sedating a cat for grooming

Question
My cat is long haired and although she keeps herself very clean she does develop some matting that needs to be addressed by a groomer.  She does not like to be handled very much, other than patted and rubbed around her head and neck, and does not allow much brushing.  In the past I have had to take her to the vet to be completely sedated in order to have her groomed to remove these matts.  My groomer was at that time in the same building as my vet, however this is no longer the case.  Also, my vet charges $100 to sedate the cat.  I cannot afford to pay this fee continually and wondered if there is a safe over the counter method to calm the cat - I'm thinking gravol or benadryl - prior to the grooming.  The groomer has agreed to come to my home to see if she can groom her while I hold her and try to calm her.  She is 2.5 years old and very healthy and an indoor kitty.

Answer
Linda,

You can try asking your vet to give you a prescription for Acepromazine <sp?>. This should get your cat through the grooming "ordeal".  One caveat on all tranquilizers for cats is that many cats, if they feel you are "messing with their head", fight the tranquilizer and become worse than they would have been with nothing.  So, there are no guarantees here.

What you will also have to do, if you can get your cat calm enough is to not say a word and let the groomer ply their trade no matter how roughly they may appear to be treating the cat.  Cats are very, very tough, but make a lot more noise than the amount of discomfort they are in would really warrant <ggg>!

Good luck and best regards... Norm.