Matting

Question
I have a long hair cat.She seems to get mats in her fur overnight. Some I can comb out and some I have to cut out. I was wondering if I could use No tangle spray that people use for their little girls? Thank you for any advice.

Answer
Randy,

Two things, do you bath her?  If not, bathing is the best way to get old hair out of the coat while they are shedding and helps to prevent mats.  You can use a no tangle shampoo for children or a product specifically for pets (see your nearest pet supermarket).  I would be leery of a spray unless it was made for pets.

Secondly, she needs to be knot & mat free before bathing otherwise she will mat up worse. While all this is going on bathing once a week should be enough.  We use a product called Groomers Goop to degrease (it is not as harsh as the normal goop). We then use a daily clarifying shampoo (like Suave or Pantene) to strip the coat and make it wetter than wet.  Any good human shampoo after that would be warranted (we like Ice Shine, if you can still find it).

Be sure to clip he claws before trying to bath her. We use a utility sink with a sprayer hooked up.  Make sure you thoroughly rinse at each step, and when you think you have rinsed enough, rinse some more.  You can towel her dry and put her in a wire crate to dry (in a dry warm, draft free place). We use a "Holmes" heater set on high fan and lowest heat for 45 minutes to help them dry. Be careful whatever heater you get as some of them are way too hot even on their lowest setting.  If you live in a low humidity location, you can probably skip the heater, a she will dry pretty quickly anyway.

Best regards... Norm.