My calico cat's fur is getting hard and shaped like fish scales (canned food, shedding)
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I have a female calico that is 6 years old. She is an indoor cat. Her fur on her back is getting hard and separated into individual pointy pieces that resemble fish scales. Does anyone know what could be causing this?
Other than that she is healthy. I haven't changed food or anything lately.
It's really bizarre.
This sounds like mats to me. Mats are very painful to the cat and need to be taken out.
You can cut them out, but must be very careful not to cut the skin. The best thing to do is the split them by hand. Stating at the outer edge, start pulling it apart with your fingers. As you get deeper into the mat, you will see why they hurt, the skin gets pulled and twisted because the mat is formed from fur over quite a large area.
To hurry the job a little you can cut the bulk of the mat, staying away from the skin, then hand split the rest.
Once you've got all the mats out, brush your kitty daily to keep it from happening again. Use a regular brush or come some days, but two or three times a week use a deshedding tool such as the furminator.
Actually there is another deshedding tool people here have been talking about lately that sounds really good and is inexpensive, but I can't think of what it's called off hand. Someone else will know
PS what are you feeding her? As cats get older their nutritional needs can change. For instance if she is on a kibble diet, switching her to a canned diet will help greatly with her coat.
Adding fish oil to her diet a few times a week will also help.
But the daily grooming is a must. Oh, and if she hasn't been in for a check up lately, perhaps schedule one. A change in the quality of a cat's coat can be an indication of illness.
Does she go outside? If it is not mats, and she does go outside it may be she is rolling in something nasty and sticky outside, or sitting under a car dripping something like oil. Keeping her inside will of course stop that.
Welcome to the forum, please keep us posted on your kitty.
OH! I thought of the brush everyone likes it's called the Zoom Groom.
I'm thinking this is diet related. If she were my cat I would give her a bath with a cat shampoo or a gentle baby no-sting shampoo. No conditioners. And get her off kibble onto a good canned food. Chicken fat (no seasonings) and fish oil (not cod liver oil) can be added to her diet. 1/2 tsp a day should start to make a difference in under two weeks. If she's really deficient in fats, it could as long as a month.
The matting has happened to some cats but not all, and it does not seem to depend on fur length. I have used, with success, an "undercomb" that I buy at Petsmart. Maybe it costs $7.00-9.00.
In my experience it has not been as comforting to them as a regular brushing but it seems to work, and does it ever gather the hair!
I know what the OP is talking about. Years ago I had a outdoor cat of medium length fur who had a very oily spot on her neck/shoulder blades. I cut it out and brushed him but it always came back.This was probably 20 years ago but her description certainly brought it back to mind. I think I finally thought he was getting into something like a car or garage where he got the oil on him but who knows.
I know what the OP is talking about. Years ago I had a outdoor cat of medium length fur who had a very oily spot on her neck/shoulder blades. I cut it out and brushed him but it always came back.This was probably 20 years ago but her description certainly brought it back to mind. I think I finally thought he was getting into something like a car or garage where he got the oil on him but who knows.
It's hard to tell by the description given. I'd like to see a good clear pic of the cats's coat.
Whne my part-Maine Coon got old, he could no longer reach to groom himself and his fur started to look like that and it was mats. I had to have him cut by the vet tech (gave him a lion cut) to get rid of the mats. I had not been very observant and it was really bad. After that, I brushed him daily. BTW, he hated the lion cut and sulked around for a good week.
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