How to Remove Mats From a Long-Haired Cat
Long-Haired Matted Cat Hair: Solutions
There are a lot of differing ideas among pet owners about the best way to deal with cat mats – like this discussion we had on our Facebook page a few months back. Owners of Ragdoll kitties have to balance factors like the well-being and stress levels of their cats, the expense of long-haired cat grooming, their own willingness to risk a few scratches by grooming at home, and other practical concerns. Below are some various tips from cat owners for how to remove mats from a long-haired cat; for more tips on long-haired cat matted fur and recommendations for specific products, check out our post Cat Matted Fur: Tips and Tricks to Remove Cat Mats.
- Cutting out mats – using small scissors, shears, an electric razor, clippers, or even a battery operated ear/nose/eyebrow trimmer. Just be careful not to get too close to the skin and risk cutting your kitty’s skin and hurting your kitty.
Mat splitters or removers – use these to carefully separate hair from the sides of a mat, working a little bit at a time until you can shrink the mat to a point where it could easily be cut out.- Grooming – groomers can easily take care of mats or give your kitty a lion cut, though some pet owners are concerned about groomers using drugs to sedate their pet or the effects of a lion cut on a cat’s fur growth.
- Shampoos/conditioners – try using baby shampoo or conditioner regularly to keep their fur soft and silky, but be sure to rinse it thoroughly afterwards since the cat will lick it afterwards.
- Corn starch – work a little into the mat to loosen it up before trying to comb or remove.
- Oils – try olive oil, coconut oil, or even argon oil to help loosen up mats.
- Combing and brushing – regular combing and brushing can prevent mats from forming or keep them small enough that they can be dealt with easily. Daily home grooming is also a good way to keep track of mats and catch them early.
Seam ripper – works great in conjunction with corn starch or something else to loosen them up.- Head to Tail Calming Treats – with chamomile, recommended to help keep your kitty calm if they are easily stressed by grooming.
Hi, I’m Jenny Dean, creator of Floppycats! Ever since my Aunt got the first Ragdoll cat in our family, I have loved the breed. Inspired by my childhood Ragdoll cat, Rags, I created Floppycats to connect, share and inspire other Ragdoll cat lovers around the world,
If only our Big Mop wouldn’t head for the hills each time we bring his cutter comb out. He gets awful mats on his shoulders and between his front legs and we have tried to the point that he was getting scared of everything. Now days our local vet gives him a sedative to let the groomer get his mats out.
Unfortunately we didn’t get him until he was 4 months old and hadn’t regularily been groomed by the breeder, so he didn’t know what was happening.He comes home high as a kite none the worse for wear looking handsome as usual.
Wow! Great info, as usual, Jenny! Thanks so much for sharing this pawesome info! We’ve been pretty fortunate in not having any big matted fur issues with our Miss Pink Sugarbelle so far… She gets little teeny tiny mats in her big ol’ fluffy ruff which are easing to just comb out. That’s about it so far! My biggest grooming challege with our little darling is keeping that fluffy butt fur and pantaloons area trimmed to avoid litter box messes. She does not like her fur being trimmed at all back there but I have found that keeping a short pair of grooming scissors near my recliner is very helpful, as I can trim those areas in stages when she’s all relaxed and napping between my legs in my recliner. YAY!
Big hugs!
Patti & Miss Pink Sugarbelle 🙂 <3
good luck with the continued grooming! trigg needed help in that area today – not fun!
Agreed. Not fun at all. It’s easier for me to keep that fur back in “that area” as short as I can to avoid the very messy cleanup that will eventually be needed if I let her hair grow to it’s full length back there. Those cleanups are stressful for her AND me! <3
understood. it happens so rarely in our house now – happened A LOT when we were on dry food. but now it’s so rare, it’s not a big deal.
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