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Grooming Shorthaired Cats

British, American and Exotic Shorthairs and the domestic short coat.

A British, an American and an Exotic Shorthair, dense plush coats that shed heavily and rarely mat

What these breeds have in common

The shorthaired cats are the plush ones: British Shorthairs, American Shorthairs, Exotic Shorthairs, Russian Blues, Chartreux, Bombays, Manx and the ordinary domestic short coat that most cats in the country actually have.

The coat is short but it is not thin. A British Shorthair in particular carries a famously dense double coat with a heavy undercoat under a very short top layer, which is what gives it the plush, crisp feel. It sheds a great deal and mats hardly at all.

These cats mostly manage themselves. What they need from a groomer is help with the volume of shed hair, and that is worth more than it sounds.

What this group means for grooming

Dense plush coats that shed heavily but rarely mat. Deshedding, not clipping.

What actually decides the grooming

The coat type, not the group. It sets the tools, the interval and the price, and two dogs in this group can need completely different appointments.

Shedding is the whole story

Short does not mean low shedding, and with the plush shorthairs it means close to the opposite. A British Shorthair drops a remarkable amount of coat, and because the hairs are short and stiff they work point first into fabric and stay there, which is why they end up woven into a sofa rather than sitting on top of it.

A weekly going over with a rubber curry brush or a grooming glove, worked in circles against the way the coat lies, lifts loose hair out ahead of schedule and most cats enjoy it. A fine toothed comb once a week catches anything the brush misses.

A professional deshedding bath a few times a year does something an owner cannot: a bath to loosen the coat, then a dryer used to drive the shed undercoat out of it. The amount that comes out of a short coated cat surprises people.

Sudden heavy shedding, thinning, or bald patches outside the normal pattern belong at a veterinarian rather than a groomer. Thyroid disease, parasites, allergies and stress all show in the coat first.

Hairballs are a grooming problem

Everything a cat pulls out of its coat while self grooming, it swallows. A backward facing barbed tongue is very efficient at collecting loose hair and gives the cat no way to spit it out again.

Most of it passes through. The rest collects in the stomach and comes back up, and while the occasional hairball is normal, a cat producing them frequently is telling you it is ingesting more hair than it can process.

Brushing is the direct fix, and it is a better one than any dietary product, because hair removed by a brush is hair that never gets swallowed. On a heavy shedding shorthair, a few minutes a week measurably reduces it.

Worth knowing where the line is: repeated unproductive retching, a cat that seems to be trying to bring something up and cannot, lethargy, or a cat that stops eating, is a veterinary emergency rather than a hairball. Obstruction is a real risk and it does not resolve on its own.

The Exotic Shorthair is the exception

The Exotic Shorthair is a Persian in a short coat, and it carries the Persian face along with it. That makes it the one breed in this group that needs regular, non-negotiable attention, and it catches people who chose it specifically to avoid Persian grooming.

The flat face means a compressed tear duct, so the eyes water constantly. The discharge runs down into the facial fold, oxidizes, and stains the hair reddish brown. That fold is warm, dark and permanently damp, which is a description of the conditions yeast and bacteria need.

The routine is daily rather than weekly: wipe the fold and under the eyes with a damp cloth or an unscented wipe, and then dry it properly, which is the half people skip. A damp fold is the problem, so cleaning without drying makes it worse rather than better.

The flat face also affects breathing and heat tolerance, which matters if the cat is ever bathed or dried professionally. Any salon taking an Exotic should be working in short bursts and keeping a dryer away from the face.

The coat itself, though genuinely short, is dense and plush and can mat lightly behind the ears and in the armpits, so it is not quite the no-maintenance coat the name suggests.

Breeds in the Shorthaired Cats

25 breeds in this group, page 1 of 2

An American Bobtail, a third tail gene with no health problems attached

American Bobtail

A short tail from a third gene, with no spinal disease and a shaggy coat

American Bobtail
An American Shorthair, a hard working coat that asks for almost nothing

American Shorthair

The working cat that became a breed, and one of the least demanding coats there is

American Shorthair
An American Wirehair, the only cat carrying a genuinely wire coat

American Wirehair

The only cat in the world with a genuinely wire coat, and the one you must not brush

American Wirehair
An Australian Mist, a spotted coat under a misted ticked overlay

Australian Mist

Australia's first breed, developed deliberately to be a contented indoor cat

Australian Mist
A British Shorthair, a dense plush coat that sheds heavily and rarely mats

British Shorthair

A short coat that is denser than most long ones, and sheds accordingly

British Shorthair
A Burmilla, a silver tipped coat from an accidental mating

Burmilla

A silver tipped coat that came from one accidental mating in 1981

Burmilla
A Chartreux, a woolly blue coat that mats where a Russian Blue does not

Chartreux

A woolly blue coat that breaks and mats, where the other blue cat does neither

Chartreux
An Egyptian Mau, the only naturally spotted domestic cat

Egyptian Mau

The only naturally spotted domestic cat, with the spots on the skin as well

Egyptian Mau
An Exotic Shorthair, a Persian face on a short plush coat

Exotic Shorthair

A Persian face on a short coat, which removes half the work and none of the face

Exotic Shorthair
A Highlander, curled ears and a bobtail on one very large cat

Highlander

Curled ears and a bobtail on one cat, and two mutations to handle rather than one

Highlander
A Japanese Bobtail, a short tail from a gene with no spinal problems

Japanese Bobtail

A short pom pom tail from a recessive gene that carries none of the Manx problems

Japanese Bobtail
A Khao Manee, a pure white cat where deafness is a real question

Khao Manee

A pure white cat where deafness is a real question, and a five minute coat

Khao Manee
A Korat, a single silver blue coat with no undercoat at all

Korat

The fourth blue cat, and the only one with a single coat and no undercoat

Korat
A Kurilian Bobtail, a fourth short tail gene and a dense working coat

Kurilian Bobtail

A fourth independent short tail gene, on a dense working coat from the Kurils

Kurilian Bobtail
A Manx, a dense double coat and no tail at all

Manx

A dense double coat and no tail, and the missing tail changes the grooming rather than decorating it

Manx
A Munchkin, a normal cat body on legs that cannot reach everywhere

Munchkin

A normal cat body on legs that cannot reach everywhere, which is the entire grooming story

Munchkin
An Ocicat, a wild looking cat with no wild ancestry at all

Ocicat

Spotted like a wildcat, built from Abyssinian and Siamese, with no wild blood

Ocicat
A Pixiebob, often polydactyl, and with no bobcat in it after all

Pixiebob

A wild looking cat with no bobcat ancestry, and often extra toes to trim

Pixiebob
A Russian Blue, a short coat dense enough to stand away from the body

Russian Blue

A short coat dense enough to stand away from the body, and the silver tips that do the work

Russian Blue
A Scottish Fold, a dense plush coat and ears that need checking

Scottish Fold

A plush coat, folded ears that need checking, and a health question worth knowing

Scottish Fold
A Serengeti, built to look like a serval with no wild ancestry at all

Serengeti

Built to look like a serval, from two entirely domestic breeds

Serengeti
A Singapura, the smallest cat breed and one of the easiest coats

Singapura

The smallest breed there is, with a coat that takes about five minutes a week

Singapura
A Snowshoe, a pointed cat with white boots and a very easy coat

Snowshoe

A Siamese pattern with white boots, and one of the easiest coats on the site

Snowshoe
A Sokoke, a natural African breed with almost no undercoat at all

Sokoke

A natural African breed with so little undercoat that it feels the cold

Sokoke

The other cat groups

A Persian, a Maine Coon and a Ragdoll, the cats that genuinely need a professional groomer

Longhaired Cats

Persians, Maine Coons, Ragdolls and the other full-coated breeds.

Longhair
A Sphynx, a Devon Rex and a Cornish Rex, skin care rather than coat care

Rex and Hairless Cats

Sphynx, Devon Rex, Cornish Rex, Peterbald and the other coat mutations.

Rex and Hairless
A Bengal and a Savannah, short pelted coats where handling is the real skill

Hybrid and Wildcat-Descended Cats

Bengals, Savannahs, Chausies and other breeds with recent wild ancestry.

Hybrids
A Siamese, an Oriental Shorthair and a Burmese, fine close coats over a lean frame

Oriental and Asian Cats

Siamese, Oriental Shorthair, Burmese, Tonkinese and the Balinese.

Oriental

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