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CAT GROOMING SUPPLIES
Why bother discussing Cat Grooming Supplies on a website that is mainly about cat medical problems? You may find it surprising to learn that some of the saddest cases I see are those involving cats whose fur and skin have not received the care required to stay healthy. Cats who were in urgent need of pet grooming supplies. CAT GROOMING SUPPLIES isn't an advertisement just to get you to run out and spend money on someone's products that aren't even necessary. Not at all. This section is about the sad cases I see where loving owners have failed to be educated about the periodic requirements of their kitty's fur and skin. Teddy is a 12 year old male long-haired cat that was brought to me because he hadn't eaten anything but a little baby food in a month. Recently, he wasn't eating much of that. 
His fur was essentially one big mat. There was not a single spot on his body, including his legs, that wasn't matted. The mats were large and hard. There were mats causing difficulty urinating and defecating because of their location. There were mats causing pain every time he stretched, walked, or moved in any way. There were mats on his neck causing pain when he even just turned his head.
The skin under the mats was red, dry, irritated and, in some of the worst areas, peeling away from the underlying tissue. Teddy was a very uncomfortable cat.
To the left, you see a photo of matted fur that is one big mat after clipping. This hair cannot be separated. It was on the cat like that. The pen in the picture is there to show you the length of the mat. Others were even longer. Some that I have seen are almost the full length of a cat. The first question I asked myself when I saw Teddy was "Did an illness that caused him to stop eating also cause the mats?" Some internal medical conditions can also affect the haircoat. Also, a sick cat may just stop grooming itself and mats are more likely to form. Or ....."Did the mats form and cause him to stop eating because he was uncomfortable or because he ingested too much hair or even a solid mat in an effort to groom himself?" Or ....were the mats and the loss of appetite totally unrelated?
Obviously, the cat can't answer those questions for me. That is one thing that makes veterinary medicine more difficult. As with pediatricians, our patients can't talk. So, the detective work begins. Next, complete bloodwork, fully expecting that something would show up in the bloodwork to explain his weight loss and lack of appetite. Results? Perfect.
Click Here To Go To Part Two
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