Home Remedy to de-mat an angry Tortie

December 18, 2023 11:58 AM

I've got a petite, aging Tortie who has a couple of really thick matts in her coat. She's aging and has some arthritis. We've got her on a monthly injection which is helping tremendously but the fur matting is pretty severe and I need some help...

I've been able to cut into a couple of the worst mats with the proper blunt-tip scissors but I'm *really* afraid of getting too close to her skin and hurting her. She tolerates it for a bit but the growling and complaining gets more and more vocal while I try to gingerly work this stuff out of her fur.

I've also tried lubricating the matts with coconut oil and using a flea comb to work on them with very limited success. I fear I may have to take her to the vet and have them do it with clippers, but this cat hates traveling with the seething passion of a thousand suns....that trip will be fraught with yelling, vomiting and pooping in the crate, without fail.

Is there some kind of spray-in conditioner or lubricant that will help break the matt up and make it easier to comb out without taking her to the vet, or do we just need to suck it up and do it?

posted by Thistledown to Pets & Animals (13 answers total)

If you have access to a horse tack store, you can get "mane and tail detanglers" which are silicon-based. I have used these successfully in the past to demat but I am not sure they're great for the cat to subsequently lick out of their fur.

Something to remember is that if you can continue working on the matts while brushing the rest of her (to prevent future problems) the matts will eventually grow out. If she's elderly and frail I might just try to manage them to avoid causing her discomfort going to the vet.

You may also be able to find a cat groomer who will come to your house with clippers.
posted by some chick at 12:06 PM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If there are two of you, I would just do it. We de-matted my eighteen-year-old strong and aggressive tabby, with two people and sharp scissors. Obvs being very careful and wrapping bits of him in a towel when feasible to help with the holding still. I was really pleased we did it - once he was de-matted, he never got matted again for the year or so he had left, so he just needed help to get the worst of it done. We used Feliway to help keep him calm, though I'm never sure it actually has an effect.

As some chick says, you could also get a groomer to come to the house.
posted by paduasoy at 12:09 PM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: we used thinning shears, clipping thru the mat a couple of times, parallel to the skin. when the cat washes themself, they’ll start taking out the looser hairs. it took our cats about a week to finally detangle themselves once we clipped thru the matted hair with thinning shears.
posted by Silvery Fish at 12:15 PM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I finally got on the client list for a mobile groomer who serves my neighborhood and my only regret is not doing it sooner.

I have an old, cantankerous, long haired shithead (dog variety) who I fought valiantly to try to groom. Even just to prevent mats. Some animals just need a professional.
posted by phunniemee at 12:15 PM on December 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

My good old dog began to have some bad matting, and since he hates all types of grooming it was a big issue. So I changed his food from dry to wet, and he recovered completely! I know one can't transfer dog to cat experiences 1:1, but it might be worth trying if your cat isn't already on wet food.
posted by mumimor at 12:50 PM on December 18, 2023

Response by poster: My good old dog began to have some bad matting, and since he hates all types of grooming it was a big issue. So I changed his food from dry to wet, and he recovered completely! I know one can't transfer dog to cat experiences 1:1, but it might be worth trying if your cat isn't already on wet food.

Thanks mumimor - she does eat wet food (quite a bit, actually - there's a thyroid thing going on) and I might consider maybe some kind of supplement to help with it. This is mostly age and other health issues and I'd like to get the mats out so she's more comfortable. Thank you!
posted by Thistledown at 1:12 PM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

With my elderly matted cat I would pretty much work on one mat a day, while giving her a churu-type treat. I'd gingerly clip with a scissors as long as I could pinch my finger between where I was cutting and her skin, to be sure I would not cut her. Grooming a previously matted area with a slicker brush as much as she would tolerate (again, with treats) helped prevent recurrences.

I also tried a de-matting comb (with sharp edges inside curved teeth) but had mixed results with it; sometimes it seemed like I'd have to put too much pressure on it and pull her fur to get it to actually slice through the mat.

Eventually a vet clipped her belly for an ultrasound, and that dealt with a lot of little mat-lets at once. I'd probably go the clipper route sooner if I had to do things again, because I know the mats were uncomfortable for her. I'd consider just toughing it out on a vet visit, or getting a mobile vet if one is willing to come. I thought about buying clippers myself (some are marketed as being quiet and less likely to freak out your pets), but I was never sure if I'd be able to wield them well.

I guess a mobile groomer might also be an option; the drop-off ones at places like Petsmart are too dubious for me to want to deal with.
posted by kite at 2:33 PM on December 18, 2023

We had a cat like that, she went to the vet to be sedated and shaved.
posted by doomsey at 2:58 PM on December 18, 2023

Best answer: For relatively uncomplicated mats that aren't in joints or other tricky areas, I had really good luck with a this dematting tool and a relatively slow approach. I found the sideways form-factor easier to use from more angles than the more brush-shaped ones. I don't know if the dematting comb will work for you, but it was definitely less nerve-wracking than scissors, and more effective than trying to detangle. It's been helpful now that the mats are gone too, to help thin out the hair where he's not grooming as well and keep it from happening again.

The approach I took was to work a little bit at a time while the cat was calm and/or distracted. Most of the mats I was dealing with were on my cat's back and outside hips, and he's very food-motivated, so I could usually get in a couple minutes of progress each time I fed him, since the necessary spots were accessible. I couldn't slice through an entire mat, but just made short strokes that would cut a few hairs at a time, going with the direction of the fur, and it would loosen the mat. I'd work at whatever spot felt the tightest against his skin and they came out faster than I expected.
posted by duien at 4:09 PM on December 18, 2023

Best answer: You might try cornstarch on the mats instead of a lubricant--it has helped with my cats mats. Also a trick (if possible) is to slide a comb under the mat before you cut. This way you're guaranteed not to cut the cat and probably won't cut yourself either.
posted by purple_bird at 4:17 PM on December 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

Cat grooming bags can make this easier if she fights you. You stuff the whole cat into the harness/bag and then unzip little flaps to access just the parts you want to work on.
posted by Jacqueline at 8:50 PM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

When we took our elderly floof to the groomer to get her mats removed, she warned us against trying to use scissors to cut them out if they're near the skin; it's hard to get close enough to really get them without cutting the skin, which was really loose and fragile. A trimmer did a much better job of getting down to the base of the mat without hurting her.
posted by chbrooks at 9:01 PM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

My cat CousCous has "stud tail" which is an especially oily base of her tail and back, which becomes a problem area for matting. We initially tried de-greaser shampoos but the vet said that will make it worse - she instead suggested to break down the oils with a lighter oil in gentle baby wipes. If I remember to give her a good baby wipe down a few times a month, that seems to keep the oil and matting under control!
posted by ukdanae at 4:07 AM on December 19, 2023