non groomer

[The Piddler]

:cat11 One of my older kitties has taken to not grooming herself at all!
She only allows me to brush her from her head to about mid back area - the rest of her has become matted and greasy feeling, etc.... she will growl - bite - snip and spit and hiss like a maniac if I try to groom her around her back end

I am thinking I need to take her to the Vet's or groomers and have her professionally done ~ unless someone has any other ideas for me?
Thanks
Deb

[yola]

Deb - do you know I'm not certain about this one . . . maybe thick gloves and body armour are in order??? ;)

Seriously - are you able to distract kitty with some tasty treats whilst you quickly brush the worst of the tangles out? Maybe the wrap-the-cat-in-a-towel trick would work? Kitty would feel secure and you could just expose the bits you need to tidy up and just do it little by little?

Hope that helps . . . my Darcy wriggles and growls but I just pin him down and get on with combing him :shock: *bad mummy*

[Amadeus]

Put a sock over her head.

[The Piddler]

Put a sock over her head.
Holy cow! I never thought about using this method!

Thanks Yola for your reply as well ~ Bootsie definately has some emotional issues and she is such an emotional wreck these days (ah the joys of a geriatric kitty home) There is NO distracting her at all - tried all the tricks I could think of with no luck.......... but that sock idea....now there is one to try. I will report back if I have any hands left to type with :D

[Abbi]

Hi

I had a similar problem with my Daisy - please please please get it sorted, I left it and left it, and then ended up with a major problem, Daisy went out one day and because her hair is semi long haired, and matted where she was not grooming, she went to the loo and get "stuff" caught in her fur - the next thing I know she has flies all around her :cry: Its called fly strike, and can be fatal! I took her to the vets the same evening and she has to be sedated and all the fur had to be shaved off. Look it up on the internet - its not a pretty sight - so please get the babies fur sorted otherwise other problems could occur.

Good luck
Abbi

[LaKitten]

Deb....

Try this! It may take two people but worth a shot. Get Mike to hold her by the scruff of the neck. Like a momma cat would do. But you will have to hold her firmly. Normally when held that way they will not move. I have seen vets do this with problem animals so that they can tend to them. Maybe put a towel or something on the kitchen table and do it there so you dont have to bend over! That is how I get the tangles out of Sunshine!

[The Piddler]

Thanks Everyone! Barb, as you know Bootsie is sooooooooo neurotic, I am just taking her to the Vets this week and get her done. *sigh* We tried the scruff/nect thing again yesterday and she was just so very afraid, she really stressed out. Drugs are the answer here!

[Kazz]

Hi Piddler

Can I ask how old is your cat? I ask because my cat Oscar won't let you groom around his back legs but that is due to the "pain/discomfort" from Arthritis. I am lucky in the fact he is shorthaired and has always endured being combed have you tried the grooming glove? when you get this sorted at the vets then try the grooming glove it does work.

Karen

[The Piddler]

Kazz - Bootsie snow 13 - that indeed could be some of her issues........
She goes on Friday and hopefully will be just gorgeous when she comes back home :)

[yola]

Good luck Deb!

[Snoof]

I stole a cat a while ago. Erm, that's maybe not a good way to start this story... :lol:

My ex-boyfriend's neighbour had 3 cats. Two were elderly - Rajah was 14ish, the older one was near 20, and the third was young and robust and male (other two were female). The man just put a bowl of food out every day and never let them in. The young cat would beat the older two away from the bowl, and their owner didn't care - so when I saw Rajah becoming worse and worse I decided that if he didn't do something by the time it got colder I would take her home with me and take her to a vet. She got steadily skinnier, and then one day after I'd not seen her for a week I saw her and she had stopped grooming. All of her fur hung in clots and snarls, and she'd lost even more weight.

So I went home and fetched my cat carrier (which I had despite not having a cat at the time - always prepared for one though as most of my cats have been impromptu rescues, though this is the only one I nicked) and we called her inside my ex's house, put her in the box and rang a taxi.

Straight to the vet's, and he said that if she'd been left outside for another week, she probably would've frozen to death :(

Anyway, my point is... (sorry, lost track there) ...I used to comb her fur out, one small bit at a time. Some of the bigger clots had to be cut out carefully and then had to grow back. It took me about a month to get her fur all sorted (but she had it messed up all over), but it was worth it to do it slowly so she didn't get traumatised by an attempt to do it all at the same time.

If she won't allow you near it, have you checked to see if she has any injuries there, or maybe even a rash of some sort? It might be worth it to take her into a vet and have them check; they'll also be able to give you advice on how to remove it.

That said, I also had a cat who was too fat to wash his back (a neighbour overfed him all the time) and ended up having to hold him down and comb clots out of his back. I'm still surprised he never actually managed to claw me, he did try!

Edit: I didn't steal the 20-year-old because she was being fed by other neighbours and was being cared for by them as well.

[The Piddler]

Snoof - I am so thankful that you rescued that poor baby from that heartless neighbor! Thank you for sharing that story with us **hugs**
Bootsie has been taken care of by my friends at the SPCA and she is looking much better now!

[Snoof]

Sorry, I realised after I posted that I revived a pretty old thread. **hugs**

Rajah was very happy and got better, but unfortunately I had to give her up once I'd nursed her back to health. Council flat and I wasn't allowed pets :(

[LMC]

Hope that helps . . . my Darcy wriggles and growls but I just pin him down and get on with combing him :shock: *bad mummy*

:smt043 - sorry :oops: - but I have to do that with Amber. As long as she's fairly relaxed in the first place, she's not too bad with her back being done. But the minute I turn her over to try to do her tummy and her little armpits she starts creating.

[yola]

:smt043 - sorry :oops: - but I have to do that with Amber. As long as she's fairly relaxed in the first place, she's not too bad with her back being done. But the minute I turn her over to try to do her tummy and her little armpits she starts creating.

Kitty armpits . . . aren't they the cutest? :shock:

[Donna]

I love the extra long bits of fur on the back of the tops of their legs!! Especially Chloe's cos she has longish fur and it looks like she wearing baggy trousers!! :-P

[LMC]

Has anyone ever tried a strimmer? :-D

Seriously, Amber has problems washing where the hair under her chin is so long and keeps getting caught. She's not a show cat, just a moggy. I was wondering whether to get one of these bikini trimmers (http://www.boots.com/shop/product_details.jsp?productid=1034150&classificationid=1027720&slmRefer=000)(I have one to use on me! - and they are narrower than head hair trimmers for all those, er, hard to reach places... like cats' armpits for instance :lol: ). The result would be neater than scissors and I'm sure that shearing Amber in the spring will add to her comfort in the summer, even if she does look strange for a week or so because I have to do it in stages! Anyone ever tried one on their cat?

[yola]

LMC - I haven't tried it. But back in 2003 when we had that seriously hot summer - remember it well as I was 9 months preg. in the August :shock: I asked the vet if she thought I should get my hairiest persian, Fifi clipped (lion cut). She said she best not coz if a cat isn't used to it the stress caused by clipping is disproportionate to the benefits.

However if you have a calm cat that is unfazed by such activities you could probably give it a shot - but maybe check with the vet first?