Combing and Brushing Your Cat: What You Should Know

Especially for long-haired cats, brushing your cat is a crucial aspect of caring for them. It helps prevent matting in their fur that can cause issues with their skin and disrupt their comfort, but brushing also helps keep their coat healthy. Even if you have a short-haired cat, brushing them can cut down on the amount of hair your cat ingests during self-grooming. Questions arise about how brushing a cat can affect them and if you can overdo it. In this article, you’ll understand the ins and outs of cat brushing to ensure your kitty feels and looks their best.

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Is it right to Brush your Cat?

Most of the benefits of brushing your cat affect the health of their skin and coat. One of the most obvious ways that brushing your cat helps them is that, much like with people, it helps to avoid tangles and can stop them from turning into mats. Another way that brushing benefits your cat is through the distribution of the natural oils in their fur that helps to maintain it.

There are also other benefits to brushing your cat that doesn’t have to do it directly with your skin and coat. While cleaning, you can give your cat a thorough check for any skin abnormalities while also looking for ticks and fleas. Brushing your cat may also allow you to bond with it more efficiently while also helping your cat become used to being handled, an act that may help the cat’s vet visits go more smoothly.

If you neglect to brush your cat, you could end up with mats and tangles that can make it difficult for the cat to walk comfortably since it may pull on its delicate skin. Mats found around the sensitive armpits may even tear their skin. These mats not only cause direct issues to the skin but also block airflow and make it easier for fleas to find a place to hide.

How often should you Comb your Cat? 

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Cats will groom themselves from time to time when they sense they need it, but you should step in to ensure they are as clean and well taken care of as possible. Then, there comes the question of just how often you should be grooming your cat. Really, it depends on the type of fur that your cat has. Long-haired cats will need to be groomed more frequently than other cats because more fur will become matted and tangled than short-haired cats.

Because cats don’t typically like to sit in one place and be handled for too long, you don’t want to turn to brush them into a half-hour ordeal. If you have a long-haired cat, brushing them for a few minutes daily will help keep their fur tidy and stop it from matting up. With short-haired cats, you can usually get away with brushing them for a few minutes twice or three times a week.

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Can you over-groom a Cat?

While brushing a cat is crucial to their health, you mustn’t overdo it. If you clean your cat too frequently every day or for too long at a time, it could have adverse effects indeed. Too much brushing can make your cat’s skin feel more sensitive, but it can also lead to bald patches in the fur.

You will notice that you have been overbrushing and overgrooming your cat through various symptoms that they might display, such as constant scratching at their irritated skin. You may also notice that the cat’s skin issues extend to symptoms such as rashes, redness, and even sores that could occur from scratching sensitive skin. When it comes to the fur, you may notice that the hair does not have a healthy shine to it if you are overgrooming. Instead, it will look flat or even greasy in some places since the natural oils aren’t being distributed properly. When you touch the cat’s hair, it may not spring back in the way it should. Healthy hair starts with healthy skin, and if you have been irritating it with too much brushing, it could impede its growth.

READ MORE: Cat Scratching Ear

Does brushing a Cat make it shed more?

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When you brush your cat, you likely notice that a lot of hair comes out and gets stuck to the brush. You might even have little piles of hair to clean up at the end of your brushing sessions, and because of all of the hair that comes loose, you might think you are going to cause the cat to shed more; but, that’s not the case. In fact, it is impossible to prevent your cat from shedding completely, but when you brush them, you can significantly reduce the amount of cat hair in the home.

As you brush your cat, you are actually reducing the chances of it shedding as much hair. This is because when you brush your cat, you are brushing free all of the loose hairs that would soon come loose and cover your furniture and clothes on their own. Brushing and grooming your cat regularly according to the needs presented by their hair type and length will go a long way toward reducing shedding.

While it is a good idea to take your cat to a groomer regularly to get them professionally groomed, While it is good to take your cat to a groomer regularly to get them professionally groomed, brushing a healthy, consistent amount will keep them comfortable in-between visits. Cleaning your cat benefits everything from your cat’s coat to your skin, and it can even help make them less anxious when being handled by people, including your vet. Keep the information covered in this article in mind the next time you break out a brush to groom your cat and make the experience of grooming more comfortable for both you and your kitty in the short and long terms.