Matted Fur...advice?

My parents have a tabby cat and a black cat. I assume both are of American Shorthair breed.

The problem is that over the last 1-2 years, their fur has started to matte all over their backs, it makes petting them very unappealing. I could be wrong, but I think I've read that American Shorthair cats don't really need to be groomed, and that their fur doesn't matte.

I can't remember the exact year these cats were obtained, based on my best memory, the tabby cat was acquired in 2005/2006 making it about 12 years old, and the black cat is was acquired in 2009/2010 about 9 years old, and AFAIK they have not had any matting problems their whole lives until what feels like within the last 24 months. What could be causing it? Poor sunlight? Poor diet? Poor exercise? Poor health? Depression? Old age?

Any advice I can pass to my younger siblings so they can better treat and prevent this matting on the family cats?

Cats groom themselves and remove their shed fur pretty regularly, but there are some reasons why they stop grooming as thoroughly. Most commonly arthritis makes it painful for them to twist around and reach those areas, or they are overweight and can't reach.

Mats form when shed fur is released but doesn't get removed and it gets tangled up in the rest of the fur over time. They can be prevented by regular brushing. It can be difficult to get them out once they form, but it is important to because they can get painful and infected. If they're not too bad yet you can usually work them through with a comb.

Hi - great comments from molly92 also, you-all could try different wet foods for them or in my case I add in a couple nuggets of a store bought frozen raw food every other day or so to the Big Guy's regular canned--he's 13. It seemed to make his coat nicer, and this quantity keeps the cost down but still provides benefits.
In addition, if a comb simply seems to pull the hair/skin rather than actually separating out the matted hair, try and actually pull the matted hair apart with your fingers. I have to use scissors since my boy's belly hair is a really unfortunate sort of cottony almost sticky fur and if I lose track of time and the hair gets past a certain length, it's impossible to brush or comb out. I must say, I don't think I'd suggest that in your case, for short hair cats it's all too close to the skin. In any case, good luck!

The more I think about it, maybe for the first go to take care of the big issues, have them taken them in to a pro groomer. Then it'll be a lot easier after that to keep up with regular, normal brushing

Short hair cats can definitely benefit from regular brushing. This is especially important as they get older. Mats can be difficult to remove without hurting the cat. I have taken in some rescues, short and medium hair both, that were so matted i had to let the vet sedate them and trim out the mats. Defiantly want to take care of them before they get worse. Best of luck!

Most cats, even short hairs need some grooming, especially as they get older. Yours need their mats removed and probably a bath to clean up their fur. If they tolerate you brushing them, a brush and a fine toothed comb can get out the smaller mats but the bigger ones may need to be cut or shaved off. There is a grooming tool called a Furminator that is very helpful at removing mats. It is stressful for a cat to go to a groomer so I would see what you can do yourself.

When I have had matted foster cats I have used my shower stall to remove the mats and then wash the cats. Confined to a small space like that the cat is calmer and has no place to run. After removing the mats I use a sponge and a couple buckets of water to wet, soap and rinse them.