Cat with bad matting

My husband and I just noticed that our cat Max has horrible matts all along his backside. We never saw them before because the top layer of hair is fine; the mats are all in his undercoat. They're right next to the skin, so I'm hesitant to take a scissors to them. What's the best way to get rid of these horrible things?

My in laws use clippers and shave there cat twice a year. It is not overly pretty but it does work and the matts are gone, well with no hair it is kinda hard for the hair to matt.

Yes, I agree with yuckaduck and would get the mats shaved out. Mats gets so tight against the skin and if you cut it out with scissors you'll definitely end up cutting him by accident. You’ll probably need to get it done by a groomer or vet unless you have a #10 blade and clipper that you could use to shave him with.

This is what it says in my sheltie book about mat's...

If your dog does develop a mat, try to work it free using your fingers. Never bathe a dog with mats - that will make it worse. If the mat wil not come apart with your fingers, you can slip one blade of your scissor in and work it out, slicing the hair. you will have some coat loss, but it will help get rid of the mat quicker and easier. Be sure to keep the outside of the scissor against the skin, and the sharp side agains the mat, facing away from the dog. Turning the scissors sideways may make you cut the skin. Never pull up on the mat and cut it with scissors- it's really easy to cut the skin this way.

You might try to saturate the mat with straight creme rinse (people brand okay). Work it through and let it soak for a while, it will rinse out during the bath. This may make it easier to comb after trying to brush it through with your slicker brush.

I dont know if that will be of any help with your cat but it's worth a shot goodluck!

My horse trainer had to take clippers to her barn cats every once in a while. I agree with yuck, it's not pretty, but it works.

My suggestion is to contact a groomer and have the mats shaved out. Vet clinics see way too many cats that need to be stitched up after the owners have tried to cut mats out It's very, very hard to get the mats out with scissors without cutting the skin. Most groomers can buzz the mats off very quickly!

ask my mom she used to manage a pet shop and that same thing happened with Figgy, but he still has knots one his stomach.My mom just cut them out.What I do, since Figgy squirms for me, I gently use a slicker brush and run it over the knot.The fir turs white where the knot is. (This only works on black,brown, or grey cat's LOL!)
You simply pull on the white pa5rt gently and it comes out not very easily...LOL.Thos works when you have only gotten three scratches and fifteen bites LOL.

Our maine coons have the same problem. I try to work them out with my fingers gently, but my older cat finally had to go to the groomer and get shaved. The groomer said shaving is easier for the cat than trying to comb out the mats because the pulling of the hair can hurt.

Figgy doesn't seem to mind, he just minds when one of the bristles of the brush get's tangled in the knot...I pull it ^^^ up.then the knot comess out most of the time easy...

You're lucky Sheba. If it bothers them, first the claws come out and then the teeth.

My cat Frisky, who is is very fat, used to get really bad mats on her back because she could not reach there to groom. I found the only way to get them out was a profressional groomer to shave them off. But, I got tired of having to pay for it, so I got in the habit of brushing her frequently. She loves it and she has not had a mat in years. The brush I found that works well, I don't the name, but it resembles a small metal rake - works like a charm.

I bought a brush for Max and will start using it on him daily, since he's too lazy to do it himself, LoL. I looked into getting Max shaved. Dang, it's somewhere around $50! Oh well...