Fur Getting Longer?

[angelyco]

Hey all,

So I have an interesting situation going on with my boy right now.  He is 5 years old and always had amazing medium-length hair that was long enough to be fluffy, but never matted.  This is an older picture just to show the length.  I wouldn't call him a full longhair by any means; he didn't have that wispy long stuff, it's just regular, smooth fur that happens to be longer.



So here is the problem.  Just within the last month or two, his hair has started to grow - first around his neck, and now around his lower sides and belly.  He's starting to get mats for the first time, and it's the wispy kind of hair that longhairs have.  He isn't as soft as he used to be.  Is this normal?  I would think any hair growth like this would have been during his first year or two, not at 5 years old.  I can try to take a picture of the new look tonight, but this has been bugging me for awhile.

Thank you!

 

[angelyco]

Here is a better picture of what he usually looks like, and a picture from tonight of the growth around his face and neck.

                        
 

 

[orientalslave]

Looks to me like he isn't grooming himself as well for some reason, or something has changed to make his coat more greasy. 

 

[angelyco]

He actually is still grooming himself, but he's not doing a very good job.  He's confused by the excess hair, especially around his neck, because it keeps getting stuck in his mouth now when he's grooming.  He just doesn't really know how to groom well now since he's not used to it.

 

[CW-Misty_Muppet]

Did you ever learn about why your cat was getting furrier or longer hair? My Misty, at 5 years old, is having the same issue. She can't clean her mane or stay on top of the matting. It's like she's gone from being just a fluffy balinese to a long-haired Persian in one winter. I was speculating that we've switched to fish-based food as opposed to chicken - could that have encouraged more growth?

 

[CW-Misty_Muppet]

 

[Robyn5678]

Oh my gosh! How adorable. Would brushing her help? My friend has a coon cat and if he doesn’t stay on top of brushing him a few times a week he gets all matted. He typically just ends up shaving him during the summer.

 

[CW-Misty_Muppet]

Oh my gosh! How adorable. Would brushing her help? My friend has a coon cat and if he doesn’t stay on top of brushing him a few times a week he gets all matted. He typically just ends up shaving him during the summer.

No it's much worse than that. We have to brush a few times a day. And I'm even using one of those combs with the cutting blades to help thin. It's really intense - the fur is much thicker and even longer than it used to be - by inches. It's changed so much in the past 6 months