Answer: The answer is yes, except for the few hairless cats like the Sphynx and some extreme type of Rex cats. Although the need for regular grooming is greatest in the long-haired breeds, all cats, whether show animals or household pets, need daily grooming to make them look their best and to prevent other problems developing. (Incidentally, talking about the absence of hair, you may notice that all cats lick eyelashes.)
Cats can be classified for grooming purposes into the following groups.
1 Short-hair, single-coat breeds (e.g. Siamese, Burmese, Rex and British Shorthair) which need to be first combed and brushed against the hair to remove dead hairs, and finally brushed with the ‘lie’ of the hair.
2 Short-hair double-coat breeds (e.g. Abyssinian, Russian Blue and American Shorthair) which have, in addition to the long guard hair which give the coat its color, a dense short undercoat. Grooming is the same as for the single-coated animals, but should not be overdone as it can destroy the coat.
3 Long-haired breeds (e.g. Persian, Himalayan, Turkish (Angora) which need careful and extensive combing and brushing; the fur around the head and shoulders being finally brushed upwards to form a frame around the face.
Most short-haired cats have a coat about I ¾ inches (4.5 cm) long, whereas in the long-hairs it can reach 5 inches (13 cm) or more. Regular grooming (particularly combing) remove from the coat the loss hair which are naturally shed by all animals. If these are not combed or brushed out, the cat will remove then as it washes itself. The cat’s tongue is covered with numerous spiky processes (papillae) which the cat’s tongue its rough, rasp-like feel. The loss hairs are thus combed out by the tongue as the cat licks. But because these processes point backward, it is difficult for the hairs to then pass forwards off the tongue. It is much easier for the hairs to pass backward as the tongue is pushed out so that they gradually work back into the throat and are swallowed.
These swallowed hairs accumulate as solid, sausage-shaped masses in the stomach, commonly known as hairball or fur balls, and in ungrounded longhaired cats this can be regular occurrence. A cat with a hairball in the stomach can feel hungry and yet full up at the same time. It consequently makes frequent trips to the feeding bowl but eats very little on each occasion. Often the hairballs are got rid of by being vomited up, but sometime they pass into the intestines and can cause a blockage. It may be possible for the cat to get rid of this after a does of liquid paraffin which lubricates its passage; otherwise surgical removal becomes necessary.
A neglected long-haired cat can also get hair entangled behind its lower canine teeth. The cat cannot dislodge this although is paws at its mouth and salivates excessively. Eventually this ‘rope’ of hair digs into the gums.
All of this can be avoided if hairs are regularly removed each day by combing.
