Cat De-Matting
A mat in a pet’s coat is nothing more than the fabric felt. In our culture, felt is usually made from wool, but many types of animal hair are used globally to create felt. Cat undercoat makes great felt!
If the matting isn't next to the skin and is still soft, we can sometimes thin and gently work the mat out by hand without causing discomfort to the cat.
However, many clients with matted cats are disappointed to learn that we can’t simply brush the mat out into nice flowing hair again. If you can imagine taking a felt hat and brushing it back into long silky Marino wool, then you can understand this next part.
The only thing we can usually do with hard matting located next to the skin is to get between the skin and mat and cut it out. We’ll usually use electric hair clippers with a blade short enough to fit between skin and mat. In the case of hard matting, this can be a very close clip. It is incorrect to call this a “shave” since we never use a razor.
We specialize in de-matting even geriatric cats and cats that have never been professionally groomed, all without anesthesia.
We recommend that owners do not attempt to cut the mat out at home using scissors. Since cat skin is so loose and flexible, it is easily pulled up into the scissor blades and cut.
We also recommend that you never use “mat breakers” on a cat. These are special hand tools with blades meant to cut through mats making them easy to brush out. Questionably appropriate for dogs, all these tools do on cat mats is painfully rip them from the poor cat’s skin!
Once we’ve addressed the matting, we can complete a comfortable trim that will make them look and feel their very best while avoiding pain and injury.
De-matting is performed before the bath. A bath afterward is a great way to clean away accumulated grease, dead skin, seborrhic dandruff and open the pores.
Mats are painfully annoying to a cat and can lead to serious skin conditions. In the case of large matting held tightly to the skin, we see flea infestations (unreachable by even spot-on treatments), skin infections and hair loss.
The very best way to avoid matting (especially with long haired cats) is to comb your cat regularly. Comb everywhere. Comb often (daily in the case of Persians and Himalayans). And use a comb, not a brush!
Brushes don’t penetrate the coat as well as a good wide toothed comb. We’ve had to de-mat many cats whose owners thought they were brushing correctly. We’d be glad to give you some help and pointers on correct combing at your next grooming appointment