I have trie Iams cat food and Kitten chow but neither have improved her coat. It is always greasy looking and unfortunatly it is also matting. What food is good and not to expensive?

-- Anonymous, December 09, 1998

Answers

You are doing the right thing by feeding your cat Iams cat food. Iams also makes a very good kitten food. In my experience, matting is not related to the cat's diet. I find that it is caused when the cat's coat becomes too tangled for it to groom; because the cat can't groom it, it mats. Many people say that the Maine Coon is an "easy-care" cat and does not need a lot of brushing. However, ALL cats need brushing to be healthy, especially longhaired ones. Fur matting is not healthy for your cat's skin. It is important to brush your Maine Coon!!!!

It sounds like your MC is a kitten. If a kitten is taken from its mother too soon, or is upset by the separation, it may have problems grooming itself. In my experience with a longhaired kitten who had grooming problems, we gave him a bath once every two weeks, and brushed him gently almost every day. As he grew older, he learned how to groom themselves, but he needed "a head start."

If you want cat grooming assistance, there are professional pet groomers who will help you. Your veterinarian, and even a good pet shop, will also have some advice for you. You can get special cat brushes and shampoos at pet stores. The only way to get rid of fur mats is to snip or shave them off very carefully. The cat's fur will grow back.

-- Anonymous, December 13, 1998

Goodness somtimes My LOOK A LIKE MC is so stinky all he cleans is his tail and Genitals

-- Anonymous, December 16, 1998

Some lines of MC are greasier than others. It's also true that the coat texture varies among different cats. Some couldn't generate a mat if their lives depended on it; others mat if you look at them crosswise.

I never brush my cats, and I do not recommend brushes to my kitten buyers. I do /comb/ them. I find that most brushes simply "float" on top of the thick coat and leave plenty of dead hair at the base, which is mat material.

As for suggestions on food, "good" and "not too expensive" are generally at cross-purposes (at least if you confine your search to high-quality dry food. Wet foods are invariably more expensive per unit of nutrition, because you are paying for the processing, packaging, and freighting of a lot of water. :-) If Iams isn't working for your cat, try Science Diet, or Nutro Max Natural Choice.

Some people have good results from home-cooked "natural" diets, but I find them much too scary to use long-term. The other thing I might recommend is simply bathing your kitten monthly, so that the grease doesn't get to accumulate. (Make sure you have combed each and every mat out before you get your kitten wet, or you will both be very unhappy when the wet, knotted hair turns into felt.)

Write back and tell us what worked! Best of luck!

Ambar

-- Anonymous, December 31, 1998

We used most of the expensive dry foods for a while, but the cost of feeding 5 cats was great. We tried the Kirkland food (bought out of curiosity) at Costco's. The results are great. We expect to show our stud this month and have no grease problems. We also watched the coats of all of our MC's and saw no difference with this food. I will recommend this food to all that purchase kittens from us without a second thought.

We also feed about a tablespoon morning and night of wet food, but I don't see the benefit except as a snack or to spoil our gang.

We also bath our male about once a month. This bath includes a thourogh rinse with a handheld sprayer to rinse old hair away, and we comb him and the others a little each night. Very soothing to the owners indeed.

The natural oils will continue to accumulate unless you bath if the hair is long. As I have both females and male, I see that the male tends to be much more oily, especially behing the ears, and along the whole rear end. http://www.javanet.com/~tonto/Default.htm

-- Anonymous, March 08, 1999