Dematting With A Towel

[tom87]

I have a long haired female, heavily matted, 4-5 year old stray cat that’s been living outside in a couple of sheds the past 2 years. I had been able to pet her back while she’s eating but that’s about all the handling she’d tolerate- I never tried to pick her up. Recently the Vet gave me some antibiotic and anti-inflammatory medicine for an unrelated problem. That solved that problem the same day. The reason I mention that in this dematting thread was that I was forced to pick her up for the first time, put her on a counter and give her the liquid medicines in her mouth with a syringe after wrapping her in a towel. She was surprisingly very cooperative all 30+ times. I’m thinking now that I’ll use this towel wrapping technique again and try to get rid of the mats by her rear end/back legs myself. She may have a different attitude about my working on her rear end than spending 2 seconds squirting stuff in her mouth.

Here’s my plan, hoping to get some criticism/advice.

1 Spread a large towel on the bathroom counter with a bowl of food next to it like I did when I gave her the medicine.

2 First couple of days don’t try to demat just pick her up, place her on the towel, wrap her with the towel, let her get her used to my touching her back legs for a few seconds, unwrap the towel and let her eat.

3 When the first day comes to try to actually cut some mats and I get her wrapped in the towel, I’ll put two fingers between the bottom of a mat and her skin and then cut along the top of my fingers so I don’t cut her. I won’t worry about cutting the whole mat as I’ve read posts saying it’s ok to just cut some of the mat and then come back later with maybe a comb. I think I'll spend less than 30 seconds each time actually trying to cut as I don’t want to stretch my luck that she’ll remain cooperative.


My main concern is the towel wrapping. When I did the medicine in the mouth my left hand held the towel around her neck and also got her head tilted back while my right hand shot the syringe in her mouth. With the dematting of her rear end I’m not sure how I can hold the towel in place, put 2 fingers between the mat and her skin and cut all at the same time. There’s nobody here to assist me.

I’d be grateful for any towel wrapping, cutting or other tips!

Thanks!

Tom

 

[Kflowers]

First that is amazing. You realize this is very unusual behavior even for a cat you've had and cuddled all your life. You are a wonderful person with a deep connection to this girl. Might as well go on and make her a house cat. She likes you a lot and she seems happy with the house. Think how much less you'll worry about the precious one. But you're amazing either way.

Your plan sounds excellent.

Get some good quality children's safety scissors or the kind they make to use on babies. They will have a rounded tip which means you won't accidentally stab her if she moves. she won't get the accidentally part and it will set things back quite a bit. Yes, I found out the hard way.

 

[susanm9006]

You can try this. Get a big thick towel like a beach towel that you don’t mind ruining and wrap her entirely including her head. When a cat is fully covered they usually don’t struggle. Sit cross legged and set her on your lap facing in to you. Once she is there feel through the towel for her butt end and then pull up the towel over that section and carefully cut out a piece so that her matted section is the only thing showing. You should then be able to work on the mats.

If the towel doesn’t work you can order a cat grooming bag which you put the cat into. It has zippers all over so you can unzip the section that you need to work in.

 

[tom87]

Kflowers and susanm9006 - thanks for your ideas!