The daily care of a Persian coat is not as complicated as many will claim. Not under normal circumstances anyway. One does not necessarily have to brush the cat every day around the week. On the other hand one should, whilst handling the cat anyway, feel through the fur every day to avoid entangled knots developing. One should be specially aware of the fur behind the ears, between the front legs, on the belly and the back legs/thighs, where it is softer/woollier.
Bathing
As mentioned above, you should bathe your cat about once a week or twice a week depending on the condition. I usually bathe small kittens in the baby bath tub and rinse them under the tap. Same goes with the adult cats. When I bathe my cats, I usually follow this procedure:
1. Start by rinsing the coat thoroughly. Cats often prefer the water a little warmer than we humans, almost like for a baby.
2. The shampooing: There’s a jungle of shampoos on the market. There are shampoos for all sorts of situations. There are shampoos for different colors, treatments, volume, protein - you name it, there’s a shampoo for it. I have tried few of them on the market and not many products have taken my fancy or given me the result I wanted. Generally, it is recommended to let the shampoo sit in one to two minute for a good result. This goes for most products.
The secret behind a healthy coat is as mentioned not brushing every day, but bathing. When the coat becomes difficult to handle, it is often because the coat has become greasy, and because dust and other things collect in the coat and cause the hairs to stick together with knots as the result.Bathing your cat is not as difficult as it may sound. Many breeders start bathing their kittens at a very young age to accustom them to it, and in that way ensure that the new owners should have no problems with it.
Rinsing
The absolutely most important thing about bathing a Persian coat, and what is maybe often done hastily. A Persian coat that is not rinsed properly gives just as unkept an impression as an unbathed cat. If you want to make en effort to get a good result, spend a few extra minutes on the rinsing. It is usually recommended to rinse for at least twenty minutes. Don’t forget the legs and the underside of the cat (the belly). If you only rinse over the back, all the shampoo remnants will run under the belly and the legs.
Drying
A Persian coat consists of guard hairs, “middle hair” and underwool. This means it is completely unsuitable to let the cat dry on its own. It certainly does not give a pretty result. The underwool causes the coat to tangle if it is damp, and one can get a lovely bunch of tangles to handle as a result (something that pleases neither the cat nor the owner). It also takes quite a long time for the coat to dry. After bathing, dry the cat well with towels, before it is time for the next step. Dry the cat till it is properly dry, or you will risk that the coat tangles (under the belly, on the back of the legs). When drying their coat I normally use a blow-dryer (Saloon blow-dryer). Depending on which blow-dryer you use the drying time differs of course. One should be careful not to blow-dry at a too high temperature. The coat dries out quickly, and the skin may become irritated. Try to get hold of a blow-dryer, which blows a lot, but still has a mild temperature.
Stud Tail
Stud tail is a problem I would like to mention. Mostly unneutered males exhibit this phenomenon, but also neuters sometimes develop a stud tail. It is glands at the root of the tail which excrete this fat, which can seem impossible to get rid of and which looks ugly. If you don’t do anything about stud tail fast, you risk that the cat loses fur on the affected area.
There is not really a miracle product against stud tail other than while bathing the cat as usual you shampoo the tail with YES dishwashing liquid (for example Amway dishwasher/dishdrop liquid), which you leave in for a few minutes. When the cat is dried and ready, you can apply talcum powder to the affected area and keep treating it with talcum powder every day. The stud tail problem is usually periodical and as a rule it is worst when the stud is most sexually active But as mentioned before even neuters may exhibit this phenomenon once in a while.
Good talcum powders to use are for example:
- Johnson´s Baby Powder
- Natusan
Articles from the internet.
