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Our Coon, Monty, is 12 months old and over the last 3 months or so has developed some awful knots in his coat. We comb and brush on a bi-weekly basis, but his coat has got worse, so much so that we are considering having him shaved.
Are there any tips out there for keeping the knots down?
Should we get Monty shaved and start again with the combing?
Are there any products that will keep his coat knot free (like a conditioner)?
When will he lose his kitten coat fully and will that stop the knots?
Unfortunately I have found that coonies do get knots quite easily, especially under their legs and around their trousers and tummy etc !!! I know other breeders that have the same problem too !!! Montys' fluffy kitten coat should be starting do develop into his grown up coat soon! But even with a full adult coat they will still get knots.:rofl:
Because I show my cats they have got used to having baths on a regular basis, and this involves various shampoos and conditioners. I will have a look later and let you know which I prefer. I find the knots can then be worked out easier with the hairdryer and comb!
Have you bathed Monty at all yet?
If you want to try something before you resort to shaving him, myself and other breeders have used a special brush called a "Furminator" which is a bit pricey but does a good job. It works by stripping the fluffy undercoat out and is great with knots. Just hold the fur at the base of the knot and repeat brush strokes. If you are showing your cat not great as the Maine coon is supposed to have both coats visible but for the knot purpose is good.
Some Maine Coons are luckier than others in the fact that they will have a fantastic flowing coat - but this makes it prone to knotting!! Sounds like Monty- you will have to post some pics so we can see :smile: Other coonies get a bit dirty if they are outside sometimes and this doesn't help.
I know everything you read says MC's only need grooming up to twice a week, but I have found a little be more often if truth be known!!!
Hope this is of some use
Thanks
Jo
Thanks Jo, great advice. We'll certainly try the bathing and washing first. He loves water and often jumps in the shower to catch the drips after either of us have showered.
Can you tell me where I can source the Furminator and can you recommend shampoo and conditioner please?
I am not a cat lover that keeps my cats housebound, so Monty is an outdoor Coon and has some fantastic "chatty" moments with the birds in the garden. The neighbours love him and he has a couple of cat friends in the road. From what you said, I guess being outdoors doesn't help with the knots.
It's doubtful that we will be showing Monty, so I am not too worried about the under fur being stripped out, I am more concerned with how uncomfortable the knots must be for him.
Thanks again, look forward to your reply.
I brush twice a week and have to admit that Ive only ever found 1 knot. We dispensed of that with a pair of scissors and one of us distracting her with a brush :)
That's good advise from Jo, I haven't had too many problems with Harry and knots yet, he did have one under his front legs which was too close to the skin to ease off with the comb and brush so i sprayed a little of my leave in conditioner on it, left it for a few mins and it came out straight away with the comb :)
It's funny how maine coons love water! Just like Monty mine love to play with water- so much that I can never have a bath in peace as they are always sat on the side watching and dipping their toes in :satisfied: Sounds great that Monty is such as sociable boy too. He seems very popular in the neighbourhood!
I think the knots pull on the cats skin when they are under their legs, especially as they move, so can't be very comfy for them.
I bought my Furminator from a good website where I get quite a few things for the cats Vet UK: Selling Hills Prescription Diet, Frontline Spot On, Royal Canin, Feliway, DAP, Drontal, Hills Science Plan, Seraquin, James Wellbeloved for less. :smile: Pets at home also do their own version of the comb if you look in the grooming range.
My fave products for washing the cats belong to the "ANJU Beaute" range. The Cachemire nourishing shampoo brings the coat up nicely and they have various detangling sprays which help along the way. I tend to use Absolu Professional Detangler with good effect. I was first introduced to these products at the Supreme cat show, and thought i'd give them a go. They also have a website Anju Beauté - La ligne cosmétique pour les chiens et les chats but I am not too sure who sources it in the uk directly as have only bought it at shows.
Hope this is useful enough for now.
Cheers
Jo x
There's some good advice there.... I will ahve to remember it.
I try to brush Gryfn every couple of nights, just to get him used to being brushed. So far we haven't had any knots.
Sarah seems to have a tendency to knot under her arms and back legs, I give her a quick comb every night just before bedtime which seems to slow it down. If I have missed a couple of nights and she gets a knot then I either break the knot open with the scissors ( cutting through the middle of the knot ) or cut it out. She does NOT like me trying to comb it out and gets cranky. Zack is yet to grow enough length to knot
To answer your question I found a quick comb every night seemed to lessen the problem
Been pretty lucky with Winston. the only place he has got1/2 few knots is on his behind :LOL: I just snipped them off with a sissors and he was fine again.
I would imagine if he were going outdoors though that he would ge more knots on his coat.
I have tried dealing with knots in multiple ways. Maxie played too much with the furminator, and I cut myself one time using scissors, so those are out. Fortunately, he is so good natured that he will tolerate being shaved without having to be medicated in any way, and with just me holding him down. This is extremely stressful to him, however, so I hate having to do it. What has finally been the best solution is hand-grooming him during "cuddle time." He loves to lie with my in bed with his legs in the air. I worry at the knots in between petting him, and after they are worried with enough, I can finally simply pull them out. Yes, these cats are so gentle that mine tolerates me pulling out big clumps of hair, leaving a bald spot. May not work for your guy, but Maxie seems to enjoy it.
HiQuote:
Originally Posted by Jocats
My name is Pauline Owens. I am the UK distributor for Anju Beaute products and it was my stand you purchased from at the Supreme. I have been exhibiting there for several years now.
I can be contacted at pollyowens@btconnect.com or 029 2059 6833. I am currently constructing a web site and will let the Forum know when this is available.
If anyone would like a brochure, price list and samples, please contact me. I look forward to meeting you all.
HiQuote:
Originally Posted by Jocats
My name is Pauline Owens. I am the UK distributor for Anju Beaute products and it was my stand you purchased from at the Supreme. I have been exhibiting there for several years now.
I can be contacted at pollyowens@btconnect.com or 029 2059 6833. I am currently constructing a web site and will let the Forum know when this is available.
If anyone would like a brochure, price list and samples, please contact me. I look forward to meeting you all.
Hey one of my kittens is called Monty! He's the one in the salad bowl there. Would love to see a picture of yours!
Re. knots, my MCs haven't had knots yet, but our old Persian would get quite a few. He hated the brush so we only had a small 'window of opportunity' with it. So any tricky knots would get removed with the beard trimmers! Luckily he didn't mind the noise and he actually preferred it to the brush and comb because it didn't pull on him. It was like sheep shearing!
If you have knots deal with them straight away!!!!! I speak from experience. When we got Brisca she had a matt on her chest but we didn't do anything about it for a couple of weeks as she was new to us and we didn't want to frighten her. What a mistake! As some of you may have seen on other threads, I was close to having her sedated and shaved but luckily we managed. 3 people, a furminator, matt splitter, scissor and 40 mins later we managed to get it off. It was 3 inches long, 2 inches wide and about 1/2 inch deep and right on the skin. It was hard work but I know she feels much better now. I wish I'd started to work on it when we first got her, poor baby wouldn't have to go through so much trauma!
What size Furminator works the best?
My small one is just fine. I've not tried anything else
I have the small Furminator. It rocks.
When I got Bubba and Rascal from the pound they both needed to have mats shaved off.
Bubba had to have his whole belly shaved at first.
I tried the Furminator on him because he had so much hair and was quite a shedder.
http://www.sonic.net/~claudel/bubba-fuminator-01.jpg
First go.
http://www.sonic.net/~claudel/bubba-fuminator-02.jpg
Second round, a couple of weeks later.
It definitely got a lot of hair off of him, but I quit using it because I didn't care for the way it left his coat.
Ha ha, omg, on that first picture I thought there were two cats, can't believe all that came off him !!! I'm still using a brush and comb for Harry, he's ok with me grooming him, but he does think it's play time so we have to use decoy tactics to get to the tricky parts.
Elvis doesn't shed so much and he seems to like being brushed so I haven't had to use the Furminator on him yet.
Hopefully I wont need to. I don't care for the way it leaves the hair ends.
Bubba went from 25lbs to 19lbs after... :LOL:
Just kidding, it only seemed like pounds of hair....
Whoa that's a lot of hair! :LOL:
:koolkat:Hi Jo
You bought your Anju from me at the Supreme. Anju is based in Paris but I am the UK distributor.
I'll be there again this year on stand A7, right by the Long and Semi-Long hair pens. I'll have the full range with me and there will be the usual special offers.
I hope lots of you will come over to say hello and to find out just how lovely Anju products are.
Look forward to seeing you there.
Pauline Owens
pollyowens@btconnect.com
mobile: 07817 469511
landline: 029 2059 6833
I'd like to bump this thread to get a bit of help. We have a Maine Coon who is now coming up to 11 months old. He's principally an indoor cat, but he is allowed the run of the garden, and has shown no signs of wanting to go further afield than that.
In the last month or so I have found matted knots in his front leg underarms, and then some larger ones in his rear leg underarms. This weekend I found (to my horror) a couple of whoppers on his top side, either side of the base of his spine/root of his tail.
How quickly do these things develop? We groom him weekly if we can, but he's never really cared much for grooming. You get the warning of the tail tip flicking, and after that he'll make a grab/bite for the grooming brush at at time. We use a defurminator and a brush to groom him, and I'm a bit stumped as to where the topside mats have come from.
So far I have had moderate success trying to cut them out with some very sharp nail scissors. This has to be done when he is sound asleep, as he really is not a fan of having them cut out either (when he went to vet to be done, it is fair to say that he went down fighting. Mrs G66 felt so had at the state he left the vet and the nurse in that she bought them a gift each). So far I haven't got any of them out completely, and cutting into them doesn't seem to be breaking them up very much.
Is this a characteristic of his kitten fur? Is he likely to develop them less, or will he always be a bit "matty".
This is a rather ropey cameraphone picture from a couple of months ago.:
Attachment 2920
I have had great success with a quick unpick - put the point though the knot and lift upwards and the sharp edge in the middle seems to break the knot and it can be combed out much easier with less pulling. I find it quicker than scissors. Zack seems to knot under arms and on britches quite quickly and as he shows I get on top of them while small so the least amount of hair is removed. My breeder put me onto this.
Attachment 2921
Ah. Will give one of those a go. Certainly needs something sharp - they are so dense that the only scissors I have that get into them are the supersharp ones on a folding penknife.
