Grooming?

[bookworm]

Dear Folks,

We have two Maine Coons which we love dearly. However despite our best efforts they get terrible knots in the fur on their stomachs. Sometimes we have no choice but to cut them off with scissors.

Do any other owners have some grooming tips or effective grooming aids (I have a drawer full of various pads, brushes etc?)

Many thanks

Iain Noble (plus Julescoon Tappy Toes and Julescoon Tinker Winker.)

[claudel]

Fur mats are kind of part of the package with Maine Coons.

When I got my first ( Bubba, RIP ) from the pound his belly was so matted I had to have him shaved. ( It does grow back, eventually... )

Some folks like the Furminator brush, or something similar, but I personally don't care for the results.



The best way I found to get rid of mats when they're already formed is what you discovered, a blunt pointed pair of scissors. Careful to not get skin.

Regular brushing/combing is the best way to prevent them. Start when the kits are young and try to make it fun instead of a confrontation.

Elvis likes the brush but he has short patience for dematting....

[curlytowers]

Hello!
We have 2 boys that we adopted - they were 5 & 6 when we had them and don't think they'd been groomed very often at all. Bob's coat was ok and he likes being groomed, but Bass's coat was awful, his fur was matted - lugs everywhere! He went to the vets twice in the space of 3 months to be de-matted and now we groom him every other day. He hates it, but we find little and often with some treats works best! And he's a much happier boy - I think the lugs pull their skin and must be very uncomfortable.

We use a mix of dog brushes - the ones with wires that are spread out, combs, kids safety scissors (as these are small and blunt) and the Furminator.
One tip I would suggest is putting a comb between their skin and knot and cut through the knot, this way their skin is safe and you can tease the knot out if most of it has been cut away.

Hope that helps!

Sarah

[Fozzie]

Mufasa gets lots of knots on his stomach, particularly where his legs rub on his fur. Thanks to a recommendation, I recently purchased the Mikki Mat Splitter which I use to split the knots (I expect it works the same way as Claudel's blunt scissors). It looks like a letter opener and the point slides through the knot whilst the blades cut through it after. It is not very good for knots close to the skin though and I suspect cutting carefully is the only way to remove these.

Mikki Matt Splitter for Small Matts: Amazon.co.uk: Pet Supplies

It is also available from Pets at Home and Pet Planet.

[Peter Galbavy]

I think I'm just very lucky but my 3 are so attentive to each other and share grooming that I am pleasantly suprised at how little work it takes. I still brush them for our mutual pleasure and they do get knots under their hind legs and near the bum from the usual

[Howlinbob]

Hi Iain
My surname is Noble too, and there is a Julescoon in Larry and Monty's pedigree (grandfather, I think)!

With grooming, prevention, and little and often, are my tips. If only I could follow my own advice, though!

I made a point of getting my lads used to brushing early on, but now they are at the bolshy teenager stage it's much more difficult, especially with Monty as he's such a drama queen. I wait until they're asleep and then do some brushing, I've got no chance otherwise. Chest and armpits are where the knots appear, as these areas are most difficult to access - for me and for them.
If I can't tease and comb them out, I resort to baby nail scissors (rounded tips). Or the OH's cordless beard trimmers - just like sheep-shearing! Larry will let us use these but with Monty, forget it. The minute he hears them switched on he's on the horizon.

[mc-becca]

Like others, I've found patience is key (and availability of comb/scissors). We've tried the Furminator too -- Dakota HATES it. Last year I found a handy item on Amazon. The Safari Cat Shedding Comb. Not sure what it's "Magic" is, but Dakota lets us get the smaller mats with it and it doesn't appear to pull as much on his skin. Perhaps it's the comb tooth design? Safari has other cat grooming items as well, but I've never used them. We try to run the comb through him once a day (particularly his ruff, britches, and "armpits"). He tolerates it, as he knows he gets his fresh food afterwards (he doesn't like treats). Sometimes he even purrs.

I've added a pic, so you can see what the comb looks like. It's going to take time and a lot of patience with them. Good Luck!

[cooncatbob]

Samantha used to get mats on her britches, while she liked to be groom she didn't like grooming her britches.
I had good luck with a comb called the "Untangler" It has wide spread tines that rotate.
Seems to me some MCC are more prone to matting then others, I wonder if this is due to the cats being bred to have a soft plush coat.
I can't believe that when MCC were farm cats in the harsh New England climate that they would have been so prone to matting.

[Bethy_boo]

With my girlies I've learned that you can only groom when they are good and ready. I've tried chasing Poif around and she will run and hide in all sorts of silly places. Ffion is usually more open to being groomed and I've noticed that once Poif sees me grooming Ffion she more often than not comes over to join in the grooming fun.

I start with a generic untangler comb with wide spaces, mostly to get them used to combing and get out less entrenched tangles. After that I get a human nit comb on them. This also doubles as a flea-catching device...very useful for monitoring how much of a problem they are. I try and do this once a week and that seems to work so far. We've only had to get the electric shaver out once and that was after the girls had poorly tummies!!

[Suzygeorgie]

Interesting tips about grooming. So far Kenny hasn't suffered from any matting and I have a variety of grooming aids - wide toothed brush, comb, furminator (which I really didn't like - and neither did Kenny!) and a plastic brush. I try and get him groomed underneath his tummy and back of his legs two or three times a week but he's not really keen on it. Do other owners find their underside fur goes curly if you don't regularly brush it?