantime, I will try out the detangling spray on a spot here and there while he is eating.

by **critters** » Sat Apr 07, 2012 9:37 am

Christine wrote:I will post my results here. Panda is the only cat I have ever owned that acts this way. Critters' description of a "house feral" almost sounds like him except that he WANTS to be inside, rubbing up against your legs, snuggling with Penny...everything except letting you cuddle him, hold him or rub his belly. I am used to the affectionate cats too...trying not to take it personally!

Mos wants to be inside, too, and he's very fond of his sibs--it's ME he doesn't like, and he's still a feral at heart.

by **Christine** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 10:15 am

Bought some catnip toys and was totally gypped...not a sign of scent and Panda could care less. I finally perfected working on his knots myself as he ate...hold a clump by the base and comb beyond my hand so his skin is not pulled, but at the rate of 45-second tolerance, it would take me the rest of my life.

Gave my husband the beard trimmer because the loud noise even freaked me out. Went and spoke with a groomer who suggested having his tummy shaved down. The fact that his tummy nearly drags the ground and he plays outside a lot made me double think that solution. I thought that a better solution might be to remove the knots and trim his long hair, but not shave him. She also suggested that I make sure he got a little olive oil or tuna oil with his food as that help the knots release.

The cost for a groomer to work on him and sedate him, would be around $120.00. I made an appointment with my vet and their groomer. A few days later, I decided to change it to just the vet as we had done a couple of months ago at a cost of $47.

Saturday morning, we headed for the vet and arrived at 8:00 a.m. ( I figured I would trim him up while he was groggy when I got him home.) They called me at 10:00 and said he was sitting up and ready to go. The wonderful tech who worked on him apologized because she tried trimming his long hairs too. She actually was able to comb the knots out while he was sleeping. (I found the large one under his neck on the floor on Thursday. Somehow he got it himself.) One was holding him and when he would look the other way, she would snip, snip until he went for her :angel:

Long story short...his knots are gone, the haircut really looked fine and he now knows that each time he eats, he is being combed and trimmed.

Moral of this story: Comb your longhaired cats as best you can as often as you can...and pray that they don't have "cattitudes".

by **TenHouseCats** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 8:03 pm

old persian trick: if you use baby powder (the corn starch kind), and work it into the fur, then leave it for a bit, the mats/knots will almost comb out by themselves. when it works, and it usually does, it's like magic.

this might sound like a silly question: does the white fur mat worse than the black? in persians, again, mostly the worst matting is related to color: the closer to white, the more the cat mats! there seems to be a textural thing that has to do with the pigmentation. my creams and shaded-silvers are HORRIBLE--i swear i can get them all dematted, and they just spend the rest of the day knitting themselves back together. didn't know for years about the pigment thing.

i use clippers now, as no one seems to be hassled by that. i think, sadly, that noise level is inversely proportional to price. (once i got a set of corded/cordless, and woke up one morning to find it immersed in a glass of water. but the batteries still worked. ha! they thought they had me....)

some folks i know just resort to catnip and bribery-by-treats. i know that everyone i know with lh cats just keeps combs all over the house, and just comb a little out each time they come up to cuddle. of course, i can never FIND most of the combs, and am convinced that the cats hide them. so the demat-by-finger mentioned by someone else is the usual manner, it's so automatic to me now, that i find myself dematting friends' cats....

so no, there's no simple answer that i know about!

by **Christine** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 5:41 am

Color didn't seem to make a difference. The biggest ones were just under his neck and that is all white. The first one was the size of a large mouse or a coin purse! The rest were on his sides which are black. Looking at his pictures, you would think his tummy would be covered with them, but thank goodness none there. I don't believe I will ever let him get to that point again, but wondering if cornstarch would do the same thing as the powder?

We have a system now. He runs for his food bowl in the pantry (away from Penny's piggy little mouth). I immediately feel under his neck and brush under his belly and down each side. If I am lucky, I get to fluff out his chaps and I hit the jackpot if I can brush his tail all in one feeding. the good thing is that he is very forgiving so if I just stroke his head and sides for a few minutes, we can start all over again. What a little character!

by **TenHouseCats** » Tue May 01, 2012 3:35 pm

never thought of just using cornstarch..... the powder may be easier simply because you can somewhat control the amount--but you could just get a grated-cheese bottle in a dollar store. would do the same thing. good luck.

(this is one of the major reasons persians end up in shelters--people seem to think that, somehow, they are NOT high-maintenance critters. um, no, they do NOT get up in the morning and brush their own hair.