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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / March 2008GAH!!!!
I occasionally do some petsitting for people. One of the people I petsit for is my neighbour. She has 2 long haired cats - one who she claims dislikes being groomed. I haven't seen the cats for several months as she lives over the other side of the road and the cats rarely go out. Yesterday, I fed them as the owner went on holiday. (I'm looking after them for 2 weeks). The poor girlcat, Saffy, is so badly matted that her whole coat is solid felt. She looks exactly like an RSPCA neglect case. The owner clearly hasn't brushed or groomed the poor cat in months, because her coat didn't get like this overnight. I've enlisted the help of a friend and I have started tackling Saffys coat. I've clipped off about a third of the matted hair so far, and my aim is to get the rest of it done by the end of the week, but I am so bloody angry on Saffys behalf. These cats are fed premium food, and are loved and spayed etc, and Trevor (the boycat), his coat is fine. But saffy is a mess. Quite frankly, I don't give a flying pigs testicle that my neighbour is going to come back to a bald cat. At least Saffy will be free of the stinking matts. I am friendly with the local RSPCA Animal Welfare Officer (AWO), and once the neighbour is back off holiday, I'm thinking of asking her to have a friendly word about Saffys welfare, i.e. keep up with her grooming, but has anyone got any sugestions as to how I can deal with the whole thing diplomatically without involving the RSPCA? Although I have a good relationship with the AWO, I am still *REALLY* suspicious of them, as the local RSPCA inspector is a complete prick and the owner *does* adore and love her cats (with the exception of getting Saffy groomed). I also want to retain access to the cats by looking after them on their owners holidays, but at the moment want to batter the owner with a baseball bat! Sorry for the rant, but it's *SO* unneccessary for an animal to have a coat in a shocking matted condition and I needed to get it off my chest. Thanks Helen M Is there somewhere she could take Saffy every month to have her groomed and necessary parts shaved? My aunt has her two Himies bathed and trimmed every two months, including belly shaving. Maybe she just really can't keep up with it and doesn't know what options she might have. It does sound like she cares but is overwhelmed Jo >I occasionally do some petsitting for people. One of the people I > petsit for is my neighbour. She has 2 long haired cats - one who she [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > Thanks > Helen M > Is there somewhere she could take Saffy every month to have her groomed and > necessary parts shaved? My aunt has her two Himies bathed and trimmed every [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Jo Some cats strenuously object to being brushed - it may not be entirely the neighbors fault! (Often they're much more likely to allow a stranger to take such liberties, whereas they have their slaves well trained.) I've only had two long-haired cats, so far. Tigrita would get nasty mats once in a while - mostly her belly fur. The only way to deal with them was to clip them, although I got to be pretty cautious about that, after the time I clipped a big, thick one from her side, despite her vociferous protests. (This was a cat who screamed bloody-murder when you changed her flea collar, so I'd learned to ignore such histrionics.) She ran outside when I'd finished, then came in about a half hour later with a big, gaping sore on her side! Apparently I'd nicked her a bit with the scissors, and her licking at it resulted in a rather large vet bill (several stitches, and a "belly bandage" which drove the poor beastie frantic). Melisande is long-hair, too, but her fur is so super-soft that it doesn't seem to mat (although she certainly hacks up some impressive hairballs from time to time). >I occasionally do some petsitting for people. One of the people I >petsit for is my neighbour. She has 2 long haired cats - one who she [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] >Thanks >Helen M The best advice I can give is NOT to involve the RSPCA. They will just muck things up. Try to work it out with your neighbor. Perhaps she just needs some help dealing with the mats, once they get started. Offer to help her out, if she needs grooming help. Leave the animal Gestapo out of this. The cat is well taken care of, except for the grooming. My bet would be that it just got out of hand, to the point she couldn't tackle the mats. Give her the benefit of the doubt, please. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Life without cats would be only marginally worth living." -TC, and the unmercifully, relentlessly, sweet calico kitty, Kenzie. Every day is a treasure with Kenzie; I try to treat them that way. There will only be so many, and then there will never, ever, be any more. How you behave towards cats here below determines your status in Heaven. - Robert Heinlein > Try to work it out with your neighbor. Perhaps she just needs some help > dealing with the mats, once they get started. Offer to help her out, if [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Give her the benefit of the doubt, please.//// To be honest, this is what I am doing - Celia does love hjer cats, the fur has just got out of hand (And I *HATE* the RSPCA). My elderly next door neighbour (Mary, with Thomas and Milo who have both gone to RB if you remember) and I are working on the mats little by little every day. Celia will come back to a bald cat, but it'll hopefully give everyone a clean slate to start fur care. :) Celia knows I will be having a go at the mats, I just don't think she knows how much. ;o) And Yowie - re: your guys being afraid of brushes/grooming, I have 4 like that - only HRFL Tiger asks to be brushed - the others including MLW hate it and run. Probably not abuse, more not being used to being groomed. All the cats who I've had who've been happy to be groomed have been started as tiny kittens and have associated it with treats. Helen M <snip> > I am friendly with the local RSPCA Animal Welfare Officer (AWO), and > once the neighbour is back off holiday, I'm thinking of asking her to [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > coat in a shocking matted condition and I needed to get it off my > chest. Suki hates being brushed as well. I have tried five different style brushes, and she seems terrified of all of them (I wonder what has happened to her in the past?). the best I can do is to stroke her maybe once down the back with a brush, and thats about it, she takes off and hides. I've got no hope of getting to her tummy or pantaloons. (Pickle, the shorthaired one *loves* being brushed of course). What I have decided is to simply keep an eye on her, and if she gets matts, to just take her to a proffesional groomer. So far, she seems matt-less, and I'm hoping she stays that way. So, this is my advice for what little its worth: you are the one with more cat experience, so perhaps you could try to get Saffy used to being brushed. Try different brushes and different approaches. But if that fails you'll simply have to tell her slave what life is like for a cat with matts, and then recommend a proffessional groomer that you like & trust. If the cats are otehrwise loved and cared for, i'd suggest that she simply doesn't know that a matted cat is uncomfortable, would be mortified to find out, and will pay for the grooming when necessary. This is not so much a case of neglect, IMHO, but merely ignorance of an otherwise good slave, and thats far easier to correct. The RSPCA, IMHO, is only good for cases of neglect and abuse, and (unfortunatley) have no place in educating a well meaning but ignorant slave heck, I wouldn't have known that long haired cats needed brushing, had I n ot been a member of htis group - for all I knew 12 years ago, cats (of all hair lenghts) simply groomed themselves, and that was that. Find out whether you can get Saffy to accept being brushed, then when the owner comes back, give her Saffy's brush and show her how to do it. make a point of mentioning how much it woudl save her by brushing her than taking Saffy to be groomed :-) Yowie > So, this is my advice for what little its worth: you are the one with more > cat experience, so perhaps you could try to get Saffy used to being brushed. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > that a matted cat is uncomfortable, would be mortified to find out, and will > pay for the grooming when necessary. [snip] > Find out whether you can get Saffy to accept being brushed, then when the > owner comes back, give her Saffy's brush and show her how to do it. make a > point of mentioning how much it woudl save her by brushing her than taking > Saffy to be groomed :-) Also, I'd like to add two other techniques for getting rid of mats, which Saffy might be more willing to tolerate: 1. Cutting them off with scissors. Of course, the base of the mat will still be there, right next to the skin, since you can't clip that closely with scissors. But at that point, it might be brushable. 2. Pulling them apart (*gently*!) with your fingers. Smudge lets me do this - for a while, anyway - and it works wonders. For a cat with an advanced case of mats such as Saffy, this would be impractical, but it's great for maintenance once the major problem has been taken care of. By the way, Yowie (sorry, I snipped this part out of your post), I don't think that Suki has necessarily been abused with a brush. I've discovered that some cats are just afraid of certain things, even though I know their history and I know they weren't abused. I once had a cat that I got at age 2 days old (I didn't hand-raise her because I had her mom, too). She was the most neurotic cat I've ever had, including Licky. I don't know what spooked her about so many things, but I had never been mean to her a day in her life. Who knows what goes on in a cat's brain? Maybe Suki isn't actually afraid, but just hates the feeling of being brushed. Joyce  SignatureTo send email to this address, remove the triple-X from my user name. On Mar 2, 7:13 pm, bastXXXe...@sonic.net wrote: ), I don't > think that Suki has necessarily been abused with a brush. I've discovered > that some cats are just afraid of certain things, Dunzi hates brushes- show her a brush anywhere near her and she hisses and runs for it. She can tolerate one or two gentle strokes with a Zoom Groom but even that is under sufferance and she'll run off after the second stroke Sarsi loves to be groomed- she even brings brushes out when she wants to be groomed or leaves them where they can trip us up as a big hint Luckily they're both short haired Lesley Slave of the Fabulous Furballs On Mar 2, 1:51 pm, leoparduswei...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: > I occasionally do some petsitting for people. One of the people I > petsit for is my neighbour. She has 2 long haired cats - one who she [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > Thanks > Helen M Bless you for taking on this project. I hope you can get the kitty's coat taken care of, no matter what she looks like. Matts aren't just ugly, as I'm sure you know. They are painful and if they're not taken care of she'll end up with sores, if she doesn't have them already. If the cat won't let the owner care care of his coat (and I've had cats like that)....Saffy needs to be taken to the vet or groomer. You're absolutely right, it *is* neglect. Sherry >I occasionally do some petsitting for people. One of the people I >petsit for is my neighbour. She has 2 long haired cats - one who she [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >an RSPCA neglect case. The owner clearly hasn't brushed or groomed the >poor cat in months, because her coat didn't get like this overnight. Poor pusscat... I used to be friends with a long-haired cat who was badly matted and I groomed him myself for awhile, but eventually the owners had him entirely shaved. He looked rather strange for a few months while his coat grew in again, but it dealt with the matting problem! If Sassy is that averse to being brushed, a shave job is at least a temporary solution, and maybe she could be persuaded to get used to being groomed while her coat grows out again. The only one of our cats who likes brushing is Scout. She adores it and would let me brush her all night long. Silver hates it and runs away or tries to attack the brush/comb - we tried her with two different kitty combs, and a zoomgroom and she loathed them ALL, but DH discovered she'll let you brush her at least a little with a soft hairbrush. It doesn't work as well as a cat brush but at least it gets rid of some of the loose fur. And Tessie won't let you brush or comb her with ANYTHING! The only way to brush her at all is for one of us to pick her up while the other brushes her side, and you can get about five minutes in before she fights her way free and escapes. At least her fur's far too short and fine to mat, but she has hairballs on a regular basis because she won't let anyone get rid of her excess fur. (she won't even let the other CATS groom her!) It's funny because the cat are the opposite when it comes to getting their claws clipped - Silver doesn't care, Tessie is resigned to it and lets me do it for her, and Scouty puts up a huge fight and grows about four extra legs! > I used to be friends with a long-haired cat who was > badly matted and I groomed him myself for awhile I remember this! You and your bf used to walk by and sometimes would stop to groom him, right? I always wondered what happened to that kitty. > but eventually the owners had him entirely shaved. Oh, I didn't know this. Well, I'm glad they finally dealt with it. > It's funny because the cat are the opposite when it comes to getting > their claws clipped - Silver doesn't care, Tessie is resigned to it > and lets me do it for her, and Scouty puts up a huge fight and grows > about four extra legs! Each one with unclipped claws, of course. Joyce SignatureTo send email to this address, remove the triple-X from my user name. perhaps a ferminator or similar tool for the next readily excuse/gift occasion, and if the owner is upset at the bald cat tell her you were afraid of infection*find grapic pictures on net to show* then come round the next day or so and show her, Lee > I occasionally do some petsitting for people. One of the people I > petsit for is my neighbour. She has 2 long haired cats - one who she [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > Thanks > Helen M > perhaps a ferminator or similar tool for the next readily excuse/gift > occasion, and if the owner is upset at the bald cat tell her you were afraid > of infection*find grapic pictures on net to show* then come round the next > day or so and show her, Lee/// The situation is resolved! :o) The owner knew I would be takling the matts whilst she was away (she verbally agreed to it when we discussed it), but she thought I would be doing it myself. I spoke to her on the phone last night because there were some particularly bad ones and I couldn't deal with them on my own. With her permission (and a friendly vet who did me a favour) the cat has now got some shaved spots and no matts. Of course, the "shaved spots" comprise of 60% of the cats body and both cat and owner are happy..........until the owner sees what I mean by "a few shaved spots"......... Point is, I did it with "permission" and cat is now jumping around like a kitten. Yes, I was judgemental in how I felt the cat was being groomed, but it was just as well we ended up at TED for a dematt because she had picked up earmites too. Helen M > Point is, I did it with "permission" and cat is now jumping around > like a kitten. I'm so glad to hear it. I've never had a long-haired cat, but I understand they often seem to feel relieved after having a good shave. Makes you wonder why long-haired cats have been bred in the first place. They certainly don't seem to enjoy the long hair themselves. SignatureMarina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki. >> Point is, I did it with "permission" and cat is now jumping around >> like a kitten. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Makes you wonder why long-haired cats have been bred in the first place. > They certainly don't seem to enjoy the long hair themselves. Melisande seems happy enough with hers, but as I said earlier, her fur is so VERY soft that it doesn't seem to mat. (And it sure feels lovely when she rubs against my face when she's on my lap while I'm watching TV!) On Mar 4, 10:14 am, "Stormmee" <rgr...@consolidated.net> wrote: > perhaps a ferminator or similar tool for the next readily excuse/gift > occasion, and if the owner is upset at the bald cat tell her you were > afraid > of infection*find grapic pictures on net to show* then come round the next > day or so and show her, Lee/// The situation is resolved! :o) ********************** I'm so happy. Especially for the poor cat. For you as well and even for the owner. Reminds me of the time my mother was so upset by the condition of a poor little Lhasa Apso that lived next door to them. The owners neglected its coat and let it run loose. Usually it ran to my Mom's house. She finally took it in to the shop and had it groomed without their permission. By then she had more or less worked herself into a "I dare you to complain" state. Jo good work, and judgmental isn't always a bad thing, Lee On Mar 4, 10:14 am, "Stormmee" <rgr...@consolidated.net> wrote: > perhaps a ferminator or similar tool for the next readily excuse/gift > occasion, and if the owner is upset at the bald cat tell her you were afraid > of infection*find grapic pictures on net to show* then come round the next > day or so and show her, Lee/// The situation is resolved! :o) The owner knew I would be takling the matts whilst she was away (she verbally agreed to it when we discussed it), but she thought I would be doing it myself. I spoke to her on the phone last night because there were some particularly bad ones and I couldn't deal with them on my own. With her permission (and a friendly vet who did me a favour) the cat has now got some shaved spots and no matts. Of course, the "shaved spots" comprise of 60% of the cats body and both cat and owner are happy..........until the owner sees what I mean by "a few shaved spots"......... Point is, I did it with "permission" and cat is now jumping around like a kitten. Yes, I was judgemental in how I felt the cat was being groomed, but it was just as well we ended up at TED for a dematt because she had picked up earmites too. Helen M
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