A simple mat, or tangle, in your cat may be easily combed out, or shaved out if it’s close to the skin and poses a risk to the cat if you try to cut the mat out using scissors. If your cat is filled with mats, it is probably too dangerous and painful for your cat to have them brushed out as the mats are attached to the skin and you are literally tugging on the skin as you try to pull these out. We can shave them off and provide your cat with a comfortable grooming experience.
If your cat has gotten to the point where the mats are so bad (all over the stomach area, back, hindquarters) you need the help of a professional to remove these painful mats. Some cats have mats all over that interconnect and form what we call a pelt.
A pelt on a cat starts with mats. The mats attach to other mats due to oil build up, dead, loose fur and other debris to the point they attach to other mats. The cat’s coat becomes so matted that the fur binds to itself. The mats become hard and you will feel large, hard areas that are interconnected. forms a hardening of the coat. The cat basically becomes mummified in it’s own fur, dead hair, oil and other material that got caught in the fur.
The coat is destroyed much like if you allowed your own hair to become dreadlocked. It would feel itchy due to the dead hair build up, dead skin and start to smell (fecal material can be intertwined in the fur). Your cat (if mats are on the legs or hindquarters) will have urine run down these areas and soak into them. The only humane thing to do is to shave off this dead, dirty fur, clean the skin and allow the fur to grow back.
Why did this happen? Your cat needed to be groomed much sooner than now.
Sometimes, the cat will get tangles in her fur. You don’t know this because you don’t comb her right down to the skin If you are only brushing the top of the fur and not getting to the tangles and removing the knots, tangles, grease and dead coat to allow the skin to breathe.