It is well known that grooming, and attention to personal appearance is an indicator of one's mental status in humans. I think the same must be true of cats.
Although Sake has always had too much fur, she groomed herself very well when she was younger. I am not sure when, but sometime in the last 5 or 6 years, she stopped grooming as meticulously, and sometimes would have horribly large mats on her. And she was very vicious towards me when I tried to take them off.
When Take arrived, Sake had some terrible mats on her britches. I tried to cut them off, using my surreptitious scissors. It got to the point where I loosened the mats, and they flapped, but that was as much as Sake would let me do... So, for several days, she walked around with this nasty mat flapping on her. Then, finally, I grabbed her and cut the mat off. I know if felt better, because since then, she has let me check her britches, and let me cut off budding mats that occur.
But something else has happened: she is grooming herself again, and keeping the major mats out.
Haiku, on the other hand, always groomed herself well until after Taki arrived. Then, I noticed she started having mats, especially near her hips. She did not like me to comb them out. But I did, regularly. That persisted until Taki had been with us about three and an half months. All of a sudden, Haiku started grooming herself again .
I am not sure what made the difference, but whatever it was, I am glad.
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