Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Tortie Tuesday

For some reason, unknown to my humans, I have recently developed a large 'shell' of knots in the fur on my back.



As you may be able to see in the photos, Mommy has hacked away at them with some scissors (don't worry, she's very careful) but she is not sure that she can get these mats under control on her own.



In a related story, Mommy found a local pet food and pet supply store that is now where we buy our raw food and cat litter. The store is called My Pet's Best Friend. They offer all these things:

Medical treatment
Pet sitting visits
Boarding
Dog walking
Pet taxi
Delivery of pet food & supplies

Because Vanessa (the owner) is a certified veterinary technician, when she delivered our food and litter to Mommy's office, Mommy asked her what to do about my 'shell'. Vanessa said she would come by to meet me very soon and see if I would be okay with letting her shave me and if not, she knew a very gentle groomer.

Let me say right now, for the record... I will never be 'okay' with getting shaved!!! Are they kidding?



Mommy and The Ball Guy's theory is that the shell came from my overuse of my nylon tunnel coupled with my dislike for being brushed and grooming myself. Every time I passed the tunnel, I'd run through it and come out all static clingy! Unfortunately this means that my wonderful tunnel has been put away for now and this makes me very sad. Now, on top of that, I have to worry about some woman coming over to meet and possibly groom me!

Here I am enjoying my tunnel:




It wasn't the tunnel that caused this. They have to realize that I'm a Tortoiseshell and I take my title literally!

Delilah
xoxo

25 comments:

Martin Hooper said...

No not the grooming Deli...

Your long fur is what makes you you if you know what I mean...

You would look so different without your furs.. :(

I do love your colours too you and your brother are lovely kitties!

Jans Funny Farm said...

You have static cling? Whatever you do, don't touch the computer. We'll be right over with a bottle of.

No, no, Cameron, not that bottle. It's for blowing dust out of the computer. Get the anti-static one. This is an emergency.

Oh, and grab the rake on your way out the door. We've got a shelf to clean up.

Don't worry, Delilah, we're on our way.

Reese =^..^= said...

I hope the whole grooming thing works out. Good luck.

Cheyenne -Millie said...

I am sorry you have the mats! My fur gets mats too! Sometimes they have had to chase me around to catch me so they could cut them off with the scissors! Then I get real upset!

Mouchois said...

I think you'd make a beautiful lion!

Hopefully those icky mats go away. Melvin has troubles with those from time to time. But that's only because he has no clue how to be a cat and clean himself. Haha

The Creek Cats said...

Oh no, not mats, Deli! I hope it doesn't resort to shaving your beautiful tortie floof. Sounds like a nice new pet supply store you got there!

The Kitty Krew said...

That last picture before the video clearly shows your feelings on the subject! Boy you had us scared at first though, we thought the knots weren't just in your fur but actually on your BACK until you mentioned your mommy trying to cut them out so we were worried at first. Now we're still worried, of course, but at least if you're groomed/shaved, your furs will grow back.

Very cool, though, that your mommy found a new local store that not only carries natural products, but delivers! That's great for her.

Purrs and hugs,
The Kitty Krew

The Florida Furkids said...

TortoiseSHELL - hahahaha!!! Does your Mom have a furminator or mat splitter? Those might work. Cliffie (one of our woofies) gets mats like that.

Sniffie and the Florida Furkids

Noir the Texas Tabby said...

A before Kittty, Tommy had and then gave to a chum of hers, a long haired Calico, named Baby--got mats. She got shaved. Didnt' like it, but made her and the humans more comfy. I wish you luck!!

Mishkat said...

Yikes! We hope you don't have to get shaved! And we are glad we don't have long hair - Franklin would be a complete disaster.

P.S. Tasha is really good about bathing, but she didn't like brushing very much until our dad told our mom to praise Franklin a lot when she was brushing him. Tasha likes to be praised too, so she let mom brush her after that (mom has to say "good girl" over and over and over!) We don't know if that would work for you though, Deli - you seem to be less gullible than Tasha!

The Island Cats said...

Oh Delilah! We can't believe they took your tunnel away! We don't think the tunnel had anything to do with you getting mats and they should give you back your tunnel RIGHT NOW!

As far as those mats are concerned, our mom had a long haired kitty that would get bad mats and she patiently combed and cut them out...and we mean patiently, cuz this kitty wouldn't put up with it for very long! We hope if they do shave you, your beautiful furs grow back really quick (we wouldn't want to be shaved either!).

Our mom wants to know what kind of litter you use...we've been using Tidy Cat Scoop and mom wants to find something that's not so dusty and more natural...we tried the World's Best Cat Litter (free sample) but Wally didn't like it...thanks!

Ernie

Anonymous said...

Mom brushes all of us every day, partly because we really love it but mostly because if she didn't Grayson would be one huge mat! We have several kinds of brushes, including a Zoom Groom, but Mom says the cheap cat slicker she got at the Dollar Store works best! Go figure.

Whitey was covered in mats, most of them right to his skin, when he got Gotcha'd. When he was being neutered Mom asked the vet to shave him while he was under anesthesia, but they were able to comb all of them out! Whitey is so happy not to have mats now and grooms himself all the time.

Sam and Andy said...

Sam and I always look forward to your Tortie Tuesdays, Delilah. We really enjoyed your video.

I have the same problem with my furs and my Mom carefully has to sometimes cut them out, cuz I hate her combing me all the time.

Andy
love and purrs from both of us

Angel, Kirby and Max said...

WE are sorry your tunnel got taken away! WE hope you get your shell taken care of.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about the Tunnel getting taken away. It looked like it eated you up! MOL!!! And sorry about your Shell. That's not fun. But we think you will look SOOOOO SUPER cute shaved! Just as long as they don't give you a big POM on the tip of your tail. That would be like a live toy to your sibs.

loki said...

Nanny had experienced the same problem, she had asked a friend to help her with the situation. I can tell you that I was not happy with Nanny.

Loki

CCL Wendy said...

Poor Deli -- you're such a DeliCat!
My theory is that the shelf on your back is where you aren't able to reach so well to groom yourself, so the dirt and oils mat up after awhile. The same thing happens to Dante certain hard-to-reach places, like at the base of his tail.

I just purrsist until I can cut out most of it, and then use a de-matter on the rest. I agree with you that shaving is out of the question.

Daisy said...

Oh Delilah, I'm sorry you got some knots in our furs. I'll bet you will feel much better after they get taken off!

Anya said...

I have short fur :)
I think on you,
does it hurt when your Mommy brushed your fur,
I hope not ...
hugs
Kareltje =^.^=

Anonymous said...

Uh oh Delilah, I hope they don't have to shave you! Maybe you'll just have to get used to being brushed.....

BeadedTail said...

Oh no, Delilah! Shaved? We hope that doesn't happen. We don't have mats in our furs so can't offer any advice but we do think you should get your tunnel back!

Anonymous said...

Don't let them shave you, Deli! Put up the fight to end all fights if they dare try to do it!

Quill and Greyson said...

We call those Alphalpha hairs (you can do a search on my blog for the post about them. Mom thinks the zoom groom helped prevent them.

Note to Samson - I have a double sink.

JEWELGIRLS KATZ said...

Delilah are absolutely a stunning
Tortie. We love torties because
they are sweet and have the most
unique fur colors combos. ♥
Grooming long fur takes a lot of
time,especially if there is matting it can hurt. Good luck!

Amy & the house of cats said...

Delilah, Floyd had something similar when he was younger. We were able to comb it out but it took a lot of care and patience - and he didn't mind being brushed too much (at least for short periods). It is too bad they put the tunnel away - I think that you could use anti-static stuff on the tunnel to help and, if it helps, Floyd got that and he didn't even have a tunnel, so it may not be the cause at all. Otherwise maybe a larger tunnel would help (I have seen big ones for bean kids that would probably cause less static). And I agree with the idea of praising the cat who likes to get combed - my cats that aren't fans of it get jealous and want brushing when I brush the ones who love it and tell them how good they are being.