Extremly Matted Stray/Farm Cat

Bettyboo222

Bettyboo222

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 April 2010
Messages
3,099
Location
In front of my computer
Visit site
There is a cat on our farm, it was a family pet but they abandoned it so he lives on the farm. The problem is his fur is vey very matted in places. He was obviously once a family pet because he lets you stroke him but when you touch one of the matts he yowls and claws at you, so they must be painful.

Does anyone know how much a vet would charge to clip out the matts ?
 
I used to clip matted lumps out of my cat's coat, you have to be very very careful and use round ended scissors!

Dunno how much a vet would charge to do it, but a matted coat can be a sign of illness in the cat (it doesn't feel up to cleaning itself) so it might be an idea to take him to the vet to make sure he's okay...

:)
 
I don't know about cost but when we've had it done the vet had to sedate the cat and that was the main part of the bill. The nurses do the clipping. Give them a ring and ask! Otherwise could you rope in a friend to help, wrap the cat in a towel and do it bit by bit? And wear gloves!
 
The plan is to wrap in a towel and do bit by bit clipping, but its finding somewhere secure to do it. I might have to do it in my stable with the door shut, he is a medium haired cat and the matts are on his flank ? area
 
Our last cat was a stray at the livery stables I'm at. For ages, (about a yr), he didn't come near anyone, just skulked about looking thoroughly hacked off. Then one evening, when I was feeling really low after losing my cat, he came ovr and was the most affectionate cat! He turned out to be part Bengal, and was the best cat we ever had, sadly got hit by a car outside my house. He didn't normally venture out, just used to go to loo in neighbours' flower pots!
may2010015-1.jpg
 
Last edited:
Our Vets charge around £50 to sedate and dematt. If he is really bad, prob kinder to do it that way the first time. Once the mats are out, you could maybe get him to enjoy being brushed, and prevent them coming back.
 
A stray black long haired cat turned up here last winter, terribly thin and full of similar matts.
The vet said he needed to be sedated to clip them out but then both of us realised as an outside cat he would freeze to death.
I fed him every day on some stairs so he was off the ground and managed to carefully snip under the matts with nail scissors as he was eating. By the end of the winter he resembled a scrag bag but in summer his whole coat grew back and now he is beautiful.
You need to go at the matts from the sides just snipping tiny tiny pieces to start with, then over days you can get under the clumps.
The other way is wrap him in a thick towel and just cut them out with the nail scissors. It will hurt a bit but not as much as long term knots..
 
My neighbour was quoted over £100 for clipping a cat at the vets - they said they can't just sedate a cat as it's too tricky to get the dose right, so they go for a general, hence the huge bill.

She and I ended up doing it, with the help of towels and blunt ended scissors - oh and some tough gloves!
 
We have a long haired cat that appeared a couple of years ago on the farm, the gradual snipping off of matts worked with her and she had some big lumps:eek:
If someone can help you all the better, just make sure your scissors are sharp even if they have round ends (if you see what I mean)
We all fuss her and snip out little matts as soon as they start to appear. She is well cared for now and happy but all that fluff needs keeping an eye on.
 
If the cat will let you touch it, you could try to start very carefully snipping the tats off at the base with some sharp but round-ended scissors. I think once they realise that what you are doing eases pain (it's got to be sore when the hair is being pulled all the time), they let you carry on. Year ago, we had a stray who used to come and steal our cats food. He had a matt down his back, and he was quite nervous, but one day I put food out on the doorstep for him and he ate that while I clipped the matt off his back - it was mental, like felt, and had obviously been there for ages. The hair never grew back in on part of the area that the matt had covered - he moved in with us and ended up being named 'Riley' as in 'live the life of'.
I have one now who is ex-feral and quite nervy. She has the longest hair I've ever seen on a cat and really struggles to manage it all herself. I spend lots of time trying to clip tats off her, and usually she will stay still just long enough for me to do one at a time. If they are in awkward places, like between her back legs, she will often go for weeks without letting me touch the tat, then all of a sudden she will lie down and lift her leg out of the way for it to be clipped off.
 
A friend who is a pet groomer uses the middles of toilet rolls when tidying up cats. Put each leg into a toilet roll middle and tape to leg. This protects you from the claws. Place cat on a slippery surface then have someone hold while you carefully snip out the matted hair.
 
A friend of mine has a long haired cat that gets matted at times. She swears by Solo combs! She brushes the cat with the solo comb and when she gets to a knot just cuts of. She says its the best thing shes ever found!
 
Evelyn said:
A friend who is a pet groomer uses the middles of toilet rolls when tidying up cats. Put each leg into a toilet roll middle and tape to leg. This protects you from the claws. Place cat on a slippery surface then have someone hold while you carefully snip out the matted hair.
Click to expand...

That is such a good idea, currently in my tack room is gloves, rounded sicssors, cat food, harness and next to be is toilet roll tubes
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top