my non stop malting rag doll cat
spankz my ragdoll cat
Hi
I have a 9 month old ragdoll he is male, and won’t stop malting (I’m not talking a brush full I’m talking like 8 brushes full he is constantly losing his hair) he lives inside we have our home warm with the fire so we thought that he would be losing his winter coat but he has been malting like crazy 4 months now. Everyone says u just needs to brush ragdolls once a day but I have to brush him lots a day. When we 1st got him he didn’t malt how he does now, I’m now thinking is it because he is getting his adult hair and losing his kitten hair? I’m not sure but it’s driving me mad I’m 4ever cleaning and finding cat hair please help me thank you
janelle and mat
Reply
Hi
I have some bad news for you I’m afraid. It could well be that your cat will always moult all through the year. It may vary in amount but he may always be shedding fur at some time.
The reason for this is because domestic cats now live comfortable lives with central heating we have messed up their body clock. It thinks it is always summer and so continues to shed.
In the wild when it gets colder the cat gets its winter coat which it keeps until spring when things warm up and then it shed this and gets its lighter summer coat. But without these dramatic changes in temperature there is no need to hang onto the fur.
Also depending on the breed I do think some cats do shed more anyway. My old Maine coon cats with his thick coat used to shed quite lightly and usually we would just find clumps of fur around the house. But my current two cats shed all the time too even though they are short haired moggies.
There are some conditions which can affect the hormones and can make shedding worse such as a thyroid issue but on a cat so young I would be very surprised if this were the case.
I have never owned a rag doll cat so don’t know if they do require as much brushing as you say they do. It may even be that if you brush too often you may stimulate hair growth and make things worse, perhaps if for a period of time you just brush once a day to see if over time things ease.
But the last time I spoke to my vet about excessive shedding he looked at me as if I was mad and said well that’s what cats do. You could mention it to your vet the next time you visit to see if he feels whether or not there may be a hormone issue if he thinks the shedding is excessive.
Best wishes Kate