I've been around cats for nearly all my life.
Cats take care of grooming their own fur. What's lacking in this article is what prevented this cat from doing the same.
Exactly.
I had a geriatric cat that was unable to “do” her coat, and if I missed ONE day, she had some pretty gnarly mats.
And it basically wasn’t even a LONG-haired cat. Cat fur of a typical short-haired cat normally sheds of itself, and the worst that happens is that a cat may get a hairball. Most of it ends up on the furniture and in the carpet.
I looked at the article for the picture and was just about to post exactly what you wrote about weasels and then I saw your post. ;)
“Cats take care of grooming their own fur. What’s lacking in this article is what prevented this cat from doing the same.”
BINGO! That’s exactly what I was thinking.
Looks like the cat smokes ganja and plays the steel drums.
Old cat and elderly owner
That is what happened
When cats get old, they stop grooming themselves properly and this can form, granted this has been going on for years. The matted fur just clings together over time during the shedding seasons. Easiest way to help with this, brush the cat during shedding season.
Young cats, like under 15, don’t have this problem, because they groom themselves regularly.
If cats get too fat they can’t groom their whole body and some times they get matted up really bad where they can’t reach to clean. To add to their misery when the get fat they end up having all kinds of medical problems just like humans. Most the time when you have a cat that gets to fat it is a sign of a cat owner allowing the cat to eat all day.
We have a white cat, 17 years old, who stopped grooming a couple years ago. We keep him combed and clipped the best ee can but his hair gets pretty matted and knotted. No idea why he stopped grooming other than just old age.