Smudge.

[farthing]

Smudge is not grooming herself as well as she should, I think part of the problem is she is arthritic and because she now has CRF, I can't put her on metacam. If she gets really bad I will, because quality is better than quantity, at the end of the day. She is 18.
Anyway, I decided to groom her a bit this afternoon, and she wasn't happy, yeowling and growling. Candy was quite upset about it and came up to see what was going on. I was concentrating so much on these two, I didn't realise Samson had crept up behind and had started to nibble Spice's tail- this was why she was SO upset.
You'd think Samson would have grown up by now, he is 14. Whatever else he is he is a cat with a sense of humour, he was positively chuckling as I shooed him off.

[Elaine]

Little monkey I can just picture the scene

[dandysmom]

Farthing, have you thought about glucosamine for her arthritis? Would that react with her other medication the way the metacam does?

[Kazz]

I always found a slightly warm damp cloth helped when trying to groom older cats like their mothers tongue when they object to other things liek brushes, combs just a warm damp (dry to the touch though) flannel helps greatly. It removes the loose hair, and eases its way slowly to make them feel safe.

[angieh]

I did exactly that Kazz for Merlin - both when he first came to me as an unsettled kitten and then when he was an old chap. He remembered and always purred and came back for more. I still have the very old human flannel I used for him.

[farthing]

Originally Posted by Kazz

I always found a slightly warm damp cloth helped when trying to groom older cats like their mothers tongue when they object to other things liek brushes, combs just a warm damp (dry to the touch though) flannel helps greatly. It removes the loose hair, and eases its way slowly to make them feel safe.

Thanks, I'll bare that in mind the next time. I hadn't noticed how bad she had become, so she was quite clumped. I will be grooming more regularly from now on, as she isn't doing it herself. Samson, Smudge and Misty are all the same. I do hope Candy doesn't go the same way, she's the only one who would bite me.

[MadCatLady]

Ummmm... flannel good or if the knots are really bad just shave/cut them out... I bought a good set of clippers for SashaBellas ruff and RigbyBigBear trousers!!! All good!