# Cats hair  is  clumping



## sarahgop (Jul 20, 2011)

he  seems  healthy and  in good  spirits but  his  hair  on his  back is  growing  in thick clumps. any ideas?


----------



## Grace (Jul 20, 2011)

No sores? No fleas? Could be a serge of growth in certain areas due to hormones?


----------



## Momanohedhunter (Jul 20, 2011)

sarahgop said:


> he  seems  healthy and  in good  spirits but  his  hair  on his  back is  growing  in thick clumps. any ideas?



I cut my cats dreads out, and brush him when he is hanging out with me. His does that to.


----------



## sarahgop (Jul 20, 2011)

Grace said:


> No sores? No fleas? Could be a serge of growth in certain areas due to hormones?




no sores, no fleas. he  never goes  outside


----------



## sarahgop (Jul 20, 2011)

Momanohedhunter said:


> sarahgop said:
> 
> 
> > he  seems  healthy and  in good  spirits but  his  hair  on his  back is  growing  in thick clumps. any ideas?
> ...



i also cut them out but they seem to come  back


----------



## Ringel05 (Jul 20, 2011)

sarahgop said:


> Momanohedhunter said:
> 
> 
> > sarahgop said:
> ...



Nair......


----------



## syrenn (Jul 20, 2011)

sarahgop said:


> Momanohedhunter said:
> 
> 
> > sarahgop said:
> ...




You need to groom him better. 

If you can take him to a groomer to start him out. He may need to be shaved to get the clumps all out. 

After that you will need to regularly brush and comb though the fur to keep it clean. Bathing every so often will help.


----------



## Grace (Jul 20, 2011)

Cat Bathing


----------



## Grace (Jul 20, 2011)

How To Give a Cat a Bath 

Instructions on how to wash your toilet

1. Put both lids up and add 1/8 cup of pet shampoo to the water.

2. Pick up the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.

3. In one smooth movement, put the cat in the toilet and close both lids. You may need to stand on the lid.

4. The cat will self agitate and make ample suds. Never mind the loud noises, the cat is actually enjoying this.

5. Flush three or four times. This provides a "power-wash" and rinse".

6. Have someone open the front door of your home. Be sure that there are no people between the here and the front door.

7. Standing behind as far as you can, and quickly lift both lids.

8. The cat will rocket out out, streak through the room and run outside where he will dry himself off.

9. Both the commode and the cat will be sparkling clean.

Sincerely,

The Dog


----------



## sarahgop (Jul 21, 2011)

i may try  that.


----------



## strollingbones (Jul 21, 2011)

i got a furminator...expense but works well...


----------



## ScienceRocks (Jul 21, 2011)

sarahgop said:


> i may try  that.



What is the breed of your cat? Long hair or short.


----------



## Big Fitz (Jul 21, 2011)

He's shedding and starting to grow back in his winter coat.  Best instruction I can give, as I've had a shorthair with really fine fur that had the same problem is to get a SMOOTH metal wide toothed comb and bush them out every day.  If you don't want to buy a metal toothed comb, just get an old fashioned barber's comb with wide and tight spacing.  The cat will possibly hate the first time you do it as you get the knots out, but it'll be better after a few times.  The real stubborn knots cut out.  You can pick at some of the knots with fingers to help  break them up and make easier to comb out.

Should help out.  Just keep up at it, and after a while the cat will probably love it.


----------



## AllieBaba (Jul 21, 2011)

Brushing any animal cures a variety of ills and will result in a nicer animal.

It's true of all animals..dogs, cats, horses, kids. 

Any animal who has hair that's matting needs brushed at least once a day. Be careful if you cut out mats because it's very easy to clip the skin.

YOu can apply oil to the hair and work out almost any mat..but of course you have to wash it off.

For horses when you have matted manes and tails, you use a pen knife, and you cut through the mats...with the hair, not against. So you aren't cutting the matted hair chunk OFF, you're cutting THROUGH it, vertically...then you start pulling and brushing. You can get rid of very bad mats that way without chopping the hair up. It looks better and it's better for the animal, because it's never good for an animal to have its hair shaved off. They need their hair.

I get so mad at people who shave their furry long-haired dogs (except for say, poodles, whose hair can accomodate that) thinking they're doing them a favor. BRUSH THOSE BOOGERS! Don't just let them sit in their filthy coats and then shave it off and think you've done them a favor. Look at their skin when you do that..it's dandruffy, dirty, usually mite infested (whether you know it or not). They need the guard hairs and the undercoat, but if you brush it, the old hair and skin is eliminated as much as possible, the oils coat the entire hair shaft, and the coat works the way it should, as an insulator.

Klaus is a long haired saint..they are bred for cold climes and do not like the heat. I brush him every day (I use a fairly stiff horse brush) and he is beautiful and NOT too hot. His coat is shiny, fairly thin (because there is no dead hair just sitting there) and his skin is beautiful. He has no itchy spots, he has no dandruff. I will never shave him except as a specific treatment for something.

Brush your cat. That's the long and short of it. Stimulate its skin to produce oil, pull the oil through the skin, increase circulation, and, incidentally, remove dead hair.


----------



## mudwhistle (Jul 21, 2011)

Grace said:


> How To Give a Cat a Bath
> 
> Instructions on how to wash your toilet
> 
> ...



Make sure you have plenty of Bandaids

I stick to shorthair breeds. 

They don't need baths.


----------



## AllieBaba (Jul 21, 2011)

If you use the knife method, which I strongly encourage, please cut away from the animal, and try not to stab it.


----------



## Big Fitz (Jul 21, 2011)

AllieBaba said:


> Brushing any animal cures a variety of ills and will result in a nicer animal.
> 
> It's true of all animals..dogs, cats, horses, kids.
> 
> ...


and you can knit yourself another cat with the removed fur.  There will be LOTS of it.


----------



## AllieBaba (Jul 21, 2011)

Blech.

Though the mass will be greatly reduced after it flies up your nose.


----------



## Douger (Jul 21, 2011)

Ringel05 said:


> sarahgop said:
> 
> 
> > Momanohedhunter said:
> ...


Nah. That'll burn his balls. Trust me on that one, OK


----------



## Grace (Jul 21, 2011)

I don't have to worry about my cat getting a bath. She gets in the tub with the dogs...walking around with her tail floating behind her. Long as she has a mat under her, she is fine. Cats dont like slippery surfaces. And she likes water.


----------



## mudwhistle (Jul 21, 2011)

Grace said:


> I don't have to worry about my cat getting a bath. She gets in the tub with the dogs...walking around with her tail floating behind her. Long as she has a mat under her, she is fine. Cats dont like slippery surfaces. And she likes water.



Must be a Catfish.


----------



## mudwhistle (Jul 21, 2011)

One of my cats has this fascination with water. I don't know how many times she's fallen into my tub of bubble-bath while I was getting ready to take a bath. She constantly looks for fish or something. Moving water fascinates her. Sometimes I put a couple of cubes of ice in her water to give her something to play with. I just bought the cats one of those water dishes that purifies the water and cycles it through a pump. She went nuts for that.


----------



## Big Fitz (Jul 21, 2011)

mudwhistle said:


> One of my cats has this fascination with water. I don't know how many times she's fallen into my tub of bubble-bath while I was getting ready to take a bath. She constantly looks for fish or something. Moving water fascinates her. Sometimes I put a couple of cubes of ice in her water to give her something to play with. I just bought the cats one of those water dishes that purifies the water and cycles it through a pump. She went nuts for that.


----------



## Ringel05 (Jul 21, 2011)

Douger said:


> Ringel05 said:
> 
> 
> > sarahgop said:
> ...



The hospital used it (or something similar) on my arm in 1969 before a cyst removal surgery.  Had a friggin' rash for a week afterwards.


----------



## AllieBaba (Jul 21, 2011)

that crap is acid...I remember using it once, long, long ago and yup, lovely red painful rash.


----------



## Big Fitz (Jul 21, 2011)

AllieBaba said:


> that crap is acid...I remember using it once, long, long ago and yup, lovely red painful rash.


it's called a chemical burn.


----------



## theliq (Jul 21, 2011)

Long haired pets suffer with this and can become a problem as the clumps get lager and dencer the skin is torn......Time to get the scissors out and trim the mut...NOW theliq





sarahgop said:


> he  seems  healthy and  in good  spirits but  his  hair  on his  back is  growing  in thick clumps. any ideas?


----------



## syrenn (Jul 22, 2011)

strollingbones said:


> i got a furminator...expense but works well...




yeah...i have one too. But you have to be really careful with it! 

I was brushing one of the cats, and he was loving it so much..... i almost brushed him bald!


----------



## Kooshdakhaa (Jul 22, 2011)

strollingbones said:


> i got a furminator...expense but works well...



Oh, I got one of those for my dogs!!  Love it!


----------



## Kooshdakhaa (Jul 22, 2011)

Okay, I take it this is a long-haired cat.  Possibly Persian?  Persians are notorious for matting up.  And that sounds like what is happening, the fur on your cat is matting up.  You need to comb the cat frequently.  And I say comb, not brush, because a comb will help prevent matting better.

To get rid of the mats, it's as theliq says.  You may need to cut them. But you must be very, very careful not to cut the cat's skin!!  And yes, these matts can be very uncomforable to the cat and can tear their skin.

If you're not sure what to do, do as someone suggested and take the cat to the vet for a shave.

I've had a couple of Persian cats, and they take constant maintenance or they matt up like this.  One cat I had would matt up if you didn't comb him at least every other day!


----------



## sarahgop (Jul 23, 2011)

Kooshdakhaa said:


> Okay, I take it this is a long-haired cat.  Possibly Persian?  Persians are notorious for matting up.  And that sounds like what is happening, the fur on your cat is matting up.  You need to comb the cat frequently.  And I say comb, not brush, because a comb will help prevent matting better.
> 
> To get rid of the mats, it's as theliq says.  You may need to cut them. But you must be very, very careful not to cut the cat's skin!!  And yes, these matts can be very uncomforable to the cat and can tear their skin.
> 
> ...



its  not  a  persian. i cut  2 out and  will cut  out  the rest.


----------



## waltky (Jul 24, 2011)

Feed the cat any leftover bacon grease...

... it'll make the cat's fur shiny...

... and help prevent hairballs.


----------



## ScienceRocks (Jul 24, 2011)

sarahgop said:


> Kooshdakhaa said:
> 
> 
> > Okay, I take it this is a long-haired cat.  Possibly Persian?  Persians are notorious for matting up.  And that sounds like what is happening, the fur on your cat is matting up.  You need to comb the cat frequently.  And I say comb, not brush, because a comb will help prevent matting better.
> ...




What kind of cat is it?


----------



## AllieBaba (Jul 24, 2011)

If it's a shorthair and the hair is matting, there's a problem..but I've never seen a shorthair cat whose hair matted.

I guess we need to know if it's clumping or matting.

Cats often hang out under vehicles, and oil can leak down on their backs and make the hair clump. If you have an outside cat and it's happening, smell it. If it smells like oil, that's your answer.


----------



## Big Fitz (Jul 24, 2011)

AllieBaba said:


> If it's a shorthair and the hair is matting, there's a problem..but I've never seen a shorthair cat whose hair matted.
> 
> I guess we need to know if it's clumping or matting.
> 
> Cats often hang out under vehicles, and oil can leak down on their backs and make the hair clump. If you have an outside cat and it's happening, smell it. If it smells like oil, that's your answer.


I have.  It's often because the fur is so fine it doesn't come away when it sheds.


----------



## WillowTree (Jul 24, 2011)

Ringel05 said:


> sarahgop said:
> 
> 
> > Momanohedhunter said:
> ...


----------



## Big Fitz (Jul 24, 2011)

Ringel05 said:


> sarahgop said:
> 
> 
> > Momanohedhunter said:
> ...



Nekkid Kitteh is Crabbeh.


----------



## AllieBaba (Jul 24, 2011)

Big Fitz said:


> AllieBaba said:
> 
> 
> > If it's a shorthair and the hair is matting, there's a problem..but I've never seen a shorthair cat whose hair matted.
> ...


 
Asshole cat!

I'm allergic to the kittehs, though I didn't realize it until I was grown. And the finer their hair, the more they bug me. 

I still love them though. If I didn't have Mylo we'd have a couple. As it is I go to my mom's and her two FREAKS FROM HELL won't leave me alone. I can feel the dander flying up my nose, and they want to hang out on the couch right behind my head. If I turn my head too fast I bump into Stitch..and she's fairly quick with her claws, so it isn't exactly COMFORTABLE on any level.

The other cat is out and out psychotic.


----------



## Big Fitz (Jul 24, 2011)

AllieBaba said:


> Big Fitz said:
> 
> 
> > AllieBaba said:
> ...


Cats know who is allergic, I swear.  I love em and am not allergic but I don't do litter boxes.  And since it's dander, getting sphinxes probably wouldn't work for you.  Then again, I have  friend with 2 of them, and they'e freaky little adorable gremlins.  But act like siamese, so not the most friendly, but they have their moments.


----------



## AllieBaba (Jul 24, 2011)

I don't do litter boxes, either. If I have cats I have a situation where they can safely (as safely as possible) go outside. I don't like to have cats, though, because outside is never safe for them, and they always get hurt/killed/disappear, eventually...and it makes me feel guilty. Plus it's such a pain to keep the population under control..if you aren't johnny on the spot with everything, you end up with 150 feral cats slinking around shitting under the hedges.

NOT that I'm particular about my yard, it's a horrific mess....holes from the dogs and the kids, and 3 foot milkweed in the back...but I really don't like cat crap...and the dogs eat it.


----------

