Thread: Grooming?

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.

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!

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.

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!!

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?

Suzygeorgie - Dakota's underbelly is always curly, and we groom regularly. We call it his "poodle-hair/poodle-doo". The texture is is very soft too! I notice it more in the summer here, and figured it has to do with heat (it gets so bloomin' hot here) - but now I'm thinking perhaps not! Not many MCs in Tucson, AZ, so I haven't been able to "compare notes". Oh, and he always ends up sleeping this way on the sofa or chair (but not on the bed). MCs are so peculiar (and such fun)!

Two of ours have curly tummies even though I groom them every other day. Actually Moonlight's tummy seems to go curly the minute I take the comb away! Sunshine's so laid back he just lies there on his back and lets me get on with it. Shadow's not keen - I wait until she's 'playing' and rolling around - can manage to do underneath then. Good job she has the least fluffy/knotty fur. All their fur is different though. It gets quite addictive grooming them....!