Grooming long-haired cat

Question
Hi,I have a 15-year old long-haired female cat. As she's gotten older, she's gotten lazy about grooming herself and gets quite a few hair mats. They are close to the skin and hard to clip out with scissors. I bought an Oster Golden A5 animal clipper, but the #10 blade that came with it does a slow, poor job of getting under the mats. Can you recommend a different sized blade, or an approach I can use to get these mats out quickly and painlessly? Thanks for any advice you can give!

Answer
Hello Sue, As painful as this sounds, it really is minimal compared to the slow removal done with shaving.  Take a metal grooming comb, go close to the matt and litterly comb under the matt and pull it out.  This is what you do when the matts are spred out.  If you have a cat that is completly matted then of course shave the cat, but if the matts are here and there then this method works effectivly. Most of the time matts are dead hair and can be removed quickly.  As with our own hair you feel a pull and once again the cat may protest, however if done quickly the deed is done and it will take less time then shaving.  If this is something you do not want to attemp then try the #15 blade, this blade is a little shorter and will go under the matt easier.  Good luck, Cindy lou :)