When a cat stops grooming

Pebbles is an elderly lady cat who has been with us for about a year.  She is a lovely cat and very pretty, small and dainty and with one blue eye and one green.  Her coat was matted when she came in and it’s become worse.   We asked the vet about it when Pebbles had a health check earlier this year.  It was too cold to do anything about it then, a coat with knots was better than having it all shaved off.

We’ve been trying to cut the knots out but this has proved to be extremely difficult.  Whilst Pebbles is laid back and lovely for most of the time, she has lightning fast reactions if anyone tries to cut a knot away.   Ouch!  Her claws are razor sharp. No matter how gentle we try to be there will be a lot of discomfort in de-tangling her.

An anaesthetic is not without risks for such an old cat but there seems little option.  The decision has been made and Pebbles is going in to the vets on Thursday.   They’ll check her out first and not go ahead unless they are happy with her general condition.   Then it’s an anaesthetic and the actual shaving won’t take long.   We’ll be glad when it’s over and we have little Pebbles back home with us.  Then we’ll have to start getting her used to being groomed.   Long haired cats need to be brushed and combed out every day.   So long as it doesn’t hurt they usually tolerate it.  It’s the knots they don’t like.