I agree with you. Obviously she is far more uncomfortable with you
trying to fiddle with her mats than she is just having them.

Smudge gets mats all the time, and when she's hanging out with me, I
can't stop myself from trying to pull them apart. I actually do it
very gently, which I think is less uncomfortable, and also,
surprisingly, more effective than pulling them hard. But even with my
being careful, she still gets annoyed after a while. It depends on
the location of the mat - if it's near her head, she doesn't mind so
much. But if it's down near the rear end of her body, she won't
tolerate my doing it for even a second. She doesn't like to be
brushed in that area either, although she *loves* being brushed
around her head and upper body.

I think mats can be painful once they get entrenched. They pull on
the cat's skin, and if not removed, can eventually cause irritation
and even infection. But since KFC is a shorthair, I doubt that's an
issue. It's a much bigger issue when the cat is a longhair and they
start to develop serious dreadlocks.

I once had to shave the rear end of Smudge's fur completely off
because it was covered with dreads. And I didn't have the money to
have her groomed professionally, so I did it myself with the help of
two other people, one of whom was formerly a professional pet
groomer. What a nightmare that was! I hope never to experience that
again. So now, I gently pull apart her mats whenever I encounter
them, and try to stop them from turning into big clumps. I also clip
them off with scissors when I can. That's probably not an option with
KFC, because hers are probably too short to begin with. You don't
want to get too close to a squirmy cat's skin with sharp scissors!

I admit that teasing apart Smudge's mats is an enjoyable and even
somewhat compulsive habit of mine, that is probably appealing to my
chimp ancestry. :)

Joyce

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