What To Do If The Cat Is Covered With Tangles

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

… Once upon a time there was a cat. He was fluffy and very clean. But once the owners began to notice that the fur of their fluffy pet had faded and began to roll into lumps - at first small and soft, and then more and more dense, until, finally, all the fur of the cat from a fluffy cloud turned into a tight-fitting clothing, resembling in quality felt. What happened?

Unfortunately, this is the problem of so many long-haired and semi-long-haired cats. No matter how hard the owners try to comb and unravel the wool tangles, everything ends with the same thing - a haircut. An interesting fact is that the wool of cats is more susceptible to rolling and formation of tangles (60-70%) and to a lesser extent - cats. Of course, these phenomena do not happen by themselves. In most cases, wool rolling is observed with metabolic disorders (in particular, fat metabolism disorders), chronic urolithiasis, liver and biliary tract diseases. Violation of the feeding rules, insufficient care of long and fluffy hair are also contributing factors. Many animals simply do not allow themselves to be combed, behave aggressively, and their coat becomes more and more neglected. Ultimately, the skin under the matted hair also undergoes changes: diaper rash, dandruff, eczema appear, and quite noticeable itching occurs. Cats can become irritable and uncommunicative during this period. With a far-reaching process, they can refuse to eat and become indifferent to everything that happens.

What should the owners do with such a cat or a cat? Of course, first of all, you need to try manually, without the help of tools, very carefully to untangle the matted hair, at least in those parts of the body where the cat allows it to be done. If the animal is accustomed to combing wool from childhood, you can try to break the tangles using a rare comb or a collar cutter. If this cannot be done, then there is only one way out - to cut the tangles. But, alas, not every cat will allow this procedure to be done so easily. In principle, painless with skillful use of scissors, a haircut can turn into a nightmare, since most cats cannot stand even one type of scissors and in panic they flee or begin to defend themselves.

Hairdressers come to the aid of such animals. First of all, the animal calms down with the help of anesthetics (special drugs that immerse the cat in a kind of sleep). It is better if this procedure is carried out under the supervision of a veterinarian. The animal relaxes and no longer experiences negative emotions when cutting. Then each koltoun stands out and, if there are few of them, are cut with scissors. If the wool is matted on almost all parts of the body, it is better to make a complete haircut using a special clipper. With this haircut, the length of the coat does not exceed 0.5 cm, which prevents re-entanglement. The coat can remain unshorn only in those parts of the body where it does not tend to felle - on the face and lower legs.

After trimming, the cat can be washed immediately. It is very good to use shampoos and balms containing mink oil or tea tree oil - they perfectly restore the fat balance of the skin and have a beneficial effect on minor abrasions and other damage to the skin.

After washing, you need to dry the cat with a hairdryer and wrap it in a dry terry towel. While the cat is still half asleep, other necessary hygiene procedures can be carried out: trim the nails, assess the condition of the teeth and ears.

When the cat fully recovers, try to protect it from drafts and hypothermia - after all, devoid of most of the hair, it will not be able to fully heat itself. Do not allow a cropped cat to sit on the vents and near windows. Remember that hypothermia for cats is fraught with colds.

And one more necessary reminder: if you notice that your cat's hair begins to actively roll into tangles, this is a signal that something is not right in the cat's body. You may need to consult a specialist to identify the cause of these violations.