Long-haired cats, such as the Persian cat, need special coat care. Persians, with their long hair, you can get used to taking a bath from an early age, and can then be bathed every once in a while and then blow-dried. Preferably not too often, only if the coat is really dirty. They are combed daily and the coat should be checked regularly for tangles. Persian cats can undergo this coat care if you get used to brushing, combing, bathing, blow drying from a young age?
Cats with long hair need intensive coat care, otherwise they will get sick. If the coat is not properly cared for, it will become tangled and eventually even felted. Felting means that the hair is matted in such a way that they form a kind of felt-like paste in the coat. Felting the coat is very sad, the cat is in a lot of pain and becomes depressed. Tangles in the hair are painful for long-haired cats anyway, because they cause the cat’s skin to contract or contract in some other way. It can be compared to pulling someone’s hair and not letting go. That is what it should feel like for a cat with large tangles in the coat.
Cat sick with tangles in the coat
Cats with a lot of tangles in the coat can therefore develop a fever and become increasingly sicker over time. In case of severe tangles in the coat, it is best to cut the tangles out with care (be careful not to cut the skin) or to remove the fur of the cat with electric clippers (especially for animals). ) shave.
Bathe the cat
In order to bathe a cat, the cat should prefer to be used to it from an early age. Otherwise it usually becomes a real fight that not only a cat is stressed by a lot. Cats accustomed to bathing from an early age usually endure the event with resignation, although most cats will never really like it. Cats with long hair become very beautiful after a bath. There is special cat shampoo available. The bath should not be too deep and you should preferably use a sprayer with lukewarm / lukewarm water. Cold water is dangerous (cooling) and hot water is simply too hot and therefore dangerous.
Comb coat
Brush the hair thoroughly (if possible) before the cat enters the bath. Remove loose hair that way. Wet the coat with the sprayer with lukewarm water (not too hot, not too cold) and soap the coat with the cat shampoo. Wash with care and rinse the soap well. Do not shampoo on the head, but brush a little around the eyes with a wet washcloth for example. Do not let water get into your ears! You can soap and rinse twice if the coat is very dirty. Try not to let the cat sit in the bath for too long. Water almost always stresses a cat. After bathing, put the cat on a thick towel and carefully dry the coat as dry as possible with an extra towel. Comb or brush the coat well, possibly with special products against tangles, for cats.
Cat Blow Dry
Blow-drying is good, if the cat is used to it, drying is the fastest and prevents hypothermia. If a cat doesn’t like blow drying and is going to run or scratch, place it in the crate on a sturdy bath towel. You can then blow-dry through the bars of the cage, which is necessary because the cat with a wet long-haired coat could otherwise quickly become hypothermic. In any case, make sure that the room is also warm, because the cat can cool down quickly anyway. Of course there should also be no drafts. The sooner the coat dries, the better. Although a cat may be used to the washings, a cat is afraid of a bath. They hardly ever take it with pleasure.
Warm place
After the bath, the cat has to dry well. The fur close to the skin may still be clammy for a while. Avoid (prolonged) shivering and cooling down, and give the cat a place near the heater, after the coat has been dried as well as possible with a hair dryer and towels. Brush the coat well during and after blow-drying so that it does not become tangled. After bathing you can give the cat food (not ice cold) so that he / she becomes sleepy. If he / she wants to sleep by the stove, or in another poor and draft-free place, the coat dries fairly quickly.
After the bath
Many cats get some stomach discomfort after a bath in the form of loose stools. With long-haired cats it is therefore wise to keep the hair under the tail short (unless the cat is participating in shows, perhaps).
Brush long-haired cats
With special brushes and a cat comb, you brush and comb the coat regularly to prevent tangles. It is best to comb out small starting knots in the coat with care, but do not hurt the cat by pulling hard. You can also carefully cut out any tangled hair.
Pain
Hair that clumps together in different places will pull on the skin, causing the cat to get pain and can also develop a fever. Long-haired cats with tangles often have a lot of stress because it hurts so much. Inflammation and general malaise are the result. So don’t let it get that far. Long-haired cats simply need regular grooming, because the long hair is not natural but the result of careful breeding.
Felted coat
A cat with a felted coat looks sick. The coat consists of pieces, hard flakes and slices. Combing, brushing or bathing no longer helps. The fur should be cut off. The cat can also be shot. If you can’t shave the cat, you can remove the tangles yourself, but take your time for this.
Cut felted tangles
Cutting a piece of felted hair with a small pair of scissors is often enough to carefully remove a tang afterwards. Always cut from the skin upwards (towards the hair tips) and not towards the skin, this to avoid cutting the skin. A long-haired cat can get a lot of tangles in the hair if you don’t comb and brush often enough, and the cat can suffer a lot and even get sick. Cutting the burdock makes it easier to remove the cut parts.
Get the cat shaved
Do not allow the cat to remove tangles, or is it a feral cat, or is the cat too sick, or you do not dare: take the cat to a vet or cat salon. One of these can shave the cat. The cat will recover enormously after this and the coat will just grow back.
Turkish Angora
The Turkish Angora is a long-haired cat that looks a lot like the press. The coat of the Turkish Angora is very fine and soft. Despite the fine long hair, the coat doesn’t really tend to tangles badly. With this breed it is sufficient to brush once a week.
Flea-free coat
It is important for every cat to keep the coat free of fleas. For long-haired cats even a little more, because their coat attracts a lot of fleas.