My longhaired cat only grooms his face and his paws, and the rest of his fur gets horribly matted. How can I get him to clean himself more thoroughly?
by 
jbrecken
ANSWERS: 6
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Long haired cats need to be groomed by their owners to get rid of all matted up fur.You can buy a cat brush from your pet store.Cats love to be groomed and usually roll about on the floor during grooming..
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Like Schonberg said, the cat needs to be brushed daily. Most cats do not take to this very well. What I did was I started brushing my cat while she was busy eating. I would only brush her as long as she would tolerate. She was a three to four month old feral kitten when I got her, but now she is used to being brushed for short periods of time each day (about 2 to 3 minutes each time, as many times a day as I can fit in). She now runs to her food dish when I start brushing her. Another trick you can use is to conceal the brush in the palm of your hand and make like you are petting him.
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Some kinds of cat fur, like the hair on Persians is very different from other types of long hair (like Angoras and Maine coons) and it must be brushed each day by the owner. They can't take care of it themselves as much as they try. Regular long hair cats can get by with being brushed once a week. Short hair cats may not need to be brushed at all, maybe just during shedding time. If you have a cat with Persian type fur, you will have to teach your cat to put up with being brushed and get the job done. If you pick a time when you are both sitting together and make it a good bonding time, it will get easier with time. There might be areas it won't want you to brush, but it must be done for the cats health. Mats can make a cat sick or hurt their skin. There are very long toothed combs and good quality pin brushes to help you out. If you have a long hair, you need to get some good equipment and use it.
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You should (like the others said) groom him daily with a pin brush. If he is old, arthritis might be a factor to him not cleaning himself properly.
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Get him a nagging mate? ;-)
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Get him some counselling...he has self image problems.
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