By the lack of care some have on their cats...

Today I was sent a couple of longhairs for grooming. One is a flat faced tortie, the other a silver. Both had THE WORST matting I had ever seen in my life! Now, I don't believe in Lion cuts unless merited and I don't do lion cuts myself. In so far as humanly possible, I try to give the cat some semblance of coat. The tortie took five hours to cut the mats out. She has most probably less than 0.5 cm of coat left.

Tomorrow, the silver goes to the vet for a lion cut. I can't help him He needs to go under GA to get clipped. It's probably because his matting is so severe his temperament is bad.

Please, if you cannot groom your LH cats at least 3x weekly, don't own a longhair cat. Today was the first time I actually cried when a cat came to me for grooming. Staining I will accept but for matting like that, it just means the owner doesn't care. If at all, at the very least send the cat for a clip down every 3 months or so....

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And Sunday was only the 2nd time (in 40 years of judging on Nov 30th this year) that I had tears in my eyes when judging (no - not judging - handling with extreme care before I DISQ) - a siamese kitten of 4 mths which looked 6 wks at the max, had every bone poking out and every hair standing out, too. It won't live long. I think the exhibitors (I DISQ 2 others of theirs, but adults) are going to be suspended or expelled as members.

The saddest thing is that I could tell these cats were obviously loved - they were the happiest things......... but the owners aren't rocket scientists and seem to me to be cat hoarders. They (and the cats) need medical help.

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Lesley (Tasmania)

About a month ago, I have a Persian bought in for full shave because of badly matted coat. She was very smelly of urine and faeces. There are also dry faeces stuck on her bottom. At the time, her owner didn’t realize she was skinny and pregnant because of her coat. She was very friendly and cooperative; I gave her full shaved without any sedation or general anesthetic. I then gave her a good bath. She looked odd but more comfortable and smelled nice. Her owner was please with her haircut. I advised the owner about grooming and to increase her food, as she was about 6 weeks into pregnancy. I saw her 2 weeks later; she put on appropriate weight and has given birth to 6 kittens. Her coat had grown a bit. She looked beautiful like a BSH and she was not smelly. The same owner bought in another female Persian for grooming and she was in the same situation. She gave birth to 7 kittens a few days ago. 1 kitten was born dead. The owner had another female for full shave. I just hope she is not pregnant too.

These are certainly not the only cases I encountered. I had one Persian’s hind leg developed maggot wound because of matted coat. I treated the Persian for a few times, each time have to give him general anesthetic and the wound was always very smelly and covered with a layer of matted fur.

Longhaired cats may look more adorable than shorthaired cats but do consider carefully about the grooming factor if you intended to keep one. If you cannot keep up with the grooming yourself, it is better send for regular grooming or keep their coat short or have them re-homed. I have another client who shave her Persian on regular basic to keep its coat short and clean. She regretted buying the Persian, as she realized her local cat and Scottish Shorthair are much easier to maintain.

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Manekineko Cattery http://www.geocities.com/hueyleehl/index.html
Breeding pedigree Scottish Fold and British Shorthair

How was the cat allowed to enter the show on the 1st place ?

......vetting in allows for such entry or were there no vetting in for the show ?

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xxxxx Saribaiduri @ sedap nama tu aku suker xxxxx

Let's Stand Together And Celebrate Our Domestic Cats Day- 31/12/2008 !

Well I Do understand from both of your view and I strongly agree that this is the problem with most malaysian pet owners. I thought this always happen to the dog but seem that cat owners are not much different.

But on the other hand if you look at it, there are many ppl who doesn't know how to properly groom a longhair cat. and of coz some refuse to learn coz is take up time and lots of efforts. and i see some willing to do it themself but using the wrong item and shampoo to groom their cat (e.g human shampoo).

Well there is another type of case, Where longhair owners who doesn't know how groom or having difficulty interm of time and ability to groom their cat. And these ppl choose to send to groomers. Well I would say it perfectly right things to do. BUT The problem is I have to WARN owner who do that please send it to the right groomer even though the price could be a big different.
Why I say like that, Give you a example of my own experience, A cat which I see from young and raise from a breeder home who socialize and groom their cat weekly since birth. and was given to a owner. The owner choose to send to groomer (Petshop) which entrust that could do a proper job. But 2 mth later i personally bath the cat and i was having a shock of my life and the cat BITE me when i start to bath the cat and also while i try to comb. In my experience of grooming the same cat 2 mth ago was a very cool and fantastic cat. The cat basically traumatize from the grooming from the petshop that the owner send to.

I Hope owner who sent to groomer please ask permission to see their grooming and also ask what product they use on your cat. Coz I see it all the time that owner always bargin with groomer about WHY you charge RM 80 and ppl on nextdoor charge RM 30. Where they dont understand how a good groomer bath their cat with quality shampoo, handle and bath their cat with a proper ways. ensure all the coat are dry and comb proper.
SO please choose your groomer wisely....

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My Life, My Coons, Coons for Life....
[WhEn IcE MeLt InTo SiLveR ]......www.IcE-CooN.com
[Partners Cattery] : Felis Wonder Maine Coon & Enko Cattery
[Our Cat Club] : Feline Society Malaysia

Well I am not sure about in AUS if they practice vetting in......BUT For Everyone Information in most western country they didn't have a vetting in process where the organizer trust that owner is responsible to take care of their own cat vaccination up to date and their cat health condition. You can see that all owner are very caution and care for their cat health and condition at the hall, and they are responsible enough by not bringing in a cat with infection or health problem to the hall.

Another side INFORMATION on show, I understand from some CFA show that all owner are to take the benching cage from a center location and will close up the cage and return the same location after the show, not like the way we spoon feed the exhibitor who just leave the cage and go without helping up to close down their own cage.

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My Life, My Coons, Coons for Life....
[WhEn IcE MeLt InTo SiLveR ]......www.IcE-CooN.com
[Partners Cattery] : Felis Wonder Maine Coon & Enko Cattery
[Our Cat Club] : Feline Society Malaysia

I completely agree with you there Ken. If you can't groom your cat send to the right groomer...

This is why at shows I always say to the public who ooh and ahh at the long hairs:

"Just because you own a "Persian" doesn't mean your cats will look like these (the ones being shown). A lot of time, effort, love and care goes into making a cat look this way!"

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i have nothing to add except that dogs suffer similar fates too! peoploe can be such idiots... they think nicole kidman gets out of bed looking hot! well, here's a reality check. she has a whole TEAM of poeple devoted to making her look good. and the same applies for all these long haired show cats!

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Alicia Ling Horsley

Pet Epicure
We feed our pets PINK raw food
Feral Friend Malaysia


"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality."Dante

I like your words, I have a comment from someone who is not a forumers here but after i told him about that we are discussing today about grooming long hair.But I got a reply that this is a talk for people like us who know how to do the job but there are people like him doesn't know how to do a good or a decent grooming and he think that there is no one will share the grooming secret, as he try to approach breeder about their grooming method.

In this case i just told him that, this is where our cat club like FSM come in reality where we started by organize some basic grooming session like we did on our previous show. and infact we does organize some advance grooming session before for our team member. That show that there are still lots of people who doesn't really have much expose to the method grooming and seem that there doesn't really know where to seek for help.

But on the other hand there is another friend of mine in the conversation and is a dog owner. Where he doesn't want to know much about grooming , and doesn't want to listen on any advise on grooming his longhair dog.

~DOINK~

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WeLcOmE tO IcE-CooN Cattery ......
Specialize in Maine Coon CaT, Breeding towards Quality not Quantity.
[WhEn SilVeR MeLt InTo IcE.......]
[Partners Cattery] : Felis Wonder Maine Coon & Enko Cattery
[Our Cat Club] : Feline Society Malaysia

Ignoring show cats for the moment since it is obvious that one will HAVE to learn how to groom their own show longhair cat eventually...

It doesn't really matter if the cat is show q or not. What does matter is the amount of care and love that goes into being a responsible cat owner. The two cats I had yesterday were obviously loved to some extent - healthy (good weight), bright eyes, pink gums but that was the end of it. Ears were not cleaned and in the case of the flat faced, neither were the eyes.

Most everyone knows that I prefer Short Hairs to Long Hairs. But, because I DO have a couple of Long Hairs, I've learned the hard way how to groom them to keep their coats in good if not pretty great condition. So much so that I now groom other people's cats on a regular basis and have shown a LH cat to Grand.

My point is, if you own a Longhair cat, it is your responsibility and duty to maintain the cat in good if not great condition or else why own a LH cat in the first place?

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