April & May are typically the start of the spring shedding season, when your cat is shedding out the thicker winter coat and preparing for warmer weather. Combing and brushing your cat, even if they have short hair, is an essential part of helping them cleanly shed the winter undercoat and helps prevent hairballs and matts that occur if they have to do all the maintenance themselves. Fur matt prevention is a real concern for pet parents of long-haired cats, and this year is shaping up to be especially concerning with the late cold snap right at the start of the spring shedding season.
So, how can you be proactive with matt prevention? You have to get to the bottom of the issue, meaning you have to get down to your cat’s skin to remove the undercoat. The winter undercoat is fluffier than the fur on top and when it sheds, it can cause matts as it gets tangled around the surrounding undercoat instead of shedding out smoothly.
We recommend a 3 step process for a complete brush out, but the first step is the most important---using a comb to get down to that soft undercoat and remove it before matts form. The Poodle comb (multiple brands available on Amazon under $15 ) is the perfect tool for this job, and can be less overstimulating to your cat than the use of brushes, which can either be so rigid they are uncomfortable or can be too soft and will just glide over the upper coat and fail to get down to the skin. You can also turn the comb vertically and just use the first 1 or 2 teeth to carefully comb through an already tangled area to tease out the matts that are forming before they get too hard and tight to remove.
If you give this a try and are having trouble, book a $35 brush out with us and we will show you how to get the most out of the grooming tools you have or recommend the best tools for your specific cat’s fur if something else would yield better results. No matter what, $35 of matt prevention now can help you keep your cat from forming painful matts and having to go through a more stressful and more expensive matt removal.
Comments