The photos are astonishing. A medusa cat. They make you look twice and ask how did it happen? This is a calico cat who developed the worst coat matting ever seen. The 82-year-old cats owner suffered from dementia and has been rehomed in a residential care facility. You’ll see another cat in the comments section with medusa matting. For some reason old matting turns to dreadlocks.
The cat whose name is Hidey was “rescued” by the Animal League Shelter and Wildlife Center in Pennsylvania, USA. Hidey has also been rehomed with a distant relative of the owner. Hidey is in decent health but a bit overweight. It is just the coat which surprises me.
The person who found Hidey said:
“Then somebody mentioned that he had a second cat. So I started searching around, and suddenly this huge creature darts out from under the bed and runs down to the cellar, and I thought, ‘What was that?’”
Hidey is feeling much better after the shave. Obviously Hidey needed to be groomed by her owner because she was unable to do it herself to a satisfactory standard. This is probably because she is 14 years old.
The moral of the story is that elderly cats need to be watched carefully and regularly groomed with a brush by their owner. Long haired cats are the ones to watch out for. Standard short haired cats shouldn’t matt even when neglected by cat and human. I use a flea comb to groom my cats as it has very fine teeth. It also allows me to check for fleas at the same time.
Some comments from Facebook:
Jeff Chapman: “Looks like someone glued a bunch of squirrels on a cat.”
Phyllis Benjamin: “I say it’s fake. I bought a torte Persian, years ago, that was severely matted and had to shave her. There’s no way the hair would grow like the picture indicates.”
Elizabeth A Buettner-Belczyk: “How does the hair even grow that way????? But the head is fine????”
The way the matts have formed is surprising I must say. They are like dreadlocks. Very strange. It must have taken place over a long time. The photos look genuine to me, by the way. I don’t think this is a fake.
Thanks for that ME. I have published the picture as it validates the calico cat picture. It shows how the matts form dreadlocks.
Yes, I think you are correct.
search for cat with dreadlocks turned up this cat.