We have two long-haired cats and one of the two hasn't always been so great about grooming herself. DH and I used to have to trim mats out of her fur fairly regularly, but then she got good at taking care of herself and we didn't see mats for months. We figured she'd finally caught on.
Then DH found some mats. And they were hard. And down to the skin. We felt horrible and have no idea how we missed them until they got so bad, but it was to the point where we were uncomfortable with trying to trim them ourselves. They were just too close to the skin and she was too upset by being held.
So I called around this weekend and found a groomer to take her to, and this morning, DH loaded her up and dropped her off. She yowled the whole way there then vomited and pooped in the carrier. I feel so, so badly for her. She has a horrible, stressful day ahead of her and I want to go pick her up and take her home immediately. I actually cried when DH told me how poorly she did in the car this morning and told me it almost made *him* cry (she's a daddy's girl).
Yes, I am a crazy cat lady.
Logically I know it needs to be done. If it's not the mats will get worse and she'll get uncomfortable. And I know that ultimately she'll be fine. I'll take her home this evening and eventually she'll forgive us. And we'll pay far closer attention to her fur in the future to avoid such a thing again. But ugh, what a stressful day for everyone in our family, but especially our fluffy little girl. I can't wait for 4pm to roll around so that I can go get her.
Re: I'm such a crazy cat lady
aw, I understand. Is that Raven or Minerva?
Mine also yowls and pees and poops in the carrier on the way to the vets. Good times.
She will be fine, and she will look so purty!!
She really is. You probably saw on Facebook, but when I was in bed with the broken foot I took a TON of pictures of her because she laid with me in bed all day, every day. And she's so darn cute.
That's Raven! Minerva, despite his name, is a boy
DH said that they're going to try to avoid having to shave her, so we'll see how she ends up looking. If she gets shaved I might spend some time laughing at her after I stop feeling so guilty for putting her through this mess today.
I teared up when I dropped off my foster kittens to get fixed and they weren't even mine! You're not crazy!
She is very pretty, tho!
Oh my gosh, when Minerva had to go in to get fixed, I sobbed and made DH do the drop-off/pick-up because it would upset me too much! I can't stand it.
And thank you! She's rather empty-headed, but she's cute and very sweet.
I would do the same thing, it's rough seeing our pets upset. She is very pretty.
Does she let you comb her? I guess I liked to groom even at a young age because my cats growing up would let me comb them regularly but I know some cats can be really picky about how they are handled.
I ducked behind my cubby wall so that no one would see me tearing up about my cat who's at the groomers LOL
Thanks Link! She doesn't care for being groomed, unfortunately. Neither of them do. It would be so much easier if they did!