Here’s an excellent reference on care for long-haired cats. Matting is a problem for these beauties, but there are simple ways to control the problem. (Frankly, if you aren’t prepared to give your long-haired cats regular brushing and trips to the groomers, you probably aren’t the person to have them! They do require your attention.)
I subscribe to Katzenworld. This is a great article.
Yes, it’s one of my favorites, and the only one in the 50s list that I recognized!
That poor kitty in the 1st photo must have been in a lot of pain from all those mats.
I thought so, too. They inhibit movement, even prevent movement when they are so severe. And there is physical pain and discomfort to the animal. It is criminal to let a cat or dog get to that stage!
Your guys always look top notch so there is quite a bit of work in keeping them that way. Kali and Shoko are short haired so not so much work but they still need care.
Jean
Exactly! Anyone who thinks short-haired cats don’t require regular brushing will be surprised how much hair they have all over their furniture and carpets. Louie the ginger cat, the predecessor to the kitty boys, was a short-haired cat, and the place was a mess if I didn’t brush him regularly. Frankly, even brushing him regularly didn’t end the hair storm, just reduce it LOL!
Shoko seems to have very little excess fur…..although she has some. I attribute this to her going outside more than Kali. Shoko is also not keen on a brushing whearas Kali will flake out in front of me and turn on her purring machine. Kali’s undercoat always seems thicker than Shoko’s and I always get fur from her. Knowing she likes it makes us both feel good.
It is one way Dougy and I get in quality time together. I have to do that with Andy when I give him his medicine, though he does come around often during the day for a little “scritching”. He especially likes me to rub that spot between his eyes or to scratch his ears. Dougy likes the spot between his eyes rubbed, too, but his contact needs are more easily met by regulation petting!
I have a dog that gets matts It is tricky business to get it out.
Even when you religiously brush them, they can still get them. At least Andy and Dougy did, only they were smaller and fewer in number (one at most). The grooming helped a lot – I mean getting them trimmed every two months – and I instructed them to pay particular attention to the hair on their butts, trimming it down enough so they don’t get the poop caught in it! Anyway, I always check them surreptitiously for lumps or mats when I pet them. They like the attention, and I catch problems before they get out of hand.
It helps to keep us out of trouble, right?
That’s the happy face outlook on it! LOL!
Or, who knows? We might teach the cats something.
Could be!
Thank you so much, weggieboy, for this article. Brushing one’s persian cat may be a pleasure, and the cat should understand that it is a way to show her or him that this is love !
Miss H is a lovely lady-persian … who does not like to be brushed. But she is ! And the moment of brushing is a pleasure for the owner … should be !
The photographs!!! … I cannot imagine poor Persians like that and they must be very unhappy, because they are very conscious of their beauty.
But short-fur cats are very beautiful, too.
amitiés, dear weggie boy, kisses for the kitties – france
Dougy loves to be brushed. Andy, though, doesn’t. Fortunately, he has a thin undercoat, so doesn’t mat between haircuts at the groomer’s.
Yes, it is difficult to imagine a cat neglected to that degree. I’ve seen only one cat that bad off, and it was a stray that started showing up at a friend’s home. It was a very friendly cat, but it had to be suffering from all the matted hair.
Andy and Dougy enjoyed the kisses! LOL! They may be kitties, but they are boys!
Wow, one rough article. Those poor little fellas looked rough, eh?
Terrible! It takes zero intelligence to observe how miserably matted they are, and people responsible for that degree of neglect truly need to be given jail time or have the abused animals taken away. Additionally, people who abuse animals that way should be ordered by the court never to have animals again, or go to prison. I am radical on that point!
I quite agree
=(^+^)=
And i don’t blame you!!
You do what you have to do!
I loved it that your blog was suggested to someone whose friend was getting a Persian. Andy and Dougy always look great and we know they are happy cats.
I was surprised to see that and your comment, but it gave me a chance to rant about proper care of long-haired cats, with a solution as presented in that excellent blog, which I reblogged.
Though I do this blog mostly for the fun of it, keeping animals of any kind requires a level of responsibility, one that a person needs to be aware of before making the commitment to keep those animals.
Many people have no sense of what their dog or cat needs to have a happy, secure, healthy existence, and loose interest in the animal once it grows out of the puppy or kitten stage. Shame on them!
Totally agree. Outside of blatant abuse the saddest thing I ever saw in rescue was cats (and some dogs) with coats so bad the vet had to sedate them before a full body shave..
It’s incredible, isn’t it, that animals can be abused that way? On the other hand, once they are rescued, sedated, and shaved, you can see how beautiful the creature under the mass of hair is, and the dog or cat always seems renewed and happy!
LOL that was me! My neighbour is a lovely man but I think he doesn’t really have a clue he is supposed to be brushing his new kitties! He has a wife and two daughters though who probably love brushing them. Also they got them from a breeder who probably told them all about special care of Persian cats. They are very adorable kittens!! I never saw Persians that young! They hardly looked like cats to me! My little biys absolutely loved them – they were like mewing balls of fluff with eyes! 😍 Anyway I will be sure to pass this article on to them though. Wouldn’t want those adorable kitties to end up all matted!! Love your blog and cats! X
I know how that is. Andy was the first Persian kitty i ever saw, and I wasn’t sure at first what kind of animal he was! He looked pretty wild, actually, with hair going all over the place. I got Dougy a little later, and he’d started to look like a kitten by then, as did Andy.
Thanks for your encouraging words! I enjoy doing this blog because I enjoy “talking” about my kitty boys.
As for your neighbor, he’ll find out soon enough that a Persian that isn’t groomed (aside from the mats) will have bowel movements that hang up in their butt “feathers”, then drop off wherever. If he steps on one of these little bombs, he will need to understand he is at fault. The cats can’t help it. Worse yet, sometimes a bowel movement will get tangled in that hair and have to be manually soaked and manipulated out of the fur. It is not a pleasant task!
There is no excuse for having high maintenance pets if you aren’t prepared to do the tasks that give them a healthy, good, long life!
I’ll make sure to pass that on to him, as well! It will be ok, they really are very nice people and I’m sure the breeder informed them. The kitties are safe! 🙂
That’s good! Frankly, I got very little recommendations from the woman who owned the kitty boys mother and father. I went to the Internet to learn what I could about Persian cats and asked many questions of the veterinarian, especially about those health issues Persians are more likely to suffer.
That’s interesting! You would think a breeder would give lots of info to buyers/adopters. But I have no idea of course! Anyway now I have a good excuse to visit the neighbour kitties again! 😀
I agree. Mainly, before turning the kittens over to people, the least they should do is establish that the people will provide a proper home for the kittens, and that they have all the toys, litter boxes, acceptable food, and the right attitude to support the growth and long term care of the pets as soon as they are grown. Especially important, can they afford to keep them? I don’t think most people realize how expensive pets can be, especially if they turn out to need regular veterinarian care for long term serious illnesses like diabetes. In the instance of pedigree pets, they also should let the new owners know what sorts of health and care issues that breed has so they don’t get a surprise down the road.