Matted kitty

My poor Yoda. He's a mess! I just found out that he has massive matting all over his body.

I never noticed them before because they're all in the undercoat of his beautiful fur. You don't see them. You don't even feel them while petting him. But yesterday, I was checking for fleas and noticed that my poor kitty is covered with massive mats.

It's bad. All over his back, sides, tummy and even tail. I feel like such a horrible cat owner for not noticing. How can I remove them? I'm thinking that my only recourse may be to get Yoda shaved. But he has such a beautiful coat, and I'm afraid that it may not grow back the same way.

Ideas?

My cat is the same way......I just discovered mats really close to his skin. He is going to the groomers on Saturday and getting a "Lion cut". That's where they shave the whole body except for the top half of the tail, the feet, and they don't shave above the sholders towards the head.
He is a inside cat so I would think even with being shaved the temps shouldn't affect him????
It is about $75 but should last about 3 months at least before he is back in full coat.

My grandparents got theirs shaved when they got to old to wrestle with her to brush her and i think it always grew in the same-She never looked happy after the shaves though She looked like a squirel to me.

I second the lion cut idea - with requests for pics!

Aww..poor thing, you could try gently brushing it out using dematting conditioners..or you might have to go with shaving him.. Here is a pic I couldn't resist posting...this is one pis$ed cat.Lion Cut.

Its probably best to shave the cat. Trying to brush it out will only result in a lot of pain for the cat.

THAT is the cutest picture! My cat has been shaved before. You would swear he thought he was the best thing since sliced bread. He really strutted his stuff!

I have Ragdoll cats, so I do shave them some times in the summer so they stay cooler, ect, not because of matts. I brush my cats and handle them often so I don't have cats with massive matts. I have noticed my older seal point grows her hair back the same, but it does seem to be getting darker, it could be just because she is aging, but I noticed it got darker after shaving her. Occationally, my cats will start to get a matt under their armpitts, but I get a brush or sizzors immediately to prevent any "massive matting" it can be very painfull to have them, it pulls their skin, so if you can't keep kitty brushed, shave him, so he isn't hurting from them.