Older short-haired cat with matted coat.

Galwaymother

Hi!
My 20- year old cat, in good shape but not as sprightly as in the past, has acquired suddenly a lot of matted lumps on her back. They feel like short dreadlocks. I suspect she is not able to groom herself, and so her falling hair gets trapped.
Before I go to the vet for a full shave, which I'd prefer not, as she would get very distressed even going, I googled and saw that baby oil is recommended to get rid of the mats and works well. I would then groom her myself regularly.
Have you heard of that? Any experience of this? Any contraindications?
Thanks!

ferretone

Galwaymother wrote: »

Hi!
My 20- year old cat, in good shape but not as sprightly as in the past, has acquired suddenly a lot of matted lumps on her back. They feel like short dreadlocks. I suspect she is not able to groom herself, and so her falling hair gets trapped.
Before I go to the vet for a full shave, which I'd prefer not, as she would get very distressed even going, I googled and saw that baby oil is recommended to get rid of the mats and works well. I would then groom her myself regularly.
Have you heard of that? Any experience of this? Any contraindications?
Thanks!

Why not call your vet to check would it be safe, and if so, give it a try? I believe that in addition to the reduce mobility for elderly cats, that the tongue also becomes smoother in old age, which makes it less effective for grooming.

Galwaymother

Thanks but I actually don't think I would get talking directly to him. I know he would much prefer me to come in and spend 60 € I don't have, and stress my cat out, requiring anesthesia when she is quite fragile. I'll go in as a last resort.

boomerang

If they are genuine mats (rather than clumps - kinda hard to explain the difference!) then this little tool is great!

http://www.petbliss.ie/acatalog/Mikki_Matt_Splitter.html

ferretone

Galwaymother wrote: »

Thanks but I actually don't think I would get talking directly to him. I know he would much prefer me to come in and spend 60 € I don't have, and stress my cat out, requiring anesthesia when she is quite fragile. I'll go in as a last resort.

I'd say Boomer's recommendation is likely to be good. However, why do you think your vet would be reluctant to speak with you and say whether something is safe? If I want to talk to mine and check if I actually need to go in, I talk to the receptionist and ask her to get him to call me, which he always does.

And he understands that it isn't best practice to call the client in for every case,especially not recommending a sedation where it isn't absolutely necessary, all the more for a fragile older puss! And if a minor intervention can be done at home for a problem which is neither medical nor very serious, that this is the ideal solution for all.

If you can't trust your vet to deal the same way, then I would seriously recommend you seek a less mercenary one as soon as possible! There's no way your vet should be trying to milk you in the way you describe :eek:

ETA: And that you fear he would put your pet at risk to further his profit margins - if you really think he is like that, I would run a mile from such a vet!

Irish Stones

You could cut those lumps yourself with a round-tip scissors.
To prevent future lumps, if your cat tends to be quite lazy at grooming, you could brush her hair with baby talc powder regurarly.

janmaree

I wouldn't recommend using a scissors as their skin is very delicate and it would be very easy to nick it by accident. I have used oil (very successfully) to remove dreadful matting, just as you describe, from a semi-tame feral cat who is a bit challenged in some ways. I read up a lot on the use of oil and decided against baby oil because I didn't want to add to her problems by filling her with perfume! So I kept a ramekin of plain vegetable oil to hand, with some cotton wool and whenever she was handy I dabbed another bit close to the base of the mats, right up against the skin. It took a few weeks and she looked a pure fright but it did encourage her to groom more intensely and she finally shed them all. Then I dabbed cornflour into her oily fur whenever I could and she's a picture of loveliness now. I try to keep her well brushed and combed but she'll only permit so much and then I'm told to hit the road. But it worked well with the vegetable oil. Good luck!

inocybe

I've used olive oil on a cat with matted fur, but the oil itself isn't what removes the matts. It makes the cat groom more until they pull out the fur. So it may not help if your cat can't reach the area due to old age, you might end up with an unhappy, oily cat.