The story of Matt, the rescued Persian who was dumped in Northwest London, is very sad but I have to confess to being slightly amused by the photo of him zonked out after being sheared with his pile of fur next to him. I think the photo was meant to make us smile.
Matt was rescued by the RSPCA and patched up by the Well Animal Clinic (West Hampstead, North West London). Matt (a well chosen name in light of his coat) was in a terrible state – utterly neglected and abandoned and he looks totally p*ssed off and why not.
His fur was so matted he couldn’t pass feces. Poor soul.
Besides being so matted the list of his health problems included:
- infected mouth, rotten teeth and broken jaw (due to the state of his mouth) – unable to eat
- badly infected ears
- dehydrated
He was beautifully cared for and treated (a steel wire had to be used in his jaw to repair it). He was syringe feed for several days after the long operation and received pain relief.
He is now lively, talkative and friendly. Cats recover so well.
The vet who operated on him, Christian Le Van, has adopted him. Beautiful end to the story. The vet lives above the clinic so I wonder if Matt will become a veterinary clinic cat over the future years? He is a good advert for the resilience of the domestic cat and the great TLC provided by the Well Animal Clinic.
Here he an expression to rival Grumpy Cat:
Matt is a traditional Persian cat. He looks very cute, grumpy looking or not.
This is the sort of clipping I consider unnecessary
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2760745/They-looked-boring-Pet-styling-salon-dyes-cats-look-like-green-dragons-dogs-resemble-bumblebees-claim-animals-ENJOY-it.html
However, shaving a cat to remove mats is necessary for its health and welfare. One abandoned silver Persian, that ended up being called Shaun (the Sheep), had maggots around the anus because faeces was being trapped in the matted fur.
Clipping and dyeing animals because ‘they looked boring’ Whatever next! How very ignorant some humans are, it’s beyond stupidity it’s just downright cruel!
Its so sad to read the entire story
But thank you Michael for reporting it on PoC.org <3
The fur hair will grow with the passage of time and it will give the Persian cat a new energy for life, as they are with their hairs a lot of hairs, hairs and more hairs.
There are many conditions that the cats may be trimmed (I mean long hair cats) for their welfare of health issues, that's why it is better to trime from the belly area (only)
Just not trim
1. Hands
2. Feet
3. Head
4. The tip of Tail (but the anal area must be totally trimmed)
Lubricants are good but in many cases it can itch to the area and the next health issue will appear as a Cobra snake standing right ahead. To avoid those issues and making sure that before the cat expires or there comes another problem, the vets or caretakers have to decide it (with sadness ofcourse) but the hairs come back and it is the beauty of nature that if you trim an area of hair, the next growth will be better and more than before (With the condition that you have to feed/look after your cat with responsibility)
But depends on emergency situations, otherwise there is no way to trim any cat for FUN.
Some cats must be trimmed, after they have MAT.
Well in general I hate myself un natural means to be applied to any of the species. Even Human beings. Thanks Michael <3
Lovely comment Ahsan. You’re Pakistan’s cat guru. You are Pakistan’s Jackson Galaxy 😉
I was very busy today with Charlie again. I took him back to the vet again and made sure he had 5 star treatment. Tests and more tests.
Oho! Its sad and stressing news Michael, Its better to let him have five stars treatment now if nothing works, Does he eat something or still not eating 🙁
His eating varies. Sometimes it is OK and sometimes he is too pissed off to eat and he can’t smell it so does not eat it. He has lost a lot weight but his weight has stabilized so that is good.
In this case I can’t see where there was any choice but to get rid of all the filthy matted infested fur to see if his skin was ok underneath or if he had any sores, combing would have taken a long, long time and meant longer anaesthesia. Poor lad he looks mush better for the treatment to my mind.
Matt feels so much better now.Maybe there was nt 2 hours to spend combing because they were busy saving another life.I think he is vey handsome kitty.
He is he looks very happy and healthy and full of character 🙂
Poor Matt, it makes me very angry that he was so neglected and had to go through all that shaving and treatment. Cats are amazing how they can recover so quickly, I hope he has a very happy life from now on.
The level neglect is shocking. Good to see him on the way to a full recovery and with a first class caretaker.
Yes, so neglected, poor baby.
Sheared to the skin because no one could be bothered to take 2 hours to groom him.
It’s as deplorable as declawing is, to shear away a cat’s coat.
I don’t think I have ever seen this assault on cats at all here at all.
Is it common in the UK?
Never seen this before in the UK or the USA. Not on the internet anyway.
Declawing is worse because claws don’t grow back but his fur will and no its not unique to the UK I’ve seen the Lion Cut on long haired cats in the states because of a very hot climate haven’t you?
To be honest I think you’re making a lot of assumptions Dee;
1. you don’t know how bad his coat was; it may have been beyond grooming.
2. You don’t know how sick he was when he got there; could he have tolerated 2 hours of grooming? Probably not.
3. He wasn’t assaulted what was done was to benefit him as I said before his coat will grow back.
Sheared, for real?
These people never heard of vaseline or any other lubricant to help with combing? They don’t know how to cut through mats to make them more workable? They don’t know how to just shave around the anal area?
Bad teeth – ABT’s and extract
Infected ears – ABT’s will help; Ivermectin for mites and other parasites
Dehydration – fluids.
He looks horrible.
Was he from a third worls?
Are you being a bit harsh Dee? 😉
Harsh? Yes.
Because that poor soul didn’t need to look like that at all.
I can hardly believe that the only solution was to nearly skin this poor cat when so many other alternatives existed. But, ofcourse, the better solutions take time and patience.
I’d really like to know if any visitor finds it acceptable to shave this cat clean as opposed to taking 2 hours to comb him out.
To me, this is as horrible as declawing. To remove the coat of a cat is deplorable
Is this the way it works in some places?
Not in my world, for sure.
Interesting comment Dee to say that shaving off all the fur is as horrible as declawing. I don’t think it can be as horrible as declawing because hair grows back but claws don’t unless there is some painful growth under the skin after declawing. I see your point though. It is a question worth asking.
Your last sentence is the answer.
Mutilation is mutilation whether is a coat, claws, tail, or voice box.
Altering in any way is mutilating.
No one can be against tail bobbing and, at the same time, be for shearing; or, against declawing and be for shearing.
No alterations are acceptable.
Really, no cat coats ever grow back to the same as they ever were.
Really never encountered this.
Is shearing a UK thing?
Interesting again, Dee. Are you sure the coat doesn’t grow back to exactly the same condition it was in before being sheared? It is very rare in the UK to remove almost all the fur like this. It is not a culture thing. This is more or less a one-off event. It must have been decided upon by the vet.
The alternative as you suggest could have been workable though. I take your point. It was just a decision.
Point taken.
But, why in heaven’s name would anyone shave away a cat’s coat? What sort of reason would there ever be to mutilate like that?
That would never happen here. Is this a UK thing? Is that common?
Here, nothing is so untreatable that would require removing a cats’ coat.
I’m shocked.
With a cat that badly matted, the coat has felted and can’t be untangled. It becomes very painful for the cat and it also harbours parasites and dirt. The constant pulling of mats (when cat moves) causes skin lesions. At that point, the only humane way to treat the mats and the skin/parasite issues is shaving. No lubricant on earth can undo felted mats. New growth is distorted as it grows into existing mats and abscesses can form in the follicles where the fur has nowhere to grow and just coils round on itself.
I’ve been involved with dematted Persians. When you slice through the mats (once removed from the cat of course), they are glued together with saliva, dander, flea dirt etc. There’s absolutely no way to tease such mats apart (for a start that would pull fur out in clumps and cause pain). Once the cat is shaved, the fur can grow back normally and undistorted. Any skin and parasite issues can be treated and wounds/abscesses can be cleaned. Anyone who thinks heavy duty mats can be resolved by combing really needs to see this sort of mat first hand – it’s solid and some bits even feel like shell or horn. Suggesting such a huge mat can be groomed away is unrealistic.
I’m against cosmetic shaving/clipping, but veterinary shaving really is the only painless way to resolve such severe matting.
Excellent, thanks for sharing first hand experience. Invaluable. I may use this in an article.
Declawing is the most cruel surgery of all! I hate any cosmetic surgery, but ear cropping and tail docking don’t affect a dogs ability to walk, they don’t cause pain and disablement and mental anguish like declawing does. Debarking or demeowing is very cruel, far crueller than ear cropping or tail docking or shearing.
When working for vets I often had to de matt long haired cats, the reason they were shaved was to do the job quickly, to keep them under anaesthetic for the least time possible, no cat will happily sit for hours to be dematted, it hurts!
The fur always grew back beautifully, silky smooth and the clients told to GROOM their cats, we didn’t want to put a cat through it twice.
But shearing or shaving a cat for fashion, now that does make me MAD MAD MAD, stupid lion cuts that only leave their faces and feet furry and a tassle on the end of the tail…..even worse when the fur is dyed too. IDIOTIC OWNERS!!! Even worse are cats with tattooes, the pain when they wake up must be excruciating!
So shearing a cat when his fur is in a very bad state is I reckon the best and kindest thing to do.
I think you have summed it all up nicely, Ruth. Thank you.
I agree wholeheartedly Ruth! I didn’t know people tatooed their pets!! How horrible!!
My foster cat had a large area shaved for his leg operation. He now looks no different to the time before he broke his leg. His fur has grown back perfectly and no one would ever know he’d had anything wrong with him.
I would imagine the same would apply for the fur all over Matt’s whole body; it will grow back just fine but if it doesn’t? Well we don’t love them because of what their fur looks like do we (or at least we shouldn’t) we love them because of their personality. He was shaved because of medical reasons not for cosmetic ones which after all lets face it is the worst kind.
https://pictures-of-cats.org/tattooing-cats.html
Yes they do Leah, more evil abuse of cats!!!
Yes take longer with more patience of course they do which is more stressful for the cat or longer than necessary under the anaesthetic which is bad for an already sick cat! He doesn’t he shaved for goodness sake! He probably feels great without that thick flea infested coat! Its all about getting him as comfortable as quickly as possible! Really bad matts that are close to the skin only serve to make the sore skin even more irritated so it makes perfect sense to shave him.