Brushing

Whether your cat has short or long hair, brushing the coat thoroughly on a daily basis will aid in its appearance as well as promote healthy skin. It does this by:

• Removing telogen (dead) hairs from the coat, making way for new ones to grow in.
• Preventing tangles and mats
• Stimulating sebaceous gland activity, which keeps the skin moisturized and the hair- coat shiny. Brushing also helps to spread these oils across the entire skin and coat.
• Removing scale (excess keratin), which could lead to itching.
• Increasing owner awareness of the presence of external parasites or other skin-related problems.

Long-haired and/or thick-coated breeds require more diligent brushing than do shorter-coated cats. Minor shedding is normal year – round in all breeds. However, because the shedding cycle is stimulated by changes in day length, most will occur during the spring and fall months, when the days become longer and shorter, respectively.

Be sure to choose the right type of brush for your pet. In general, the wider the bristles or pins are placed on the brush, the longer the coat it is designed to be used on. Long-coated cats should be brushed
using a wire-pin brush or comb. For shorthaired cats, a bristle-type brush or rubber curry comb will do the trick.

Most of these consist of a square head containing lots of tiny wire projections, and they can be used on almost any type of haircoat for removing shed hair and tangles.

Purchase of a comb is optional, unless you own a cat or one of the silky-fur breeds with a coat that might be too delicate for many standard brushes. Combs can also come in quite handy for removing tangles and mats when used in conjunction with scissors.

Like brushes, the teeth of combs are set at different widths apart for different types of coats: widely spaced for thicker coats and closely spaced for longer, silkier hair. Just keep in mind that using the wrong type of brush or comb can be painful to your pet and actually damage the haircoat. For this reason, choose grooming tools with care.

Always use firm, short strokes when brushing, never forcing the brush through the coat, brush with the grain of the hair. To help in the removal of shed hair, use towels or disposable gloves to buff the coat after brushing.

If you encounter a mat, don’t try to forcefully remove it with the brush. Instead, try to work it free with your fingers, using one hand to free the tangle and the other to stabilize the tuft of hair to keep it from pulling the skin. If the mat or tangle still can’t be freed, insert a comb between the mat and the skin surface; then take a pair of blunt-nosed scissors and snip as much of the mat off as you can between the comb and the free end of the hair.

Don’t worry about cosmetic appearances. It will grow back! Mats that are left in place can promote infection involving the skin beneath. And always remember: If you brush your pet as often as you should, you won’t have a problem with matting!

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Incidence of this problem increases during the spring and fall months because of increased shedding. When the hair is swallowed, it can coalesce into a ball within the stomach and act as a gastric foreign body, irritating the stomach lining.

Vomiting, often right after eating, and gagging are usually the result when this happens; coughing might also be noticed. Aside from these signs, those cats affected seem otherwise clinically normal.

Diagnosis of hairballs is based on clinical signs (and the absence of other clinical signs) and physical examination.

If the vomiting is continuous or severe, radiographs of the stomach or direct endoscopic examination might be required to rule out other gastric foreign bodies common to cats, such as cloth, strings, and plastic wrap.

Another way to make a diagnosis of hairballs is to monitor response to treatment. There are numerous “cat laxatives” on the market that can be given to a cat suspected of harboring hairballs.

These agents, most of which are merely flavored petroleum jelly, act to lubricate the hairball and facilitate its passage out of the stomach and into the stool. Once this occurs, the clinical signs seen should abate.

In severe instances, surgical removal of a prominent hairball might even be required to afford a cure. Pet owners can do their part to prevent hairballs in their cats. Giving a laxative in a preventive manner once or twice weekly should help keep things moving smoothly through the gastrointestinal tract.

One word of caution: Mineral oil should never be used as a hairball laxative, primarily because this substance can be easily aspirated into the lungs. In addition to giving hairball laxative periodically, brushing a cat’s haircoat on a daily basis will help reduce the amount of hair available for ingestion.

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The ancestors of the domestic cat were shorthaired, but selective breeding has produced other coat types, ranging from silky longhaired to almost hairless.

The cat’s skin has many roles: it acts as a barrier against disease-causing agents, or pathogens; it forms a waterproof layer, preventing vital fluids from leaking out of the body; its blood vessels help regulate internal body temperature; and it makes vitamin D, which is necessary for healthy bones.

Cats have loose skin that complements their natural flexibility of movement. This looseness also helps when fighting, because it allows a cat to turn to some degree and defend itself, even when its skin is held.

Two Layers

The skin has two layers: the outer layer is called the epidermis, and the inner, the dermis. The epidermis is mainly composed of layers of dead, flattened cells containing a tough protein called keratin and water-resistant chemicals. The hair and claws are also made largely of keratin.

The deepest, or basal, layer of the epidermis is only about four cells thick and consists of living cells. These cells divide repeatedly to replenish the outer layers, which are constantly shed from the body’s surface. The epidermis also contains immune cells that fight pathogens.

The inner layer, the dermis, is more complex and contains connective tissue, hair follicles, muscles, blood vessels, sebaceous and sweat glands, and millions of nerve endings that detect heat, cold, light touch, pressure, and pain. Cats do not produce sweat to cool the skin. Instead, they produce oily secretions from the sweat glands that condition and protect the skin and coat.

A cat’s skin is pigmented—except in areas where the fur is white—and is the same color, although slightly paler, as the hair that grows from it. Glands in a cat’s skin also release a scent, which is a vital component in feline communication.

Types of hair

Cats have four kinds of hair: down, awn, guard, and sensory hair. Down hair is fluffy, short, and thin and provides insulation for warmth. Awn hair is intermediate in length, has thickened tips, and provides warmth, but is also protective.

Guard hair forms the outer coat, which protects the cat against the elements. These straight hairs, which taper toward their end, are the thickest and longest of the three types of coat hair. They are more dense on the back, chest, and abdomen.

Whiskers, or vibrissae, are long, thick sensory hairs found on the cat’s head, throat, and forelegs. These touch sensors help a cat to explore in the dark and to detect nearby objects. Other sensory hairs, called tylotrichs, are scattered throughout the coat and have a role similar to that of the whiskers.

Cats have compound hair follicles, which means that many hairs, but only one guard hair, grow from a single follicle. This creates a thick coat—one square millimeter of cat skin can contain as many as 200 hairs. Hair itself is made of overlapping scales, which are the remains of keratin-packed cells.

Each follicle has a sebaceous gland, which produces oil to waterproof and condition the coat, and a small muscle that raises the hair when the cat is angry or excited, making it appear larger and more daunting to enemies.

The sensory hairs are by far the least numerous of all types of hair. The other types of hair occur roughly in the ratio of 100 down: 30 awn: 2 guard hairs. However, selective breeding has altered this proportion and lengths in many breeds to produce a variety of coats.

For example, the Maine Coon’s longhaired coat does not contain any awn hairs; the Cornish Rex’s coat does not have any guard hairs, just curly down and awn hairs; and the apparently hairless Sphynx has a light covering of down, but lacks whiskers.

Coats come in a bewildering range of patterns and colors. Coat color is produced by two forms of the pigment melanin: eumelanin (black and brown) and phaeomelanin (red, orange, and yellow). Except for white hair, all colors are the result of varying amounts of these two pigments on the hair shaft.

Pigmentation in cat fur varies from an even distribution along the hair shaft, which produces a solid coat, to no pigment at all, which gives white fur. A solid coat’s color varies with the density of pigment in the coat hairs. For example, dilute black gives blue. If just the end part of each hair holds color, the coat is tipped, shaded, or smoke. Ticked shafts have alternating dark and light bands and give a color called agouti.

Solid colors

Black and red and their dilute forms, blue and cream, are known as Western colors because they traditionally occurred in European and American breeds, such as the British Shorthair and Maine Coon. Solid-white and bicolored are also considered Western.

Coat colors traditionally found in breeds with origins east of Europe, such as the Siamese and Persian, are known as Eastern colors. They are chocolate and cinnamon, and their dilute forms, lilac and fawn. All colors now occur globally.

Tipped fur

When just the tip of each hair is heavily pigmented, the effect is known as tipping, chinchilla, or shell. The unpigmented section of the hair is usually white, or silver, although undercoats with yellow or reddish coloring can occur.

Parti-colors

A parti, or parti-colored cat, has two or more colors in its coat. Partis include bicolor and tricolor cats and are found in many breeds, both shorthair and longhair. Partis also include torties and tabbies with white patches. When torties have a high proportion of white fur, the pattern is described as “calico” or “tortie and white.”

Tortie colors

Tortoiseshell, or tortie, coats have patches of black (or chocolate or cinnamon) and red fur either closely mingled or in distinct patches. Dilute forms of the coats also appear: blue, lilac, or fawn with cream fur. Patches of red or cream fur always have some tabby markings, and if the other color patches are tabby, too, the cat is known as a patched tabby. Tortie cats are almost always female.

Pointed

Coats in which the extremities are dark and the body paler are called pointed. In the Siamese and Persian Colorpoint, this pattern is controlled by a heat sensitive enzyme involved in producing hair pigment. The enzyme works only in the cooler extremities of the body, hence the darker fur. The pointed coat of the Turkish Van, with dark fur on the head and tail only, is a form of white spotting.

Shaded fur

The upper quarter of each hair is colored in shaded fur. Shaded fur appears darker on the back, where the fur lies flat. When the cat moves, shading produces a rippling effect. A coat in which the shaded part of the hair is red or cream is called a cameo.

Smoked fur

When about half of the uppermost hair shaft is colored, the coat is known as smoke. Cats with smoked fur often appear to have a solid coat. When the cat moves, however, the paler roots become more visible and the coat “shimmers.”

Ticked fur

The hair shafts have alternating pigmented and paler bands in ticked coats. The tips of each hair are always pigmented. Also known as agouti, ticked fur occurs in many wildcats and other mammals because it provides excellent camouflage.

White spotting

Patches of white in a cat’s coat are produced by a dominant gene that suppresses the production of colored fur. The result is a parti-colored coat. The patches vary from just one small area to an almost all-white coat.

Tabby patterns

Swirls, stripes, or spots of black, brown, silver, or red solid fur mixed with paler areas of ticked fur form tabby coats. There are four main patterns: spotted; classic (blotches or swirls); mackerel (striped); and ticked.

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In addition, special modifications of the skin, such as claws and pads, provide a means of traction and defense, as well as shock absorbency.

Anatomy and Physiology

The skin is composed of three layers: the epidermis, the dermis, and the hypodermis. The epidermis is the outermost layer of the skin. Beneath the epidermis lie the dermis and hypodermis, which are composed of, among other things, an array of connective and fatty tissue.

Sebaceous glands, embedded within these layers, secrete natural oils out onto the skin surface that lubricate and moisturize the skin. The haircoats of dogs and cats consist of guard hairs, which make up the rougher outer coat, and the wool hairs, which constitute the fine dense undercoat of most breeds.

In addition, special hairs called tactile hairs (more commonly known as “whiskers”) can be found on the head region. These fulfill a sensory function.

A hair cycle exists in cats that involves the seasonal shedding of old hair and replacement by new hair. This cycle is dependent on light, not on temperature, and increasing or decreasing amounts of daylight trigger it.

As a result, peak shedding periods for the dog and cat occur in the springtime, when the days begin to get longer, and in the fall when the days get shorter. Of course, as more pets spend more time indoors with artificial lighting, the hair cycle can be altered, with shedding occurring year-round.

Hair color is dependent on the amount of pigment present within the hair shaft. Large amounts of pigment result in black hair; hairs that lack pigment are white. Different levels of pigmentation that fall between these two extremes result in all other coat colors.

Changes in the natural color of the hair can occur with inflammation, trauma, or constant licking of a particular region or regions of the coat. Of course, as a pet enters its senior years, the appearance of gray hairs is not an uncommon sight as well.

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